Toward a qualitative architecture; a phenomenological study of the Gothenburg museum of art
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Architecture and urban design (MPARC), MSc
Publicerad
2021
Författare
Karlsson, Emil
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The Gothenburg Museum of Art is, after one hundred years of service presently in
need of renovations and an extension. The museum’s location was and still is revealing
of the city’s interest in physical representative space but also the important function
and status of the museum as a cultural institution. The role is in a large degree not
only cultural but also social, economic, and political. An architectural project of this
magnitude cannot contently be made simply of factors such as form and function but
must be expanded by critical questions of architecture’s role, scope and ultimately
meaning. This thesis aims to determine how phenomenological notions of place can
illuminate and determine questions regarding architectural discourse beyond concrete
physical factors.
To test the hypothesis that the phenomenological place can add to our practical projects
in architecture, a study was made of the theories in architectural discourse mainly
by Christian Norberg-Schulz and Martin Heidegger. Simultaneously an inventory
of Götaplatsen and Gothenburg Museum of Art was made engaging with questions
of meaning in various levels of the city and building. These two studies were then
combined in a discussion and analysis. The concept of place and architecture was
shown as not having a fixed meaning and must be interpreted on a case-by-case basis.
The modern society is in a large degree affected by calculative thought and strives for
efficiency rather than qualitative authenticity.
The results suggest that a deeper meaning of architecture lies not in a fixed absolutism
and efficiency but in an understanding of it as authentically concerned concretization
of our existential being-in-the-world.