41but not all functions. They do not limit the possibilities in the
sense of typical use schemes, but according to particular ten-
dencies; through design, structure of movement, and atmos-
phere, they endow every use with a specific character, giving
meaning to deviations.
Christian Norberg-Schulz has referred to the fact that
‘the forms possess symbolizing capacities, but they become
active and real only through a semantical correlation with
building tasks.’ (1963, 176–177) With the concept of ‘se-
mantic capacity’, Bernhard Schneider has claimed a role for
architecture that cannot be fulfilled by semantically neutral
architecture. For when systems are semantically empty, they
generate only the ‘noise’ of aesthetic arbitrariness. On the
contrary, an architecture that accommodates the user’s acts of
appropriation calls for a high degree of aesthetic complexity.
Semantic capacity, then, refers to the potential of architecture
to endow everyday practice with > meaning under changing
conditions, and to absorb meaning into itself. An architecture
that is thinned out to the level of neutral structures, however,
cannot develop this potential. It would be erroneous to con-
clude that the less architecture is defined, the more open it
is in relation to use. Precisely a characteristic architecture is
necessary if contemporary interpretations are to be tolerated
or elicited.
Although the term ‘capacity’ was first introduced into ar-
chitecture via semiotics (> sign), the idea of capacity in archi-
tecture can be restricted neither to an accretion of meanings
nor of practical uses. We do not experience architecture pri-
marily by ‘reading’ meanings or ‘assigning’ functions; instead,
we comprehend architectural reality through our corporeal
involvement, through which the performative – or better,
scenic – character of our dealings with architecture become
explicit (> scene). The scenic capacity of architecture takes
priority over its functional or semantic capacities. For the sce-
nic experience of architecture as well, architecture does more
than provide a neutral setting. Our movements, our dealings