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by a particular standpoint constitutes a typical precondition,
one that is generated, for example, by guiding the > gaze by
means of a constricting frame. As a prospect or perspective
(Latin: perspicere, to look through), that through which the
gaze passes, i.e. the > window (which also always blocks
something from view), converts what it frames into a picture,
with the glass pane materialized as a picture plane. As a side
effect of this heightening of meaning, its pictorial character
may make this prospect appear > picturesque, but hence also
un-architectural. With the centring of the direction of the gaze
by a frame or through the beholder’s position, for example
along a spatial axis, the central-perspectival impact of stag-
gering in depth and the convergence of the lines of sight be-
come noticeable as a kind of pull into > depth. Such effects
are supported by structural elements or colour perspective
(> colour). This convergence is heightened through tiered fun-
nel forms, which cause the transitional space of a portal to
seem extended in depth, for example, thereby lengthening and
delaying its traversal via perspectival means. The trapezoidal
shape of a forecourt that widens out towards the facade has
the reverse effect. Perspectival effects, then, can be deployed
in subtle ways, or in extreme cases, for the sake of extreme
forms of optical deception. In certain spatial situations, for
example the Baroque plans of towns or squares, perspective
emerges as dominant, assigning the beholder his or her place,
to perceive and interpret the architecture from a specific point
of view, and in accordance with a preconceived intention.
With such objectives, schemas of this kind were consistently
used for the architecture of authority, for absolutist and au-
thoritarian planning.
Ever since the perspectival centring of the gaze and the
thought has lost its binding force, i.e. because cultural and
social changes were accompanied by an altered understand-
ing of space, the forms of spatial experience in architecture
have changed as well. Convergence and frontality are circum-
vented when the skewed positioning of buildings and walls