“Is happiness mere technique”?

Abstract

Architecture has not served consumption for millennia; the “functions” it fulfilled were rather nominal: it was not the function but the mission that prevailed. A mission to organize the afterlife. The fact that all cultures considered burial as a way to eternal and blissful life contributed little to the happiness of the living derived from architecture. The problem of organizing happiness is very “young” in architecture. And it still raises more questions than ready answers. However, this problem uncovers the layers of architectural consciousness and tradition which are difficult or impossible to uncover otherwise.

Keywords

• architectural happiness
• surrogates of happiness in architecture
• psychologism
• ontological sources of happiness
• desire
• traditionalism and progressism in architecture