ACT Guest Seminar - June 2020

“Steven Holl’s Kiasma Museum and the viscosity of space in movement” 

Guest speaker: Majed Alghaemdi

Abstract

Majed's proposal explores Steven Holl’s encounter with Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy, focusing on the role of movement in the perception of architectural space.  Merleau-Ponty considered the lived, active and moving body to be fundamental to our experience and understanding of the world. The novelty of his approach comes from the idea of ‘bodily intentionality’, the notion that our initial awareness of a new situation is a bodily one, based on an intuitive sense of the movements required to ‘cope’ with it (Dreyfus, 2014). This bodily grasp of space allows our behaviour to ‘flow’ along with an ongoing experience. This mode of awareness takes place without the need to invoke explicit concepts or intellectual analysis.  

Biography

Majed is a multidisciplinary architect with more than 10 years' experience working as practitioner and an educator at the architecture department in King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. As an investigative designer, Majed has pushed his students, and work colleagues to take on complex projects maintaining a speculative edge and theoretical aspirations intact. In 2015, he received his M.Arch 2 degree from the Southern California Institute of Architecture. The master program is specifically geared to propel advanced design exploration and new modes of communication as it advances contemporary architecture and expands the boundaries of conventional architectural practice. Currently, he is involved in the Doctor of Philosophy PhD program at the University of Nottingham. His project focuses on the role of movement in the perception of architectural space. He is part of the Architecture, Culture, and Tectonics Research Group at the University of Nottingham. 

This seminar will be available in ACT Teams - Office 365.  If you are not a member and would like to attend, please contact Sarah Taylor.