Lecture date: 2013-02-07
Semper, Animism, and Embodied Simulation
Projective Cities Guest Lunchtime Lecture
Gottfried Semper is today seen as one of the principal theorists and architects of the nineteenth century, and there are multiple dimensions in which his ideas can be pursued. This talk will consider his remarks on reading of architectural form in animistic terms, the context in which his discussion took place, his influence on later theories of empathy (Einfühlung), and the resurgence of interest in the mechanisms of empathy in contemporary biology and neuroscience.
Harry Mallgrave has enjoyed a distinguished career as an award-winning scholar, translator, and editor, and is presently a professor of architectural history and theory at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has authored more than a dozen books, including The Architect’s Brain (2011). His latest study, Architecture and Embodiment: The Implications of the New Sciences and Humanities for Design, is scheduled to appear with Routledge in March 2013.
