Architecture makes it possible to appreciate space as a holistic experience. Architecture is an expression of its time and seduces people into understanding space as a sensual experience.
The title of the course, “Polytopes”, is based on installations that Iannis Xenakis used for a series of spatial compositions. The word polytope is composed of the two Ancient Greek words: poly= many and topos= place, place. The title is intended to describe installations in which spaces of light, colour, sound and architecture overlap in one place.
The mediatisation of architecture has enveloped space and the city in light and sound, and we often experience our environment as a threat of influences rather than enrichment. However, architecture is not the all-round provision of opportunities for staging, but the conscious use of means.
Architecture is the real image of space that our brains can experience as the perception of space. The course tries to get to the bottom of things that can convey an idea to trigger a sensual experience in the viewer. Spaces that amaze us are usually not loud, colourful or quirky. They impress with noble restraint and the targeted, moderate use of resources. Nothing is left to chance.
The staging of space has become ubiquitous today, in the supermarket as well as in the light-controlled office. It is therefore all the more important for students to learn how to use these means consciously and to know which stagings come about. It is not the individual components but the structure of different elements such as material, form, light, colour, proportion and dimension that distinguishes the experience of architecture from space. Examples by artists such as James Turrell clearly show the boundary between architecture and artwork. If art knows how to dissolve spaces within their limits, it is the task of architecture to create the framework and define limits.
The course tries to make these limits tangible and to create awareness in dealing with space.
The term space has multiple interpretations. Spatial design means the staging of the space. Its setting conditions also its use. Particularly the boundary between interior and exterior plays here an important role. Articulating space is the function of architecture - space remains the focal point. The scenic staging and configuration of space entails the examination of various layouts, the study in how a user confronts these spaces.
Introduction to polytopes, perception and spatial experience, semiotics, visual, acoustical, haptic, spaces, examples of staged spaces Intersections, horizon, spatial form, space former, exterior and interior, transparency, dissolving of space, animating spaces
Principles of color composition, pigments and color media, color wheel, color symbolism and theory, the eye, subtractive, additive color mixing
Color in space, color perspective, color effect, synesthesia
Light in space, daylight positions, effects of daylight/artificial lighting, phenomena of artificial lighting, atmospheric lighting
manifestations of space, from endless space to absolute space , examples of applied spatial concepts from Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Friedrich Kiesler, etc.
Architecture, one influenced by differing factors such as genetic conditions and variable interactions, both technical and natural, forms a medium into which the individual, together with his needs, finds his/her place. The perception or experiencing of space, on the other hand, is subjective, being interpreted differently by each user. Architecture offers the possibility to react, to have an influence on this relationship or system, and consequently, to adapt the spaces to the individual s needs. Each person possesses a unique timeline and perception of space. It may be our goal as architects to mould space into ideal landscapes, ideally suited to a user s needs. Spatial perception varies from person to person. The idea of the apparatus as an extension of the human body, a second skin so to speak, can be applied to the realm of architecture, architecture as a customized instrument, influencing space to match a user s needs. With imagined and built spaces as points of departure, the course will examine and interpret the discrete elements of space. The interpretation places space at the center of examination - an immersion in the cosmos, space, and time.
