226 THE
ARCHITECTURE OF
HUMANISM
IV
Butbesidesspaceswhichhave
merelylength
and
breadth—
surfaces,that istosay, atwhich welook
—
architecture gives us spaces of three
dimensions
mwhich
we stand. Andhereisthe verycentreof
architectural art. The functions
of the arts,
at
many
points, overlap
;
architecture has much that
it holds in common
with sculpture, and more
that
it shares with music. But it has alsoits peculiar
provinceand a
pleasure which is typicallyitsown.
It has the monopoly ofspace./Architecturealone
of the Arts
can give space its full
value.X It can
surround uswith a void of three dimensions
;
and
whatever delight may be derived from that is
the
giftofarchitecturealone. Paintingcandepictspace
;
poetry, like Shelley's, can recall its image
; music
cangiveusitsanalogy
;
but
architecturedealswith
spacedirectly
;
itusesspaceasamaterial
andsets
usinthemidst.
Criticism
has singularly failed to recognise this
supremacy in architecture of
spatial values. The
tradition of criticism
is practical. The
habits of
our mind are fixed on matter.
We talk of what
occupies ourtoolsand
arrests oureyes.
Matteris
fashioned
;
space comes.
Space is
'
nothing
'
—
^a
mere negation of the
solid. And
thus wecometo
overlook
it.
