Archetypes in Architecture

In this book, Thiis-Evensen develops an architectural grammar linked to the basic elements in the art of building: floor, wall, and roof. Focusing on examples from architectural history, he proposes specific archetypes that illustrate how these elements vary over time and in what ways they affect us psychologically. The author argues for a basic distinction architecturally between inside and outside and examines the dynamic interaction between inside and outside space in terms of the archetypes. He also emphasises the shared aspects of our experience of architecture regardless of time or place. The book shows that these reactions to architecture are tied in with our bodily experience, and that we "convey" them to what we see. This means that the archetypes are also carriers of specific meanings, which in turn influence the experience of the relationships between inside and outside. The book further examines schematic postwar architecture and considers how it can be replaced without copying motifs from the past, providing a clearer understanding of architecture's emotional aspects for architects and designers