Architecture of Mutual Permeation

“Human life is not intended to oppose nature and endeavor to control it, but rather to draw nature into an intimate association in order to find union with it...this kind of sensibility… de-emphasizes the physical boundary between residence and surrounding nature and establishes instead a spiritual threshold... While screening man’s dwelling from nature, it attempts to draw nature inside.” --Tadao Ando¹

The result of humanity’s dominant approach to nature has led us to separate ourselves from the natural environment, both physically and spiritually. As J. B. Jackson explains, “we have persisted in separating man from nature and in keeping them separate. The separation I mean is not primarily a physical one, an inevitable outcome of modern urban existence; it is a separation incorporated in our dichotomous way of thinking.”² This separation in architecture is manifested in the enclosure, exemplified by a dominant approach to the elements and an exhaustive use of resources. This dominance reflects the ideology born of the industrial revolution, and has produced a flawed system and a false dependence on technology, as well as a pervasive attitude that the natural environment exists for our exploitation. This thesis resists such dominance in favor of a more cooperative relationship with the natural environment, and proposes a design pattern of mutual permeation that can foster this approach. ____________________________
_{¹ Ando, Tadao: Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory. 462.
² Jackson, J. B. Landscapes: Selected Writings of J. B. Jackson, ed. Ervin H. Zube. . 41.}