Reframing Anthropocentric Material Culture in Architecture: From Rhetoric to Embodied Practice

This chapter examines how anthropocentric architectural thinking is expressed through material culture and whether human-centered intentions are realized in practice. Anthropocentrism is understood here as a design orientation focused on human needs, perception, experience, and well-being. The chapter connects this perspective with embodied material experience, material ethics, ecological interdependence, and planetary responsibility. Four case studies—Unité d’Habitation, New Gourna, Maggie’s Oldham, and Alnatura Arbeitswelt—illustrate how material choices influence sensory experience, maintenance, cultural acceptance, environmental performance, and long-term habitability. The analysis shows that materials are not inherently human-centered or sustainable; their significance depends on how they are sourced, produced, experienced, maintained, and reused. Reframing anthropocentric material culture therefore requires moving from declared human-centered intentions toward materially responsible architectural practice.