Intertwining

Abstract

The Pacific view of the world posits the idea that when an entity comes into being it exists co-extensively with others. Our bodies are woven flesh,1 woven with the cosmos and shares divinity with ancestors, land, seas and skies.2 Philosophically, subject and object are intertwined, one can never exist alone. This is contrast to the individualised West, whose concern is the differentiation between subject and object. These views are adamant in interpreting our built environment, which places the current disconnection between people and place as progressive of the Western approach. It is here, that this thesis begins a critical dialogue around unfolding a coeval Samoan and therefore a Pacific architecture, which looks to counteract this disconnection. The concept of intertwining, borrowed from the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, is used here to refer to the pluralistic relational self of the Pacific. The self that intertwines with many others. It is a cultural view which connotes a pacific approach to space and relationships. It is used here to move and influence unfolding westernized architectures, which may not conform to established Samoan constructs but still contains and incorporates the essence of traditional ideas and relationships. This design representation explores; the Samoan concept of the Va, Ta tatau (tattooing) as identity and its ambivalent appearance and a phenomenology of darkness. The concept of phenomenology seeks to provide a footing and a complete physical manifestation of an architecture that places emphasis on the human experience and its effects. The incorporation of the tatau provides another avenue for Samoan negotiations of space to be explored through its techtonics and symbolic meanings, while maintaining the relationships which are of customary importance. It is a project which seeks the relevance of the past within contemporary modes of architectural thought, significance is found in this negotiation. 1 Albert L Refiti, “Woven Flesh,” Interstices, Animal/Impulse, no. 6 (2005):55. 2 Engels-Schwarzpaul, A-Chr, “Restless Containers: Thinking interior space-across culture,” Interstices, Unsettled Containers: Aspects of Interiority, no. 12 (2010): 16.