Fundamental Concepts of Architecture : The Vocabulary of Spatial Situations

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building heights, the rewards of effortful ascent are sup-

planted by the astonishing sensation of being carried upwards

into unexpected heights without effort, while standing immo-

bilized in a moving capsule. The glazed cabin of an elevator

that is set in open space, on the other hand, offers the unfa-

miliar experience of gliding vertically through space.

The hazards and the hubris of the tower construction,

from the building blocks assembled by children all the way

to the tower of Babylon, as well as the ambition of striving

towards a summit and the masculine symbolism of erection:

all of these are characteristic of the significance of the tower

as a gesture that is designed to impress. The tower is visible

from afar as a legible sign of power and aggression, while

the multiplication of towers in metropolises necessarily de-

tracts from their symbolic force. As a solitary landmark, the

tower provides a point of spatial orientation within a town or

landscape, sets an accent, and establishes relationships within

a network of locations. But to be successful, a tower must

function on two different scales, accommodating distant con-

nections in the heights, and complex local relationships in

proximity to its base.

Literature: Meyer 1996

> square and street, urban design

> memory, monument, time

> filter, gaze, light, surface, transparency

Literally, transparency means ‘permeability to light’. We refer

to elements and materials as transparent when we are able to

see through them (1). We speak of translucency when light

passing through a material produces only a schematic im-

pression of the objects behind it (2). Of special importance

for architecture, however, is a different conceptualization of

transparency, according to which situations with multiple

Town planning
Tradition
Translucency

Transparency