• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.123
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• pp.135-164
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• 2012

This paper aims to clarify Heidegger's concept of 'play(Spiel)'. Through Heidegger's ideas of play, we are going to present that the concept of play, as frequently argued, not only stay with playful side associated with human mental activity but also like with further perspectives. In other words, we will show the ontological meaning of the Heidegger' concept of play. First, in Heidegger's early thinking, the play appears in 'play of life' or 'play of transcendence'. In contrast, in his later thinking, the play appears in 'play-space', 'Time-play-space', 'mirror-play', 'play of silent', etc. Thus, we have tried to clarify the Heidegger's concept of play that divided as the starting point of his turn(Kehre).

• Journal of architectural history
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.67-83
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• 2010

The purpose of this research is to rethink Alvar Aalto's architecture on the basis of the aesthetic concept of play. This attempt is valid because he had asserted the importance of play in his design. But more fundamentally, his critical view of the instrumentalised rationalism implied the idea that a human being is "Man the Player" as well as "Man the Thinker", of which theory was elaborated in Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens (1938). Premised on it, this paper investigated the evolution of the play idea in aesthetics and located Aalto's concept within the map. Summing up, his play was an intuitively grasped desire opposed to a rational requirement, which leads to a dialectical synthesis. This schema is similar to that of Schiller, in which Spiel reconciles the reason and the sense. However, Aalto's play could be differentiated into the "astonishingly rational" and "a jest", each of which roughly corresponds to the Spieltrieb (play impulse) and the sinnliche Trieb (sensuous impulse) in Schiller's thinking. On the other hand, Aalto's architecture illustrates play that could be interpreted as the overflow of surplus energy. This play is the very concept that can bridge the gap in the form-function formula of modern architecture. Aalto's play idea seemed to basically originate from his personality but its value must be confirmed by the Finnish litterateur Yrjo Hirn as Aalto mentioned in his statements (1953 & 1972). It appears that Aalto's play concept was materialised in architecture through his typical design language, such as the undulating wall, the aperspective space, the imitation of nature and the collage of heterogenous elements. However, we should be careful not to reductively analyse the application of play in practise. As Huizinga's comprehensive theory suggests, the play element exists in any cultural areas including any architectural activities. In conclusion, this paper argues that Alvar Aalto the Homo Ludens presented the possibility of critical rationalism in modern architecture by imbuing dry modernism with "the life enhancing charm" of "the art of play".