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stands directly before our > gaze, or in our path, a building
seems to confront our own bodies with its mass. Its front of-
fers resistance, calling upon us initially to maintain a certain
distance, while giving the measure of its spatial sphere of in-
fluence (> space shadow).
In Latin, the words frons and facies mean ‘face’. When
looking at what is vis-à-vis, one is also looked upon, albeit
only when standing face to face, not when merely passing.
The front of the building, however, may also shift to face us
as we move (> movement) along a street, i.e. when a street is
skewed or contains a bend, so that often enough, moreover,
the facade is shifted out of alignment with the street. The in-
tensity of such a confrontation is dependent upon the position
of our vis-à-vis. An explicitly frontal position blocks forward
movement; a gently oblique positioning only slows us down,
leading further and dissolving the confrontation. Things are
similar with the diagonal positioning of a wedge form that
bifurcates our path. A dramaturgical conclusion is formed by
confrontation with a visual goal, which is required by a tra-
jectory of movement as a special terminus if continuation into
emptiness is to be avoided.
Its > form character, > details and > coloration deter-
mine whether a front approaches or retreats, whether it offers
resistance or seeks closer contact. Either it allows the gaze,
and hence movement, to rebound, or else it encourages ap-
proach, providing our > extension with a goal; as a counter-
part, it welcomes us and invites dialogue, or shuts itself off,
refusing us.
Buildings or three-dimensional objects also confront one
another through their positions, whether this takes the form
of a harmonious vis-à-vis between > facades or > bodies, or
instead of confrontation or conflict between architectural
structures. As long as we move about between them with our
own bodies, we find ourselves occupying the texture of ten-
sion between the sculptural bodies that are distributed within
space, and are exposed to the > force field that spans itself