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La mano que piensa: Sabiduría existencial y corporal en la arquitectura

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La mano que piensa analiza la esencia de la mano y su papel crucial en la evolución de las destrezas, la inteligencia y las capacidades conceptuales del hombre. La mano no es solo un ejecutor fiel y pasivo de las intenciones del cerebro, sino que tiene intencionalidad y habilidades propias. Su autor, Juhani Pallasmaa, hace hincapié en los procesos relativamente autónomos e inconscientes del pensamiento y el obrar en la escritura, la artesanía o en la producción de arte y arquitectura. Organizado en ocho capítulos, este estudio explora el entendimiento silencioso que yace oculto en la parte existencial de la condición humana y sus modos de ser y experimentar específicos. En último término, su objetivo es ayudar a sacudir los cimientos del paradigma de conocimiento conceptual, intelectual y verbal, hegemónico en la esfera de la arquitectura, en aras de otro conocimiento: el tácito y no conceptual de nuestros procesos corporales.

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

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Juhani Pallasmaa

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for Michael.
25 reviews
December 31, 2011
This book only contains few original ideas, however, it provides a very rich overview of other people's arguments. So instead of reading 10 other books The Thinking Hand provides a comprehensive overview. Additionally it is very well written with excellent examples for his basic theories. An outstanding achievement!!
Profile Image for Abigail Ang.
13 reviews1 follower
April 7, 2023
The Thinking Hand is a continuation of Pallasmaa’s previous work – The Eyes of the Skin – in critiquing architecture’s misguided fixation on creating showy visual spectacles and its neglect of other sensory modalities. In the process, modern architecture has turned into an “empty aestheticised mannerism” and lost sight of its nobler responsibilities to society. Pallasmaa believes that alongside its structural functions as shelters or habitats, architecture must also evoke an extension of life – of identities, memories and ideas. In essence, good architecture should facilitate an existential experience.

“Fundamentally, in a work of art we encounter ourselves, our own emotions, and our own being-in-the-world in an intensified manner. A genuine artistic and architectural experience is primarily a strengthened awareness of self. An art work or building made thousands of years ago, or produced in a culture completely unknown to us, touches us because we encounter the timeless present of being a human being through the work, and consequently rediscover the actuality of our own being-in-the-world. One of the paradoxes of art and architecture is that although all moving works are unique, they reflect what is general and shared in the human existential experience. In this way, art is tautological; it keeps repeating the same basic expression over and over again: how it feels to be a human being in this world.”


The earlier portions of the book make a case for the value of haptic design, which I found more applicable for architecture practitioners than a layman like myself. Still, it was interesting to learn more about the design process. Pallasmaa acknowledges that knowledge is accrued and distributed through different sensory modalities, and warns that an over reliance on visual knowledge can tarnish one’s ability to tune in to our other senses. This diminished consideration of other senses in architectural design could compromise a building’s ability to “direct us to experience our own existence with a unique intensity”.

In line with this, Pallasmaa attributes the current crisis of individualistic architectural spectacles to the existing cultural obsession with images. Since the book’s publication in 2009, the deluge of mesmerising but ultimately meaningless visual stimulation that most of us are subjected to in our everyday lives has only intensified. Pallasmaa believes that the prevalence of excessive visual stimuli relieves us from actively engaging with the broader context of art and imagery, luring us instead into passive, mindless consumption that leads to an impoverished imagination.

His concerns on the matter are still startlingly relevant in today’s context. The recent rise of short-form digital content and its implications on concentration and contemplation has made it harder and harder not to slide into atrophy unless one intentionally resists the status quo. It is no wonder that our buildings have come to reflect the same leaching of imagination and substance that we encounter in our own lives. The age of architectural visual spectacles is merely a physical manifestation of mankind’s most acute priorities and ideals. Modern buildings have become entertainment – a means to impress and peacock in material form, designed to be consumed rather than experienced.

“‘Architecture immortalises and glorifies something. Hence, there can be no architecture, where there is nothing to glorify.’ Haven’t we lost the dimensions in our culture and personal lives that could be worthy of glorification? Haven’t we lost the dimension of ideals in our obsessively materialist world? Architectural thought arises from given conditions, but it always aspires to an ideal. Hence, the loss of the ideal dimension of life implies the disappearance of architecture.”


To counteract the hypnotising effects of ocular bedazzlement, Pallasmaa believes that architects must be motivated and disciplined in cultivating existential knowledge – that is, the growth of personhood. He understands architecture as a “means of philosophising about the world and human existence through the embodied act of constructing”. As such, good design can only arise when an architect’s operative and instrumental knowledge and skills are combined with sophisticated existential sensibilities. Life informs work, and work informs life.

I know of an architecture student in his senior year who mocks his peers – calling them delusional and geh kiang for thinking that architecture can save the world. Perhaps architecture cannot save the world. But shouldn’t it strive to make the world a better place? Viewing architecture as the mere design of buildings seems to grossly underestimate its significance. For one, any building is a massive undertaking. From a sustainability standpoint, buildings are incredibly material and labour intensive. As such, they are almost always designed with longevity in mind. Based on this consideration alone, nothing should not be constructed lightly. Furthermore, all works of architecture are conduits for social exchange. To some degree, our experience of architecture informs how we interact with one another. As such, isn't Pallasmaa reasonable to affirm architecture's moral responsibility to transcend its current fixation with the material, visual realm to address socio-cultural issues?

While Pallasmaa’s aspirations are noble, I wonder how much we can ask of our architects to resist the existing hegemony of visual dominance and materialistic pragmatism. Too many young or aspiring architects I have spoken to have become jaded by the system’s limitations and lost interest in the profession. Perhaps Pallasmaa is speaking to audiences with more experience and power to influence change within this dynamic. Buildings that aspire to Pallasmaa’s ideals can only be constructed when there is a demand and an appreciation for them. This presents a conundrum – does an architect first shape society, or does society first shape an architect? Both certainly go hand in hand, but where does effective change begin? Architects may only be visionaries to the extent that they are executors of political will.

“The art form of architecture does not only provide a shelter for the body, it also redefines the contour of our consciousness, and it is a true externalisation of our mind. Architecture, as well as the entire world constructed by man with its cities, houses, tools and objects, has its mental ground and counterpart. As we construct our self-made world, we construct projections and metaphors of our own mindscapes. We dwell in the landscape and the landscape dwells in us. A landscape wounded by acts of man, the fragmentation of the cityscape, as well as insensitive buildings, are all external and materialised evidence of an alienation and shattering of the human inner space or Weltinnenraum, to use a beautiful notion of Rainer Maria Rilke.”


It is disheartening that so many modern buildings seem so divorced from the spirit of architecture. Reading this book made me think of Singapore and how our increasingly ostentatious and extravagant cityscape certainly seems revealing of our most salient aspirations and ideals. From fake giant trees to a propped up cruise liner, our country’s obsession with infinite growth, wealth and materialism at the expense of character and meaning is paraded for all to see (and tourists to photograph). The proliferation of soulless residential facades in our built environments are starting to resemble foreboding symbols of society. In my view, Singapore needs a better architecture to aspire to.
Profile Image for زهرا.
58 reviews1 follower
January 7, 2022
| در باب اهمیت دست‌ها |

ترم ۲ که بویم، سر درس «کارگاه مصالح و ساخت»، استادمون این کتابو برای مطالعه آزاد معرفی کرد، و جوگیرانه (احتمالا مثل همه ترمک‌ها) رفتم خریدم، و چند صفحه بیشتر نخوندم و رهاش کردم.
حالا که بعد از فارغ‌التحصیلی و دو سه ماهی دور افتادن از معماری و غرق کارای دیگه شدن، تصمیم گرفتم برگردم به همون جَو، خوشحالم که این کتابو برای شروع انتخاب کردم.
با خوندن این کتاب، دلم واسه دست‌های اون زمانم که می‌تونستن کروکی و اسکیس بزنن تنگ شد، و حالا قدر دست‌هام رو بیشتر می‌دونم، و خوشحالم که خوندن این کتاب رو موکول کرده بودم به چهارسال بعد از زمانِ خریدش.
Profile Image for Jay Jesus.
34 reviews1 follower
May 21, 2022
El libro desde su postura crítica y reflexiva nos adentra a una visión enfocada en los sentidos, donde trata de enfocarse en hacer un repaso por generar conocimiento sobre la relación sobre la corporalidad, la sociedad, la cultura y la importancia de este enfoque desde la arquitectura. Es una invitación a tomar conciencia y tener un poco de sensibilidad hacia mirar a los sentidos, hacia las diferentes formas de entender y apreciar las espacialidades. Se trata de una valorización corporal respaldándose en las disciplinas de la filosofía, literatura y arte, a través de estas relaciones se pretende explicar los fenómenos del arte y de la arquitectura a través de la interacción de las personas en los espacios.

Retoma a los arquitectos Le Corbusier y Alvar Aalto, para explicar la parte táctil del proceso conceptual del proyecto de arquitectura, el dibujo para la representación arquitectónica es de vital importancia. Definir que es una mano y sobre todo reflexionar la importancia que tienen estas extremidades en nuestras vidas esencialmente en la ejecución de las actividades básicas y laborales. Al tratar el tema de las manos es imposible no relacionarlo con la visión del artesano y laboral, donde los aspectos del cuerpo están relacionados con el contacto de las manos creadoras con el material. Además que hay una revisión arqueológica y antropológica de los homínidos y sus herramientas, las manos creadoras de herramientas, y se enfocan en la parte artesanal del proceso que en el caso de la arquitectura a través del proceso de diseño particularmente sobre el dibujo mediante los trazos y las maquetas con su materialidad mediante la posibilidad de acercarse a modelo cuyas piezas pueden representar en una escala menor y tridimensionalmente el espacio proyectado.

La importancia que el autor maneja sobre la experiencia táctil de los materiales y las herramientas invita a la reflexión para pensar el proceso de creación de diseño arquitectónico o de obras de arte como un oficio artesanal donde las experimentación y la manipulación directa con las manos son lo que nos permite llegar a esa relación entre ojos, manos y mente. Dentro del proceso artesanal del proyecto arquitectónico que aborda Juhani Pallasmaa esta implícita la idea de la arquitectura como un oficio, que está expresada a través de los dibujos y maquetas que se realizan en el proceso proyectual, donde la cualidad háptica y la interacción con los materiales, las texturas, los colores y demás características físicas que hacen que podamos tener una conexión con el proyecto. Existen también reflexiones personales muy interesantes sobre la relación entre arte y arquitectura, en una sociedad y cultura excesivamente materialista e hipervisual donde reflexiona sobre el papel social y político del arte.
Profile Image for Ghazal.
11 reviews2 followers
December 19, 2017
As his another writing... has amazing and expressive key words...
Profile Image for Jia Pin.
4 reviews
June 15, 2020
"For verses are not, as people imagine, simply feelings [...] they are experiences. For the sake of a single verse, one must see many cities, men and things, one must know the animals, one must feel how the birds fly and know the gesture with which the little flowers open in the morning [..] And still it is not yet enough to have memories. One must be able to forget them when they are many and one must have the great patient to wait until they come again. For it is not yet the memories themselves. Not till they have turned to blood within us, to glance and gesture, nameless and no longer to be distinguished from ourselves - not till then can it happen that in a most rare hour the first word of a verse arises in their midst and goes forth from them." - Rainer Maria Rilke

An important and must read.
Profile Image for Tom Blurbgess.
17 reviews
September 26, 2020
Really not my thing, and only escapes 2 stars from the cool examples of artwork/architecture/craftsmanship throughout. Well-researched but I just can’t vibe with such a niche topic, and the idea that so much time was spent pondering the metaphysics and existential implications of hands just annoys me - way less profound that it hopes to be, no matter how many Heidegger quotes he throws in.
Profile Image for Carlos CRT.
151 reviews10 followers
December 29, 2015
Reading this essays was a nice experience as a complement to reading 'The eyes of the skin'
If you enjoyed one I would recommend the other.
Profile Image for Silvia Méndez.
3 reviews
Currently reading
May 15, 2018
"...Las pedagogías imperantes siguen separando las capacidades mentales, intelectuales y emocionales de los sentidos y de las dimensiones múltiples de las manifestaciones de los humanos."

"... Se aborda el cuerpo en los deportes y la danza, y se admite que los sentidos están en directa conexión con la educación artística y musical, pero nuestra existencia corporal rara vez se identifica como la base misma de nuestra interacción e integración con el mundo, o de nuestra conciencia y entendimiento de nosotros mismos."

"... anteriormente a nuestra actual cultura industrial, mecanizada, materialista y consumista, las situaciones de la vida cotidiana y los procesos de maduración y educación proporcionaban una base de experiencias más global para el crecimiento y aprendizaje..."

"...Seguimos viviendo en nuestros cuerpos de ña misma forma en que habitamos nuestras casas..."

"... En el caso de que no consigamos tener cualidades físicas ideales, nuestros cuerpos se vuelven contra nosotros coml causas de una profunda desilusión y culpa."

METAFÍSICA

"..nos conectamos con el mundo a través de nuestros sentidos."

"...La habilidad más importante del arquitecto es convertir la esencia multidimensional del trabajo proyectual en sensaciones e imagenes corporales y vividas..."

"Los problemas arquitectónicos son demasiado complejos y profundamente existenciales como para ser tratados de un modo exclusivamente conceptualizado y racional."
Profile Image for Sam Stewart.
44 reviews1 follower
January 7, 2024
Reading this was super refreshing, especially as I go through architecture school. It felt like filling a hole that desperately needed to be addressed in my understanding of architecture and art. The book gathers from artists, sculptors, writers and more to articulate what it means to create the sort of buildings that speak to us as people. Much of our contemporary world of architecture is focused on spectacle and provocation, explicitly symbolizing specific philosophies and ideas, but instead architecture needs to address tactile, material, spatial, auditory and embodied experiences, speaking to the existential knowledge of the human experience which is in all of us.

“Aalto's design approach points out that in creative work a focused consciousness needs to be momentarily relaxed and replaced by an embodied and unconscious mode of mental scanning. The eye and the external world are dimmed for an instant, as consciousness and vision are internalised and embodied”
Profile Image for Jesi.
83 reviews7 followers
June 29, 2017
Es de esos libros que por mi cuenta probablemente nunca hubiese agarrado (principalmente porque el original cuesta como $700) pero, oh suertuda yo, me lo hicieron leer para la facultad.

Y me encantó.

Es un libro muy corto y muy visual. Pallasmaa tiene una facilidad para escribir que me abruma, y en este libro pude sentir lo culto que es y lo mucho que ha leído e investigado para escribirlo.
Sinceramente es un escrito muy interesante y va más allá de la arquitectura en muchísimos aspectos. Creo que cualquier persona interesada en el arte puede encontrar en esta lectura buena compañía.

Dato de color: me lo dieron a principios de cuatrimestre para leer y lo terminé un día antes de la entrega del último trabajo xD
Profile Image for Lan.
14 reviews
January 22, 2023
Juhani Pallasmaa opisuje telesno izkustvo kot ključno ne le za fizično, ampak tudi intelektualno dejavnost; v tem je sumničav do sodobne digitalizirane družbe, v kateri nam čutna hiperstimulacija šibi izkustvo in nas odtujuje od občutka medsebojne povezanosti fizičnega in umskega. Tako pozabljamo, da naši čuti niso le pasivni sprejemniki zunanjih dražljajev, ampak povezava z našim okoljem, ki od nas ni tako ostro ločeno, kot nam da digitalizirano izkustvo verjeti.

Z navajanjem mnogih umetnikov in mislecev Pallasmaa (med drugim) kaže, da se mora ravno naš zavestni del pri ustvarjanju začasno sprostiti in se prepustiti utelešenemu in nezavednemu načinu opazovanja ter delovanja. V tem poudarja, da je na primer tudi pisanje utelešeno in eksistencialno dejanje, in ta vidik se mi zdi v današnjem (pre)racionalnem svetu še kako pomemben, saj se hitro lahko izgubimo v praznem in obenem obremenjujočem premišljanju; Pomembno je, da se opomnimo na naš telesni obstoj.
Profile Image for Mark Mateo.
33 reviews
November 19, 2024
Nice sequel to Eyes of the Skin, Pallasmaa is always a breath of fresh air. Will try to integrate this into my final project. Reactionary movements against modern architecture miss so much. What is needed is not an indictment of modern architecture itself, but instead self-recognition of the collective failure to heed P's call. P might also (I am yet unsure) remedy the problem of ornament.

Anyways, goodbye CPH
10 reviews
June 9, 2024
A follow up to Eyes of the Skin -- begins as a detailed discussion about "the hand" but ultimately becomes a manifesto for Pallasmaa's worldview. Pallasmaa has a distinct sense of despair for the present, a feeling that something is "lost" in today's architecture. The book is a good window into the ideas of phenomenologist architects.
Profile Image for Lusetel.
72 reviews
August 29, 2024
gracias Lu y Javi

bueno he de decir que me ha gustado, me ha costado a veces entrar en la teoría, pero no ha sido muy difícil, comparto y aprendo varias de sus ideas, otras aún no las sintiendo igual, pero muy chulo. lo único que he echado en falta alguna cita o apreciación de alguna mujer, entiendo, pero es como algo que me llama la atención
10 reviews
December 8, 2024
With its first edition published more than a decade ago, this book transcends time. Its core ideas centre around architecture, and expand widely to other types of art such as writing, painting or sculpture. An eloquent and thought-provoking piece of writing that invites to reflection and self-reflection.
2 reviews
architecture
August 20, 2020
برخلاف ظاهر خوب و کیفیت چاپ، متاسفانه ترجمه بدی داره که اساسا ربطی هم به پیچیدگی فرضی یا فلسفی بودن متن نداره، امیدوارم ترجمه بهتری از این کتاب موجود بشه، درغیر اینصورت خواندن متن اصلی راحت تر خواهد بود.
Profile Image for Karla Contreras.
41 reviews1 follower
September 29, 2020
Es un libro maravilloso. No estudio arquitectura, sino Diseño y Comunicación Visual, y aún así me ha parecido que su contenido es muy útil y aplicable en el campo del diseño, el dibujo y el arte en general.
Si estás en una carrera de éstas o alguna afín, es un MUST READ, y si no... también.
Profile Image for D.
52 reviews1 follower
June 9, 2025
Un libro que alguien que le interese la Arquitectura DEBE leer. Creo que es un buen iniciador a discusión sobre el hacer Arquitectura, sobre su producción, sobre soñarla, sobre aprender y desaprender.

“La capacidad creativa, así como el juicio crítico, exigen imaginación.” (P14)
Profile Image for Edith Brave.
13 reviews
August 3, 2022
"La arquitectura convierte el mundo físico frío e impersonal en un hogar para el hombre" J Pallasmaa
Profile Image for Antu.
17 reviews
May 18, 2023
Very interesting pool of sources on this book. Lots of good quotes for practice and the art of architecture.
Profile Image for M Johana Areiza.
335 reviews
June 4, 2024
"El arte no debería aumentar o reforzar la miseria humana, sino aliviarla. "
Profile Image for Hailane Salam.
59 reviews7 followers
June 1, 2021
Searching for the meaning behind things makes life more exciting and meaningful. So, flip through this book that provide great examples of existential thought that contribute to aesthetic thinking. The sense of curiosity about something is the way of exploring and getting to know the world, besides can be the best way of getting to know about our self too.
Profile Image for Amaranta.
406 reviews4 followers
August 27, 2015
Yo sé, ¿por qué me dejan leer un libro de arquitectura? pues tiene cosas que sirven para las artes en general, aunque el libro nunca menciona el teatro (no que recuerde, cuando lo leí conciente no media dormida como ahora a las cinco am), es como "oh sí, el cine, la pintura, la danza, el deporte" ¡¿y el teatro?! pregunto yo, creo que no debería faltar en la lista.
128 reviews3 followers
August 2, 2010
Exploration of the Art-side of architecture (vs. the Science-side). How art and architecture are designed; the function of the hand, body, mind, eye, etc.; existential space.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

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