Fundamental Concepts of Architecture : The Vocabulary of Spatial Situations

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possibilities; on the other, they set limits to these possibilities,

and are not suitable for all purposes. They do not predeter-

mine use according to specific standards, but endow it with a

specific spatial character.

Literature: Alexander et al. 1977; Führ 2002

> ceiling, hall, roof

> gaze, landscape, movement, route, urban design

> body (human), form character, directedness, gaze, heaviness

and lightness, postures, staircase, symmetry, tectonics, tower

> courtyard, intermediate space, inversion, square and street

> gaze, sensory perception

> axis, depth, dramaturgy, garden

Besides providing illumination, the architectural significance

of > windows and some other openings is their provision of

views into an outside of a building, their function as double-

sided visual trajectories for overcoming spatial division. Un-

derlying the act of looking into and out of a building is not

only the opposition between interior and exterior, closedness

and openness, but in particular the opposition between the

two directions: into and out of. Each of these, in turn, is itself

experienced as ambivalent. A view into a building or interior

room indulges our curiosity, is stimulated by the thrill of fan-

tasy, but also contains a moment of intrusiveness, of threat or

aggression.

In directing the gaze towards the outside, we take part

actively in the external surroundings, perhaps, emerging only

tentatively from our protective container, risking a cautious

glance. Corresponding to this are the opposed attitudes of

those who gaze and those who are exposed to the gaze.

A view into the interior of a residence through an > open-

ing that breaks open the separation and the protection of the

private realm pierces a barrier and risks damaging the inti-

Vaulting
Velocity
Verticality

Vestibule
View
View axis

Views into/out of