perception phenomenon

Perception is the state of being aware of something through senses, it is therefore an image that reflects on mind and stimulates memory. We understand from this definition that perception is selective and not comprehensive and usually depends more on recollections of memory and intuition[1].

One day, someone virtually introduced me to Hiroshi Sugimoto. One phase of his experiences with photography is that he takes black-and-white out-of-focus images of iconic architectural buildings like Villa Savoye and the old World Trade Center..

'I discovered that superlative architecture survives, however dissolved, the onslaught of blurred photography' _ Hiroshi Sugimoto

This, I think, is a clear study of perception; representing a common memorable form with substituting sharpness and lavish details with simplicity of less details which is an already inherited thought in the modern thinking.

The same day I knew about Hiroshi I attended an Egyptian concert and among the songs they played was a very well known song by Um Kalthoum أنا في انتظارك; this was the only song they played without a singer and it clicked as another example to the perception phenomenon I am trying to understand.

Both examples seem to re-evaluate the degree between memory and intuition. They both eliminated an important part of the general image or performance altering the degree of intuition over the power of memory [sharpness and color of image in the former and the singer and words in later]. Between blurriness in vision and fluidity and absence of vocals and lyrics in sound we aspire a new level in perception that's very suggestive, free and allows for prediction.

Blurriness in vision and absence of vocals in sound are generating new perception platforms because they're dependent on the relationship between uncertain durations and instantaneous thoughts. These platforms are diverged from the original performance into parallels in form but paradoxes in sense.

Now by synchronizing the previous examples with the way we behave as architects I found that we love to mime. In the last few weeks, there were a couple of site visits, in which either I or a friend of mine were trying to demonstrate the design in the space. Although all of us have enough plans and sections to get the idea correctly, we found ourselves playing mime performances in front of each other. We always use our hands for gestures and explanations in other fields of knowledge, but in architecture it is precisely to form a space; just like mime acts. I believe the moment of miming in architecture is a unique representation of space-time relationship; it is instantaneous thus a blurry scene to the future.

Miming duration is connected to space in a way that makes it faster for the viewer to imagine instead of remember. It can even precede verbal discussions over design proposals, because discussions may take you into well known terminologies and typologies of space, style and form and therefore deconstruct into valid criticisms but cannot take you into predictions and new perceptions realm unless with wordplay and fiction. and can overcome drawings for it's dimensional freedom.

When the architect slowly dances the design with some words here and there, s/he depends less on his/her linguistic structure and more on physical structure which stimulates vision senses to imagine and wonder. I always thought that the era in architecture when the architect was a master builder is a better one because the architect is more attached to the real sense of place, but the potential of this method to evoke and predict what's new and inventive is making it even more valued.

[1] for more elaboration on perception and intuition read the first chapter of Bersognism, Gilles Deleuze.