A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture

In this Video Architect Nili Portugali will present her particular interpretation of the holistic- phenomenological worldview in theory and in practice, a worldview which stands in recent years at the forefront of the scientific discourse and is tightly related to Buddhist philosophy, in projects she designed and built in Israel for more than 30 years.
She will demonstrate how this approach, as well as her unique planning process stemming from it were implemented in a selected public and private projects designed and built by her in relation to the physical, cultural and social reality of the place they were planned and built on, an Israeli reality which reflects a unique interface between the orient and the west, a cultural interface she personally represents.
Nili Portugali is a lecturer at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology Architecture department, Haifa (until 2006 at the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Architectural Department, Jerusalem), and a practicing architect working in Israel for more than 30 years. Her work has focused on both practice and theory, and is tightly connected to the holistic-phenomenological school of thought.
She is a graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture (A.A), London.
She did postgraduate studied in Architecture and Buddhism at the University of California in Berkeley, and worked and participated in research with Prof. Christopher Alexander at the Center for Environmental Structure in Berkeley.
Her firm is involved in a variety of projects in unique areas of historic or environmental sensitivity, in urban design, architecture, landscape design and interior design, disciplines she regards as one continuous system.
She has recently published her new book, which was nominated for The RIBA International Book Award Architecture Prize -- 2007.

The Act of Creation and the Spirit of a Place
A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture /Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart / London 2006
For more details on Portugali's work see: www.niliportugali.com

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• architecture
• in
• Israel
• holistic
• approach
• to
• organic
• Nili
• Portugali

[Beatkitchen]

I really enjoyed your video... it would be great if you could post more videos where you elaborate on these topics more deeply.

[niliportugali]

@Beatkitchen y

you are welcome to look at my book

Nili Portugali

The Act of Creation and the Spirit of a Place

A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture

Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart / London 2006

and might get more insights in there

[chibraxial]

Psychology with nice words like "soul " and "spirit"

[timotheeong]

Great! very inpsiring!

[admichla]

My second challenge is towards the 3d dimensionality of this process. Gravity, our horizon, and 5 senses limit our ability to think in three dimensions. When one experiments with modeling and drawing, you begin to stumble upon 3 dimensionality. How do you manage to create something greater than that which you can perceive?

[admichla]

Does one find meaning in the view, or something about the view? If you use the site holistically as such, your process becomes based on observation. Does architecture frame reality, or meaningful reality?

[Soulbox09]

@Soulbox09

Ok..I found my answer on your website.

I still like your approach, I think a discussion between you and someone like Rem Koolhaas would be thrilling.

So, I understand what's your intention (use of past themes to inspire a positive feeling)..but until now I still think your buildings might only be fitting for people who deny to adapt to the requirements of our actual moment in time. Request for dialogue.

[Soulbox09]

@niliportugali

Oh, that's a pitty. As a student of architecture I was wondering if you would step into this dialogue to educate..but not to sell me a book.

[Soulbox09]

@Soulbox09

ps: Watching the video one more time, the feeling these building could also have been built in the 70s/80s/postmodern era somehow tightens. One can hardly see references to any development in architecture or structural engineering encountered in the last decades. So, I have to ask: can your style be classified as some kind of postmodernistic regionalism? [this is meant to be non-provocative]

[niliportugali]

@Soulbox09 You are welcome to look at my book

Nili Portugali

The Act of Creation and the Spirit of a Place

A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture

Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart / London 2006

and might get the answer to your question in there