Investigating the tectonic effects of openings as ‘built-things’: case of Çavuşoğlu house

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to trace the tectonic effects of openings as Heideggerian “built-things”. Design/methodology/approach This study has been organized in two phases. The first phase attempts to set up the theoretical framework through exploring the links between Heidegger’s notion of “built-thing” and contemporary tectonic discourses on dialectics between the values of matheme (construction, technology) and poetics (representation, meaning) to identify the key indicators in tectonic effects of openings. Accordingly, as the term “tectonic effects” is concerned with feelings and emotions that tectonics may evoke in people, the author searches for the indicators based on the poetic aspects of tectonic values and applies them within the phenomenological method implemented in the second phase of the research to explore the indicators in the designated case of the “Çavuşoğlu house”. Findings The results of this study indicate the significance of ontological nexus between tectonics as “poetic revealing” and the ability of the “built-thing” to generate tectonic effects within the embodied experience of dwellers. In fact, an opening can generate ontological tectonic effects in space only if it is brought about through a truthful build-dwell process which responds in a poetic way to the daily-life needs of the dwellers. The tangible examples of this fact are evident in the openings of the Çavuşoğlu house. Originality/value The theory of tectonics of openings as a separate “built-thing”, which is put forward in the present study, is a subject that has not been sufficiently studied so far and has the potential to be developed through further research. In light of this, the theoretical results of this study can contribute to tectonic thinking during the design process.