142
successively staggered spatial units, or split up by an encoun-
ter with an edge, its flow nonetheless maintained by angles,
curves and arches. Only seldom is the gaze able to identify the
actual spatial order of an architectural structure, for as a rule,
we see only partial views in elevation. On the contrary, it is only
the plan – which we never catch a glimpse of, but only traverse
successively – which reveals the overall interrelationship of
spatial complexes and possibilities of movement in space.
Literature: Klopfer 1919; Plessner 1923> memory, place
> concept (architectural), order, perspective, proportion, scaleBecause our perceptual powers already structure sensory
stimuli into integral entities, a building never appears as a
disconnected accumulation of individual forms. This is why
the figure of a building, the form of the surrounding space,
the spatial structure of a town, the contours of a landscape, or
even a movement sequence (> figure of movement) is grasp-
able as a coherent gestalt. In contrast to the term form, often
used as a synonym of gestalt, but actually more general in
its significance, gestalt represents a holistic principle accord-
ing to which the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Our senses necessarily convey perceptual stimuli as ordered
gestalts, never as amorphous and diverse stimuli. Already dur-
ing the process of perception, the parts shape themselves into
a totality, one that is set into relief as figure against ground,
i.e. it is set off from a larger complex of perceptual stimuli.
The unity of spatial perception as well is not simply added
subsequently through conscious thought or judgement, but
secured via sensory activity itself.
Effective in architecture are many of the rules according
to which such acts of integration are experienced – rules that
are described by Gestalt psychology as the ‘Laws of Gestalt’.Genius loci
Geometry
Gestalt