This document contains summaries of 3 readings: 1) "The Metropolis and Mental Life" by Georg Simmel explains how city life forms an individual's mental life and values, noting how urban interactions are more rational and protective due to stimuli. This causes indifference and a focus on goals/money. 2) "In the Cause of Architecture" by Frank Lloyd Wright discusses his views on organic architecture, emphasizing integrity, nature as a guide, simplicity, and developing American styles like Prairie homes. 3) "The Eyes of the Skin" discusses how architecture should engage all senses, not just sight, to create full experiences and memories through the body's interactions with spaces.

1. SYNOPSIS
The Metropolis and Mental Life |
In the Cause of Architecture |
The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses |
Cha Yun Xian 0322048 |
Mr. Nicholas Ng. |

2. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2018)
Name: Cha Yun Xian ID No.: 0322048
Lecturer: Mr. Nicholas Ng. Tutorial Time: Wednesday
Reader/Text Title:
The Metropolis and Mental Life
Synopsis No: 1
Author: Georg Simmel
In “The Metropolis and Mental Life”, Georg Simmel explained in detail on how big city gradually formed
the unique spiritual life and social value of an individual. The reader is an excellent depiction of the inseparable
relationship between the cities environment and its people which is described by the deconstruction of an
individual’s position in a metropolitan city and his psychological coping with his form of existence.
Georg Simmel begins his writing with a comparison of the different mental life between a big modern city
(urban) and a small traditional town (rural). For Simmel, human interactions in the metropolis are more
protective and rational due to the intensification of external and internal stimuli in big city, compared to small
communities where the mental life are confined in feelings and emotions between people. The development
of this protective and rational barrier has manifest itself in the rise of goal oriented mind and causes the
communication between people to be quantified and digitized. Consequently, individuals who have long been
immersed in this kind of mental life, are beginning to appear indifferent and weary of everything. This blasé
attitude is claimed to be an act of self-protection under the pressure of city chaos which can still be seen in
the current society. For example, people who lives in the big city are less likely to initiate interaction with each
other, even with close neighbor or a long-lost friend, and often appear to be more unsentimental than people
from the small town. The tendency of privacy and self-protection has become more and more obvious due to
repulsive reservation between the people. In the above descriptions of the interaction between urban
interpersonal relationship and lifestyle, Simmel interspersed the idea of monetary economy and its influence
as a clue through the series of logical views. He combines an almost psychological analysis of the economic
system and the state of personal mind, which I think is one of the highlights of this paper.
Being born and raised in a city, I deeply understand that money plays an important part of the
relationships in metropolitan lives. In big city, people are struggling to preserve individuality, as most of the
things are caring quantitative character that is more rational. However, urban indifference is manifested for
Simmel in indifference to difference, that is the incapacity to relate to differences between things. Things have
no intrinsic value which would make them worthier than others, they are only measured by the external
objective value of money and time, and are therefore all the same.
Word Count: 422 Mark Grade
Assessed by: Date 19/05/2018 Page No. 1

3. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2018)
Name: Cha Yun Xian ID No.: 0322048
Lecturer: Mr. Nicholas Ng. Tutorial Time: Wednesday
Reader/Text Title:
In the Cause of Architecture
Synopsis No: 2
Author: Frank Lloyd Wright
In the article “In the Cause of Architecture”, Frank Lloyd Wright discussed his point of view towards the
“new architecture” in all aspects, decrying the absence of integrity in contemporary architecture. Being a
veteran in the architecture field, Frank Lloyd Wright observed the development of architecture over the time
and preserved his principles in organic architecture. He uses the notions of “organic, simple, nature, material,
plastic” in this article to highlight his architecture beliefs.
The core of Frank Lloyd Wright’s theory revolves around the entity of natural law. For him, integrity is the
basis of the materials, forms and all organic things. He accentuates the integrity and greatness of nature in
this repetitive era, as he writes, “there is no source of fertile, so suggestive, so helpful aesthetically for the
architect as a comprehension of nature law.” When using nature as a guide in design, it is not possible to see
any attempts in nature about resembling or referencing something rather than nature has an infinite richness
that would never repeat herself. In addition, Wright also stresses on the idea of simplicity and repose through
the design of ornamentation. His ornamentations are often presented in a subtle way, integrating with the
context. On the other hand, the author expresses his hope for that his principle and efforts could contribute to
the identification of architecture style in America. To unravel the knot between America and European
architecture styles, Frank Lloyd Wright developed the famous Prairie house with gently sloping roofs, low
proportions, low terraces and outreaching walls, which represents the broad landscape of America Midwest.
As what he believes, forms and functions of the space should be integrated as one without disturbing the
environment. Being a firm proponent that individual characteristics articulate design and not vice versa, Wright
stresses that architects hold the responsibility in creating which is true to one and his architecture.
To conclude from the perspective of an architecture student, I understand the author’s concern over the
lack of integrity in this contemporary age because nowadays people tend to follow the trend without holding
any fundamental principle which result in a superficial society. However, fashion is temporary. I suppose
architects should constantly question themselves about their motives behind every work and treat architecture
as a fine art that requires a deep understanding of all aspects in life. Thus, making a “new architecture” that
is distinctive and worth exploring.
Word Count: 400 Mark Grade
Assessed by: Date 20/05/2018 Page No. 2

4. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2018)
Name: Cha Yun Xian ID No.: 0322048
Lecturer: Mr. Nicholas Ng. Tutorial Time: Wednesday
Reader/Text Title:
The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the
Senses
Synopsis No: 3
Author: Juhani Pallasma
In “The Eyes of the Skin” part two, Juhani Pallasma gives a deeper insight and explanation on the role
of human’s five senses against the growing emphasis on visual perception in experiencing architecture. For
Pallasma, the eyes are nothing more but a flattering organ for man to see and experience things through the
surface in a superficial way. The author implies that architecture should not be seen and appreciated only
with the eyes, but to feel with the heart through the collaboration of all human bodily sensors, including touch,
smell, hear, and taste, as he writes “vision reveals what the touch already knows”.
At the beginning of the chapter, Juhani Pallasma uses Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy as an example,
stating that the human body is the central of experiential world. As mentioned, our bodies and movements
are in constant interaction with the environment, and with this constant interaction it produces the existential
experience either it’s “one’s sense of being in a world” or “experience of self”. Being an architecture student,
I find merit in this statement as I supposed architecture should live in a symbiosis with the human body and
mind that contributes to authentic spatial experience and one’s memory. A building that sensuously affect the
emotions of the users are more likely to be remember because in heighted emotional states and deep in
thought, visual are usually repressed. Therefore, a good architecture shall response to its context and spiritual
presence. In addition, Pallasma also describe the “Multi-Sensory Experience” through metaphorical
expression that suggest architecture is an extension of nature into man-made realm, providing the ground for
perception and the horizon of experiencing and understanding the world. He pointed that human senses will
not only mediate information for the judgement of intellectual, but also igniting imagination and articulating
sensory thought.
Overall, Juhani Pallasma’s concern over the disappearance of the physical, sensual, embodied
experiences of architecture in the contemporary world is conceived as a thoughtful, open-ended dialogue. To
conclude my understanding, human senses are important and essentially related to great architecture that
can evoke one’s feelings. Architecture should not be experienced as an isolated journey but as a whole with
ideated sensations generated through both physical and mental structures, thus, creating impression and
memories that etch in one’s heart.
Word Count: 376 Mark Grade
Assessed by: Date 21/05/2018 Page No. 3