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Going beyond the physical demands made on space, the sense
of personal well-being requires a scope for spatial develop-
ment that serves the vibrancy and echoes of movements and
activities. A functional pragmatic measurement of space in-
dicates the required space for various postures and activi-
ties, or as we read in Ernst Neufert’s Architect’s Data, ‘the
space between items of furniture required by the individual
in order to undertake the necessary extensions of the hand
and work comfortably, but without wasting space’. (2000)
Effective as a space of resonance, on the other hand, is that
spatial volume that is not required immediately for the bodily
displacement of space or for real movement, nor for the per-
formance of activities, but which instead extends the required
space to include a spatial reserve. The term resonance space
(Latin: resonare, to echo or resonate) should be understood
as being analogous to the term resonating body, i.e. a space
that amplifies sound by being brought to a state of resonance.
Stimulated by a resonance space, then, is an expanded spatial
volume that is required for the resonance and amplification
of our feeling for space, which would otherwise be dampened
and hindered in its impulsion towards expansion.
In some instances, one experiences a sense of spatial con-
striction when our presence and movement in a room is re-
stricted to the practically necessary. A ceiling directly above
one’s head, for example, is experienced as oppressive, because
it provides insufficient space for resonance. Even with activi-
ties that require minimal space, one must be able to take a
few steps freely in each direction. In particular occasions for
which the mind needs to roam free require a spatial volume
for the greater > extension of our > personal space, one that
offers reverberation, that allows us to expand without los-
ing ourselves in boundlessness. Spaces of resonance, how-
ever, offer a passive echo only when they seem homogene-
ous and tranquil, and do not offer stimulus. When they for
this reason remain in darkness, small openings that admit
light into the depths of the volume or weak reflections avoidResonance space