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As the smallest habitable unit, the spatial cell is a material-
ized form of the individual sphere in two respects. First, it
can be regarded as a form of the most intense spatial concen-
tration within which the human individual fully controls his
or her environment, equipping it with only the most neces-
sary objects, and keeping everything he needs within reach.
The immediate correspondence between spatial requirements
and spatial delimitations makes the envelope a matrix within
which the free spatial development of activities can leave their
traces as imprint and self-expression without other influences.
For people who wish to ensconce themselves as a response
to a sense of insecurity caused by the strain of a confusing
and threatening environment, for example, the cell functions
as a retreat from the world. Cocooning like this in a private
residence characterizes the general social trend of withdrawal
into private life. The word’s provenance from the Latin celare,
to conceal, corresponds to such connotations of introversion.
For biological cells as well, the cell walls are decisive, and a
cell is always closed in relative terms towards the outside. Its
relation to the outside is defined not by openings, but by an
agglomeration of cellular units of similar design and dimen-
sions. In architecture, this corresponds to the organization of
capsule hotels, emergency accommodations, and holding or
prison cells. In fact, the apparent sameness of cells often indi-
cates the similarity of their functions or of user status.
The additive repetition of the identical is often applied
as a principle of arrangement. In architecture, however, the
individual cell is often extended and complemented by a col-
lective counterpart intended for community use. Examples
are cloisters, student residences, and ocean liners. On the one
hand, cell or honeycomb structures arranged in uniform ag-
glomerations without such complementarity express the egal-
itarian order of individual living spaces; on the other, they
tend towards monotonous uniformity.
If we regard cells as the materialization of the distance
zones investigated by American anthropologists, which peo-Cell