Lecture 4 Spatial Thinking

Spatial Thinking

Architectural space is formed by the relationships between empty space and objects and among objects and our perception of these relationships.

Spatial Unity:

organization of elements/spaces to read as a whole / the relationship of parts to the whole.

The priciple is that, in the assembly of all the parts, one plus one must equal more than two.¥

Spatial Composition:

composing buildings/rooms/objects in space to identify various spaces and spatial/object relationships. Spatial composition deals with shared perceptions of (mental and physical) the environment.

Spatial Organization:

organizing a series of spaces into one recognizable whole.

Spatial Definition:

using the elements of design to make spaces recognizable and separate from one another.
Axis: a regulating line established by two points in space Enclosure Layering Transition

¥ dominating/claiming: a clear strong shape, set in contrast to the land around it.
¥ merging -- naturalistic blending with the site.
¥ surrounding -- Buildings surrounding a courtyard.
¥ enfronting/defining an edge: a building with an imposing facade that engages some element of the site.

The Organizational scheme:

The Arrangement of rooms within a building: forming a society of rooms.

The plan as a director of movement
To Focus movement
To Direct Movement
To free movement

A single room
Centralized
rooms grouped around a courtyard/ Atrium
Rooms grouped around a central element
Small spaces organized in relation to a single large space

Linear Organization

Clustered organization
a group of rooms related by access and proximity.

Axial organization
A Building can be organized in a path -- along an axis that people may follow as they progress through the building or may follow visually.

Traditional spatial concepts:Architecture as interior space discrete (compartmentalized) rooms.

The building shell is used primarily as a separation from outside to inside. Fenestration - windows and doors primarily as elements on the outside transitional spaces (porches, vestibules, arcaded gallery, loggia etc... developed as a result of the use of interior walls as structural elements Just as the Post Modern movement began to value pre-modern meanings and ornament/ Pre-moderm Spatial conceptions also began to be imitated.

The free plan:

architecture as both volume and interior space... Came about because of changes in both philosophy and technology designers were entranced by the fourth dimension of time and wanted to make buildings flow in space and time.Modern art as evidenced by the cubists dealt with the inclusion of time as evidenced by movement into art.

Modernist inclusion of both volume and void/ continual interpentrations of interior and exterior space.

Characteristics of ÒFree PlanÓ spaces

The building shell is used primarily as a connection from outside to inside elements that begin inside may be carried to the outside spaces.
Floor and ceiling planes are often designed to flow uninterrupted from one room to the next to act as spatail unifiers.

Free-plan deals with movement, level changes and visual accessability to define space.

Three Modern Architects Wright, Corbusier, and Van der Rohe
all used the idea of the free plan -- but in defferent interpretations.

Wright broke the box
Corbusier called his version plan libre
Mies Van der Rohe based his designs on proportion and sequence.

Spatial Composition of rooms

Layering

A room within a room-- Layering by means of a row of columns etc.The ways that rooms connect.
Penetration: overlapping of different spaces
Addition: Such as the proximity of parallel spaces in a basilica
Focus
Enclosure: the wall plane has the greatest effect as a spatial boundary as it is perpendicular to our line of sight.

1. paralell planes:

a set of paralell vert. planes defines a field between them, the open ends of a field imply direction (an axis) and make the space extroverted in nature one stop the movement by introducing floor, ceiling changesor continue the movement by continuing those planes. If one of the planes is differentiated another axis may be formed which modulates the directional quality of the space.

U-shaped configuration of planes, defines a space with an inward focus and an ouward orientation, again one can reinforce the inward or the outward focus by making changes to the elements.

Openings affect the orientation and directional qualities of the space, if one enclosing plane is differentiated it will achieve visual dominance.
The thickness of the wall separating two spaces is exposed at the doorway-- this depth determines the degree of separation as we pass from one space to another. Small windows framed by a wall provide outlook but maintain enclosure. Large or lightly framed windows can visually expand a room beyond its physical boundaries.

The shape of rooms:

Square Roomsshed vaulted and gable ceiling forms give direction to the space, while domes and pyramids emphisize the center of the space.

Circular Rooms
-- self centering: directional forces are equal, can be freestanding elements within a rectangular form Curved walls -- concave/encloses space; convex/pushes outward.

Rectangular Rooms
--movement along an axis: a space whose length greatly exceeds its width encourages movement along its long dimension.