Fundamental Concepts of Architecture : The Vocabulary of Spatial Situations

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hell is added only at the symbolic level. In a way analogous
to the scenic processing of the active climbing of a staircase,
spatial relations of all kinds can be scenically shaped by
architecture by taking a specific form of movement or type
of action, that is to say the respective > use for which the
space is intended as a point of departure and treating it sceni-
cally.
To be sure, we do not wish to constantly experience our
own activities and movements scenically, but generally pre-
fer to perform and perceive them incidentally. Yet the scenic
potential of an architecturally shaped situation offers an op-
portunity to heighten the intensity of spatial experience as de-
sired through special attentiveness, and to take advantage of
the opportunities for making entrances that are offered by
architecture in the framework of everyday life as well. But en
passant as well, the scenic power of an atmospherically dense
architectural design is subtly noticeable in ways that allows us
to become suddenly aware of the special features of a situation.
Literature: Frey 1925/1946; Janson/Jäkel 2007; Plessner
1923, 1928

The interplay of separation of and connection between spaces
is constitutive for architecture, and becomes concrete in
screening. It encompasses two complementary partial pro-
cesses, that of entering and exiting. This presupposes a de-
marcation between various rooms, and at the same time the
possibility of overcoming it. The opposition between division
and connection that is kept by screening effects in particu-
lar the relationship between > inside and outside, and can be
traced back to a primordial architectural act, the delimitation
of a space of human experience by means of a shell, and its
exclusion from the continuum of natural space. In general,
phenomena of screening are also evident in the relationship
between all types of spaces or spatial divisions that are closed
off or opened up to one another by degrees.

Screening

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