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‘so that the entrant suddenly stands there, diffusing unease.
If the door instead opens against the space of the room, an
entrance creates a natural anteroom between door and wall,
and the room itself remains undisturbed.’ (1995, 131)Architecture need not necessarily be dramatic, i.e. charged
with tension and capable of arousing emotion. Yet even the
architectural impact of a conventional > introduction be-
comes comprehensible only when consideration is given not
just to the succession of rooms, but to the dramaturgy of
movement through them as well, to the way in which they
combine to configure arrival and entrance. In special cases,
however, dramaturgy may aim more explicitly to create an arc
of tension, a progression that alternates the heightening and
relaxation of tension, and may even lead towards a climax.
Various laws of perception point towards the importance of
variety in captivating and guiding our attention, with its ten-
dency towards a sweeping, always momentary focus.
Originally used in theatrical contexts, the expression
‘dramaturgy’ refers in general to the elaboration of a plot
with attention to dynamism or tranquil permanence, conti-
nuity, and the sequencing of scenes. Dramaturgy endows an
activity with intensity, avoids dull monotony, and strives to
achieve an inner necessity that binds together a > sequence
into a totality or convincingly unifies a > figure of movement.
In architecture, it is a question of arousing expectations and
the building of tension that emerges from them in order to
satisfy them or introduce an unexpected twist. Individual
situations, however, are conceptualized in relation to a larger
spatiotemporal sequence that is in turn regarded as forming a
self-contained unity.
A tension-filled sequence emerges, for example, when the
structure of a building is unrecognizable at first glance, but
is discovered only circuitously, when an exterior contrasts to
an interior, which hence astonishes the visitor upon entering,Dramaturgy