The well-known German philosopher Martin Heidegger, in
a lecture in the 1950s, suggested that distinguished German
planners and intellectuals should think of «dwelling» and
«building» as inseparable dimensions of being human. Yet
the present seems to be leading us toward the peculiar condition whereby not only are «building» and «dwelling» radically separated, but the incessant construction of buildings
and infrastructure by human beings seems to be leading the
entire planet toward its paradoxical and radical uninhabitability. The ecological crisis we are currently going through
can in fact be thought of as a crisis of «dwelling», a crisis
in which what is at issue is as much our relationship with
technology as with language.
Beginning with a careful analysis of Heidegger’s reflection,
the essay traces the brief and enigmatic biblical passages
on Babel in which architecture unequivocally opens up to
the problem of language and identity. The purpose is to
show how the nexus between dwelling and building is in
fact as essential as it is complex and problematic. This nexus of facts shows its radicality if «building» succeeds in being thought of and especially experienced not only as a poietic act directed toward the production of a work, but as a
power in which both the ability to do and the ability not to
do are inseparable. Perhaps rethinking this nexus and its
implications with language and otherness today can be an
opportunity to think architecturally of ways forward that
can traverse the present
