Understanding and Designing Place: Considerations on Architecture and Philosophy

The present book addresses a topic that seems common-place, and yet is often overlooked in many architectural debates and practice. Everything takes place, and architecture, by default, is a profession that deals with, intervenes in, transforms and creates places. However, in contemporary architecture, in the globalized world of today, the understanding of the particular place in which a building or a city is situated is either taken for granted or not addressed at all. In this publication, that was preceded by an international seminar held at Tampere University of Technology School of Architecture in Tampere, Finland, in 2017,1 we aimed to bring the concept of place back to the centre stage, and to reflect on the experience of place and the complexities of situation from both a philosophical and a practical perspective. Acknowledging that place is a complex phenomenon, the present publication focuses on un- derstanding and designing place from different perspectives. In doing so, it will specifically draw on connections between architecture and philosophy in addressing issues of place.