Bodies at Scene: Architecture as Friction

One of the ways to understand architecture, usually the first about which we hear when we begin to study at the university, is to see it as a displayed object. This definition leads to an architecture that is equivalent to a habitable sculpture rather than one which aims to re-alize certain requirements. Le Corbusier’s quote in which he defined architecture as “volumes brought together in light” help to clarify and exemplify this issue. In this essay, I am not interested in focusing on this idea, but instead, I will explain several different ways to dissolve the conception of architecture as an object.One way to overcome this primary condition is to understand archi-tecture as a second skin or an element that establishes relationships between the body and the habitat. Architecture is an apparatus to look and build connections with the outside. Therefore, firstly, architecture is used to maximize certain links while refusing others. In this case, the design acquires a presence over the body of the inhabitant. Architec-ture surrounds it, limits it and restricts its connection with the environ-ment; exposing the inseparability of architecture and its violence over the body.