213ance, while a building in particular is oriented in relation to
views of the vicinity. The way in which one occupies a build-
ing is strongly dependent upon whether it is oriented towards
a street, towards a characteristic landscape, or in relation to a
specific neighbourhood.
The orientations of individual buildings also determine
their interplay within urban space and within the landscape.
An architectural > concept responds to this > context in the
sense that its orientation towards a river, a public square, or
a particular view is reflected in its overall gesture and in the
configuration of rooms, their openings, and their > direction-
ality.
The way in which a work of architecture is oriented to-
wards its surroundings is a precondition for the ability of in-
habitants to orient themselves within its spaces – whether of a
building or of a city. To this end, they must have the ability to
form a picture of the > spatial structure as a whole. As a rule,
this occurs through the production of a cognitive or mental
map; and moreover in two different ways. Either one imagines
the space as a more or less complete structure; or, since the
ground plan is not immediately perceptible, the positioning
of spaces is conceptualized alternatively as a linear sequence
of movements or actions between individual stations. Our liv-
ing space is oriented towards the object world, and exploits
only certain structural features of a given space, allowing
memory to become stamped by them, for example features
of access or accoutrements deemed essential for habitual ac-
tivities. Specific movement sequences and > figures of move-
ment are stored in memory and are called up for the sake of
orientation, although they may not actually be re-enacted. As
a consequence, the body ‘knows’ where a door or wall is, and
how many steps are required to traverse a room.
Architectural design can facilitate orientation within the
space of a building or a city, for instance, through incisive
spatial > structures and > order, through vistas, > axes and
routes. Reoccurring schemata of spatial order allow us to