Issu du monde de la pratique paysagère, je ne pouvais pas ignorer le mouvement dialectique qui s’établit entre l’expérience physique de l’espace et sa représentation. La recherche s’organise à propos d’espaces concrets et de propositions théoriques parfois extérieures au champ de la pratique paysagère. C’est à travers cette double composante que le paysage et sa représentation in situ : le jardin, ou ses représentations in visu seront explorés. L’approche qui, sans être culturaliste au sens que ce mot a pris dans le débat des idées contemporaines, n’en n’est pas moins articulée à une forte présence de la culture dans la compréhension des phénomènes liés au paysage. Cette position permet à la fois la critique d’un formalisme appuyé sur un « picturalisme » puissant, et d’un nouveau naturalisme à peine né et déjà académique qui en tente la critique sans y parvenir néanmoins puisqu’il tombe dans le même travers d’une forme toujours déclinée à partir d’un dogme – dans un cas géométrique et dans l’autre écologique – sans le plus souvent envisager la relation de l’application de ce dogme au lieu et aux corps qui l’habitent. L’entrée initiale par la catégorie du pittoresque n’est pas pour autant abandonnée. En effet, à notre insu le plus souvent, les caractères du pittoresque impriment en nous les fondements de notre jugement esthétique sur les représentations picturales ou jardinées de la nature. Des formes contemporaines du pittoresque sont alors décrites comme des opérateurs de nos pratiques vis-à-vis de l’espace. Aujourd’hui, c’est de nouveau ce lien entre expérience et représentation que je tente de mettre au jour pour faire apparaître ce que j’ai appelé le « libre parcours ». / Coming from the world of landscape practice, I could not ignore the dialectical movement that develops between the physical experience of space and its representation. The research is organized from trips and detours about concrete spaces and sometimes external theoretical proposals from the field of landscape practice. It is through this dual component that the landscape and its representation in situ : the garden, or its representations, will be explored. The approach is not culturalist, in the sense that this word has taken in the debate of contemporary ideas. It is nonetheless articulated to a strong presence of culture in understanding the phenomena related to the landscape. This position allows both the criticism of a formalism pressed ona powerful "picturialism", and a new naturalism just born and alreadyacademic who tries, unsuccessfully, the criticism of it, and fall however intothe same trap of a form declined from a dogma, geometric on one side andecological on the other, without consider the relationship of the applicationof this dogma to the bodies that inhabit spaces. The initial input by the picturesque category is not abandoned. In fact, unknown to us more often, the picturesque's features give us the foundation for our aesthetic judgment on pictorial or gardened representations of nature. Contemporary forms of the picturesque are then described as operators to our space practices. Today it is the link between experience and representation that I try tobring to light to show what I have called "le libre parcours."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references.

This research reports on a project concerned with the relationship between the person and the environment in the context of achieving a contemplative or existential state – a state which can be experienced either consciously or subconsciously. The need for such a study originated with the desire to contribute to the design of multicultural spaces which could be used for a range of activities within the public and the personal arena, activities including contemplation, meditation and prayer. The concept of ‘sacred’ is explored in the literature review and in primary interviews with the participants of this study. Given that the word ‘sacred’ is highly value-laden and potentially alienating for some people, it was decided to use the more accessible term ‘contemplative’. The outcomes of the study inform the practice of interior design and architecture which tends currently to neglect the potential for all spaces to be existentially meaningful. Informed by phenomenological methodology, data were collected from a diverse group of people, using photo-elicitation and interviews. The technique of photo-elicitation proved to be highly effective in helping people reveal their everyday lived experience of contemplative spaces. Reflective analysis (Van Manen 2000) was used to explore the data collected. The initial stage of analysis produced three categories of data: varying conceptions of contemplation, aspects of the person involved in the contemplation, and aspects of environment involved in contemplation. From this, it was found that achieving a state of contemplation involves both the person and the environment in a dialectic process of unfolding. The unfolding has various physical, psycho-social, and existential dimensions or qualities which operate sequentially and simultaneously. Two concepts emerged as being central to unfolding: ‘Cleansing’ and ‘Nothingness’. Unfolding is found to comprise the Core; Distinction; Manifestation; Cleansing; Creation; and Sharing. This has a parallel with Mircea Eliade’s (1959) definition of sacred as something that manifests itself as different from the profane. The power of design, re-contextualization through utility and purpose, and the existential engagements between the person and environment are used as a basis for establishing the potential contribution of the study to interior design. In this way, the study makes a contribution to our understanding of how space and its elements inspire, support and sustain person environment interaction – particularly at the existential level – as well as to our understanding of the multi-dimensional and holistic nature of this interaction. In addition, it points to the need for a phenomenological re-conceptualisation of the design/client relationship. In summary, the contributions of this research are: the exploration of contemplative experience as sacred experience; an understanding of the design of space as creating engagement between person and environment; a rationale for the introduction of a phenomenological approach to the relationship between designer and clients; and raising awareness of the spiritual in a holistic approach to design.

<p>Poetičko dejstvo mesta predstavlja oblik delovanja prostora koji u čoveku proizvodi doživljaj. Ovaj fenomen je predstavljen iz potrebe da objasni suštinu i prirodu arhitektonskog prostora kao i način na koji prostor vrši dejstvo. Osnovna problemska i istraživačka tema ovog rada jeste uzročno-posledična veza između fizičkog prostora i mesta, koja se zasniva na dijaloškom procesu usled kog je moguće postići da čovek doživi određeno &bdquo;poetičko stanje&ldquo;.</p> / <p>Poetic place influence is a manner in which space causes a man to have an experience. This phenomenon is introduced in order to explain the essence and nature of architectural space, as well as the manner in which the space produces this effect. The main problem and research subject of the work is cause and effect between physiscal space and place, grounded on dilagoue process which enables a man to experience certain &rsquo;poetic state&rsquo;.</p>