Outsider ethics and marginalized aesthetics: The value of contemporary environmental philosophies for designing sustainable architecture

In this paper, I will explore the work of two contemporary environmental philosophers: Gernot Böhme, celebrated for his philosophy of architectural atmosphere although less known for his work on ecological aesthetics, and Luce Irigaray, a French philosopher renowned for her work inspiring a generation of feminist scholars but less well discussed for her work on environmental ethics. For Böhme, our designed environments are experienced through atmosphere; we feel our own presence in a built environment and feel the environment in which we are present. His approach to design depends on feeling experienced through being in space rather than seeing space or imagining it. Irigaray, on the other hand, now in her eighties, distinguishes experience as different between the sexes, not as already cultural, but rather to be cultivated. Her philosophy is provocative and challenged by many; while on the margins of Parisian intellectual society, she still works, teaches, and writes prolifically about environmental ethics. This paper examines how these two marginalized ecological philosophers can benefit the field of environmental design.