Nili Portugali
The Act of Creation and the Spirit of a Place
A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture
Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart / London 2006
Abstract
In this book Nili Portugali, presents her particular interpretation of the holistic-phenomenological worldview in theory and in practice, a worldview which stands in recent years at the forefront of the scientific discourse, and is tightly related to Buddhist philosophy.
The purpose of architecture is first and foremost to create a human environment for human beings. The real challenge of current architectural practice is to make the best use of the potential inherent in our modern technological age. Yet, modern society has lost the value of man and thus created a feeling of alienation between man and the environment.
Contemporary architecture sought to dissociate itself from the world of emotions and connect the design process to the world of ideas, thus creating a rational relation between building and man, devoid of any emotion.
Portugali argues that in order to change the feeling of the environment and create places and buildings we really feel ‘at home’ and want to live in, what is needed is not a change of style or fashion, but a transformation of the mechanistic worldview underlying current thought and approaches.
Based on Christopher Alexander’s basic assumption that behind human architecture there are universal and eternal codes common to us all as human beings, and that there is absolute truth underlying beauty and comfort, Portugali demonstrates how this approach, as well as her unique planning process stemming from it (based on the way things actually exist already on site) generates that common spiritual experience people undergo in buildings endowed with soul, no matter where or from what culture they come from. That she demonstrates through a variety of her buildings and projects (with over 600 stunning color illustrations and drawings), in relation to the physical, cultural and social reality of the place they were planned and built on, an Israeli reality which reflects a unique interface between the orient and the west, a cultural interface she personally represents.

The book is valuable to architects, artists, scientists, philosophers and anyone who cares about the quality and beauty of the environment we live in.

About the author

Nili Portugali is a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (till 2006 at the
Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Architectural Department, Jerusalem), and a practicing architect working in Israel for more than 30 years. Her work has focused on both practice and theory, and is tightly connected to the holistic-phenomenological school of thought.
She is a graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture (A.A), London (Diploma 1973). She studied architecture and Buddhism at the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A (1979-81), and worked and participated in research with Prof. Christopher Alexander at the Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley California.
Portugali has won prizes in competitions she lectures in international conferences and participates in various exhibitions in Israel and abroad. She has published many articles on architecture and her work is documented in professional magazines, in the press and on television.
Her firm is involved in a variety of projects in unique areas of historic or environmental sensitivity, in urban design, architecture, landscape design and interior design, disciplines she regards as one continuous system.
For more details
http://www.niliportugali.com

Director of Shop

Nili Portugali
The Act of Creation and the Spirit of a Place
A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture
Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart / London 2006

The RIBA International Book Award 2007

I am pleased to inform you about my new book which has been published by Edition Axel Menges and was recently nominated for The RIBA International Book Award .You will appreciate from the abstract that this book is much beyond architecture, being the first one to present how the holistic-phenomenological approach was implemented in contemporary architecture (my work). That in the Israeli reality, a place being an interface between the East and the West, an interface I myself present.
I am sure that this book (if not already at your place) will be of unique experience and benefit to your readers as a whole.

Kind Regards
Nili Portugali, Architect A.A.Dip (London)
Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

On the book
In this book Nili Portugali, presents her particular interpretation of the holistic-phenomenological worldview in theory and in practice, a worldview which stands in recent years at the forefront of the scientific discourse, and is tightly related to Buddhist philosophy.
The purpose of architecture is first and foremost to create a human environment for human beings. The real challenge of current architectural practice is to make the best use of the potential inherent in our modern technological age. Yet, modern society has lost the value of man and thus created a feeling of alienation between man and the environment.
Contemporary architecture sought to dissociate itself from the world of emotions and connect the design process to the world of ideas, thus creating a rational relation between building and man, devoid of any emotion.
Portugali argues that in order to change the feeling of the environment and create places and buildings we really feel ‘at home’ and want to live in, what is needed is not a change of style or fashion, but a transformation of the mechanistic worldview underlying current thought and approaches.
Based on Christopher Alexander’s basic assumption that behind human architecture there are universal and eternal codes common to us all as human beings, and that there is absolute truth underlying beauty and comfort, Portugali demonstrates how this approach, as well as her unique planning process stemming from it (based on the way things actually exist already on site) generates that common spiritual experience people undergo in buildings endowed with soul, no matter where or from what culture they come from. That she demonstrates through a variety of her buildings and projects (with over 600 stunning color illustrations and drawings), in relation to the physical, cultural and social reality of the place they were planned and built on, an Israeli reality which reflects a unique interface between the orient and the west, a cultural interface she personally represents.

About the author

Nili Portugali is a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (till 2006 at the
Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Architectural Department, Jerusalem), and a practicing architect working in Israel for more than 30 years. Her work has focused on both practice and theory, and is tightly connected to the holistic-phenomenological school of thought.
She is a graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture (A.A), London (Diploma 1973). She studied architecture and Buddhism at the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A (1979-81), and worked and participated in research with Prof. Christopher Alexander at the Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley California.
For more details
http://www.niliportugali.com