A View of the World

This paper investigates the role of architecture within Hannah Arendt’s conceptual triad of labor, work, and action, particularly challenging its traditional placement under homo faber in The Human Condition. Through a critical dialogue with Arendt’s reflections on durability, worldliness, and the space of appearance, the analysis reframes architecture not merely as fabrication but as a site where political action and plurality manifest. Drawing on Richard Sennett’s reinterpretation of Arendtian praxis and examples such as medieval cathedrals, Jane Jacobs’s urban landscapes, and the adaptive use of balconies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the study reveals architecture’s capacity to foster unpredictable, collective self-revelation. It argues that architectural spaces, rather than being static outcomes of sovereign design, function as arenas of interactive plurality—destabilizing the boundary between poiesis and praxis. This rethinking situates architecture within the vita activa, emphasizing its potential to embody Arendt’s vision of political freedom and human distinctiveness.