Recharting The Philosophy of Technology in Contemporary Architecture

Abstract

Technology is an indispensable aspect of architecture. In fact, it is being an essential part of the human effort in making architecture. Since the early modern era, technology that rapidly change has been seen as the sign of progress, not only pertaining to the technology itself, but also architecture and even civilization. Modern architectural theoreticians, from Sant’Elia to Le Corbusier, enthusiastically embraced the progressive side of technology and engineering. Philosophically, however, modern technology is regarded pessimistically. Heidegger and Jaspers considered technology as the source of alienation to the human being themselves and to the reality they face. To overcome this gap, Alan Drengson, proposed the four philosophy of technology to rechart the variety of tendency towards technology in Western society, consisting of (1) technological anarchy, (2) technophilia, (3) technophobia, and (4) technological appropriateness. In this explanation, he coined the terms “creative philosophy” to include many aspects and ways of thinking which might be incorporated in the creative activities like architectural design. This paper attempts to evaluate the appropriatenes of Drengson’s philosophical scheme as a platform for architectural education in Indonesia in general, by relating his framework with the architectural theories and practices in Indonesia. The result of this effort is while the formulation of his scheme is the very inclusive and closely related with creative activity like architectural design, it contains bias of industrial technology appearing in the Asian scene brought by Western European colonials. Discussing philosophy underlying Gandhi’s movement in India to reject oppressive technology, we may arrive at the conclusion that the philosopy of non-violence, truth and justice based on the principle of self restrained are relevant to figure out the ideal of appropriate technology in Asia.