| Title |
Anchorage and Concentration of Being through Architecture |
| Abstract |
This article delves into the power of material objects to convert parts of neutral space into human realms in which we can anchor and concentrate our being. Concrete spaces which we experience in the every day environment are constituted by orders of trangible objects and are manifest as places. Six basic place-types are considered in topological relation to the objects concerned. We live first of all on the earth (an on-place). The solidity and permanence of the ground on which we stand reassure our sense of being. A vertical protrusion such as a column, a tower and a phyramid distinguishes the space around it (an around-place), emanatong an air of stength and self-reliance. A planar wall a place along its side(a side-place), characterised by a sense of protection and repose. Two walls or buildings running parallel to each other define a volumn without actual enclosure (a between-place). Complete enclosure in the horizontal direction by a set of walls connected end to end or by a continuous curved wall creates an unmistakable inside (an in-place), characterised by a strong sense of quietude and protection, if not of confinement and seclusion. A canopy, a roof or an overhead plane creates beneath it a unique sheltered place (an under-place), which reassures one's sense of being without obstructing either visual or physical movements in the horizontal direction. In the last section the phenomenon of home is discussed as the emphatic culmination of belonging to a place and in this light the purpose of architecture is speculated upon. |