Bridging: The Spatial Construction of Knowledge in Architectural Research

• Main Author: Klaske Havik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jap Sam Books 2012-01-01
• Series: Footprint
• Online Access: https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/749

This contribution proposes an interdisciplinary approach to architectural research, and states that composition is a methodological act of research. It will first argue that architectural research and practice can gain from a multi-perspectival approach, bringing in knowledge from different fields – in this case the field of literature. Referring to the author’s recently finished dissertation, it proposes a literary approach to architecture and the city, and explains how the ambiguities of architecture (subject-object, author-user and reality-fiction) can be addressed by literary means. Then, it makes clear that bringing together knowledge from different fields requires an act of composition. It argues that knowledge can be seen as a spatial construction rather than a linear one, and that the mediating capacity of the architect offers researchers with a background in architecture the possibility to develop such spatial research compositions.