Architecture as Re-Presentation of Corporeality -From G. Semper's Bekleidung to Herzog & de Meuron's Surface-
The purpose of this study is to analyse Herzog & de Meuron's surface, which represents contemporary architectural trends toward surface. Semper's Bekleidung theory and the important architectural theories about surface were compared according to the conceptual opposition between representation and re-presentation, which is borrowed from Kastern Harris, and again Martin Heidegger. Representation means a sort of translation into a different medium. It doesn't preserve the material identity of what it represent. Re-presentation, however, celebrates the material employed. The tension between representation and re-presentation have activated the architectural history Contemporary architects have emphasized re-presentation at the expense of representation. This trends relate with digital technology, which demands surface or skin independent from depth or interior. Buildings that deserve to be called works of architecture invite us to attend to material in a different way Re-presenting its materials, the work of architecture reveals its being. Such revelation requires that materials work in a way that invites us to step back from our usual involvement with things. It's the poetics of re-presentation, which is emboded in the Herzog & de Meuron's architectural works.