21st century perspectives of phenomenology in the paradigm of architecture: A critical method in design theory and education

From the earliest examples of humankind's space-defining practices, grounded in experience, vitality, and coincidence, to the present day, the definition, comprehension, and boundaries of architecture have continued to evolve and update themselves within the framework of historical paradigm shifts. When read in relation to Vitruvius's three fundamental elements (utilitas, firmitas, venustas / commodity, firmness, and delight) used for the ancient definition of architecture, it becomes apparent that there are certain unchanging roots of the concept of architecture, and that a contemporary interpretation of these roots in line with the changing paradigm can be reexamined at the intersection of the disciplines of architecture and philosophy. This thesis aims to discuss an approach that attempts to transcend the binary oppositions (function-meaning, art-technology, and subject-object, respectively, in relation to the elements of utilitas, firmitas, and venustas) generated by the Cartesian worldview of architecture within the framework of the holistic, critical, and interdisciplinary grounds generated by architectural philosophy. In a critical and interdisciplinary architectural environment where discussions of technology, perception, experience, place, and space are reorganized in line with contemporary phenomenological perspectives, the fundamental discussion of the study is the questioning of the potentials of how a unique place production and experience can be accomplished within the technological paradigm of the 21st century. These potentials are examined through the model constructed through a contemporary phenomenological interpretation of the Vitruvian triad that transcends dualities. As the final phase of the phenomenological evaluation method, the triadic interaction evaluation model, developed in this thesis by being specialized within the framework of the relation between architectural design and philosophy, is implemented to a qualitative research design case study conducted at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture. The findings were obtained and discussed in relation to each other through document analyses examining the curriculum of undergraduate architecture education, content analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with the students constituting the sample, and examination of the studio work outputs of the course in which the case study was applied through the triadic interaction evaluation model put forward. In this respect, suggestions were developed based on the curriculum for architectural education, specifically for the sample of the case study. Additionally holistic inferences were made regarding the use of the proposed phenomenological evaluation method in the design, construction and experiencing processes of architectural production within the framework of architectural theory, practice and education. With the results obtained, in addition to emphasizing the importance of the contribution of the discipline of philosophy to architectural education, the limitations in the current educational content were discussed. With the application of the model to architectural education, it has been seen that students can experience critical and holistic thinking practices at the interface of architecture-philosophy disciplines. Also, with this discussion in the theoretical framework and in the practical field in the case study, it has been revealed that the critical and holistic paradigm of the 21st century can constitute the basis for an understanding of architecture that, on the one hand, refers to the current potentials of technology and, on the other hand, incorporates the site-specific context and the phenomenological relations of experience. The triadic interaction evaluation model developed in this context not only provides a basis for integrating the philosophy of architecture into architectural education, but also proposes a qualitative phenomenological evaluation method for architectural practice that can constantly update itself on the interdisciplinary ground of design theory.