Depth and Vision

An AAD Session hosted by CUBE.

About this event

Hosted by the Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies (CUBE) and chaired by Beatrice De Carli: Dr. Jane Clossick and Prof. Nicholas Temple discuss the phenomenology and methodologies surrounding Depth and Vision through two presentations on "Ghilberti's Way of Seeing" and "Methodologies for exploring Urban Depth".

Professor Nicholas Temple: Ghiberti’s Way of Seeing: Appropriating the Perspective Paradigm

In this presentation he examine aspects of seeing and illuminating in the context of the writings and artistic work of Lorenzo Ghiberti, a famous artist from the early 15th century in Florence. The study seeks to demonstrate that Ghiberti’s understanding of vision has significance that extends beyond his particular cultural milieu of Early Renaissance humanism and art practice, revealing a relational philosophy that anticipated Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception. his investigation focuses on an unpublished commentary and Ghiberti’s commission to design the so-called ‘Gates of Paradise’.

Prof. Nicholas Temple is an Australian academic, a qualified architect, Senior Professor of Architectural History at our School of Art, Architecture and Design and Director of the Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies (CUBE). He was previously Professor of Architecture and Director of the Centre for Urban Design, Architecture and Sustainability (CUDAS) at the University of Huddersfield. A graduate of Cambridge University (Magdalene College), he previously served as head of the School of Architecture at the University of Lincoln and was an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania where he taught on the PhD programme.

Dr Jane Clossick: Methodologies for Exploring Urban Depth

Cities are comprised of ‘Urban Depth’: the layout of spaces and architecture from the scale of a room to the neighbourhood. Urban Depth hosts economic, social and civic life, so the way it is organised and designed, its ‘Depth Structure’, has the potential to shape human flourishing; to help or hinder our collective ethical desires for the good functioning of cities. In Jan and Feb 2021 Jane Clossick, Ben Colburn and Hannah Parr ran four workshops on the theme of Urban Depth, bringing together around 25 academics and practitioners to discuss the topic across three scales (building, neighbourhood and city) and to talk about the philosophy and practical implementation of the concept. In this presentation, they define Urban Depth and why it matters in architectural and philosophical terms, then draw together some of the methodological ideas discussed by participants at the workshops into three thematic areas: engagement with the body; different types of drawing; and articulating Urban Depth with words.

Dr Jane Clossick is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture (Urban Design) at London Metropolitan University and co-leads the Cities Research Group. Trained as an architect at The University of Sheffield and the University of East London, she worked at practices in London and Manchester before completing her doctorate ‘The Depth Structure of a London High Street’ at London Met in 2017. She is an active researcher whose interests include urban depth and city morphology, high streets, industrial and work space accommodation, participatory design processes and activism through design.

Image: Panel of Isaac with Esau and Jacob at The Gates of Paradise (from the Gates of Paradise, Florence) by Lorenzo Ghiberti, 15th century. Photo by Yair Haklai, Wikimedia Commons