Architecture as device: Estrangement theory from literature to architecture

Abstract

What is the estrangement of architecture? The concept has been incessantly mentioned by academics while there seems to be a lack of discussion systematically sorting out the significance, influence,and origins of estrangement asanarchitectural concept. Thiswork aims to discern the meaning of estrangement from the beginning and its process of entering the field of architecture. The first part is expected to answer the following questions: what is estrangement’s original meaning in the field of literature and its variantions? The second part determines what estrangement is in architecture and in what form estrangement is represented according to these arguments. The third part points out the difference during this translation fromliterature to architecture and demonstrates the reasonable inference thatmay actually compose the possibleway of applying the estranging technique in architecture.

Key words： Estrangement; Architectural strategy; Literature concept; Decontextualization; Anthropopathic architecture