Fundamental Concepts of Architecture : The Vocabulary of Spatial Situations

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Architecture has well-developed means at its disposal for or-

ganizing the act of entrance in such a way that we do not sim-

ply barge into a building without preparation. These means

are used to lead us into a building or architectural complex

through multiple steps that prepare us for what can be ex-

pected inside. This spatial introduction is effected by means of

a gradual process of attunement, > intimation, and partial an-

ticipation of that which awaits us, or tension is built through

contrasts of room size, lighting, or atmosphere, or through

changes in gradient or direction that heighten arrival through

the unexpected.

Adolf Loos referred to such strategies, which he often de-

ployed in his designs, as forms of ‘introduction’ (Kulka 1931,

36f), by which he meant a > sequence of spatial elements and

segments, a succession of perceptions through which one

is meant to be ‘slowly prepared and nonetheless surprised’,

whose > dramaturgy allows the contents of the building, the

goal of a sequence, to seem remarkable, or to appear in a cer-

tain light. This introduction may be composed of a series of

phases or segments, each of which arouses new expectations

in relation to the whole, and each of which is either confirmed

by its successor or enhanced in effect via contrast. Step by

step, the total effect approaches the impression that arrivals

are intended to receive.

Literature: Kulka 1931

> angle and corner, centring, furnishing, interior, postures,

residence, roof, space-containing wall

> body (architectural), density (spatial), field, force field,

heaviness and lightness, sensory perception

Through spatial inversion, the outside is turned into the in-

side, and vice versa. To be sure, every inner courtyard is a

form of inversion. Strictly speaking, however, a literal inver-

Introduction

Introversion

Intuitive form, intuitive force

Inversion