Du Din: Architecture’s Contact with the Ground through a Theory of the ‘Scape’

Abstract

This article is an investigation into architecture’s contact with the ground. What should this relationship prioritise or enable, what architecture do we find when looking down? The study is a short set of questions about the ground discussed around the theory of the ‘scape’, which describes systems through the arrangement of knowledge rather than individual ideas.

A description of the history and definition of the scape, outlined by Mark Cousins and others, frames questions about the ground, derived from literature reviews and visits to architecture in Thailand. The research results are sorted and approached through three categories. ‘Historical ground’ discusses the ruins and traces of the past which make up the ground, particularly at Chiang Mai’s Chang Peuk Gate. ‘Raised ground’ considers artificial, manmade floors as a kind of ground at Mrigadayavan Palace in Phetchaburi. ‘Phenomenological ground’ describes human and animal experiences of the earth and soil, and a visit to Elephant Village in Surin.

These categories both reinforce and contradict each other, they frame and reframe the broad problem of the ground, arguing simply for a greater sensitivity to how we consider the earth beneath us when designing. The act of combination and arrangement itself is presented as a way of looking at architecture.