Fundamental Concepts of Architecture : The Vocabulary of Spatial Situations

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To roam spontaneously and aimlessly is one of the pleasures

offered by architecture and by the city; and moreover in two

senses. In one instance, it is a question of straying through a

tangle of spaces and routes, of meandering and even of losing

one’s way; in the other, the situation allows us to saunter freely

and unhindered across an open plaza, or to move across

the floor of an expansive hall. Common to both is a type of

movement the directionality of which is not prescribed by the

architecture, but follows arbitrary impulse, to some extent

without definite intention, according to individual whim. The

way forward is decided spontaneously from moment to mo-

ment. Without travelling towards any goal or destination, and

with changes of direction following one’s pleasure, one is car-

ried along, absorbed entirely in the present moment and the

architectural experience it offers.

In the first instance, the individual delights in the rapid

and unanticipated reversals of direction that are triggered by

continual changes of situation. In the unpredictable situations

that are encountered within the city or spatial structure hav-

ing high > density and without recognizable directional cues,

boundaries or centre, one yields to surprise, satisfying one’s

curiosity about unexpected discoveries, yearning to see what

lies around the next corner, what is likely to emerge from be-

hind a wall or pillar. More than others, this mode of move-

ment is an intensive form of experience, the appropriation of

architectural space and of the city. There is an affinity with

the so-called dérive (French: to drift, to be carried along) of

the Situationists, which seeks out a self-determined, free in-

terpretation of urban structures, in which context roaming is

held to contribute a subjective image of the city. In roaming,

one conquers an unknown space and penetrates into diffuse

spatial > depths. If the surroundings become too unpredict-

able, this mode of movement shifts towards that of wander-

ing around in a labyrinth, within which one enjoys going

astray, but at the same time fears becoming lost. While we

associate such wandering with > movement on a plane, such

Roaming