This video-clip is a survey on Perception and Geometry and illustrates the process of constructing an architectural form, using as case study the preliminary concepts behind my project for the Växjö Tennis Hall. The three-dimensional model presented—its lines and surfaces defining an architectural text akin to a texture, what I call archi-texture or archi-textures (see the related article)—may be seen as a representation of the Platonic notion of chōra. In this context, concrete processes of place intertwine with abstract processes in the realm of space.
The actual forest, the lake, the surrounding buildings and streets, the sun and wind exposure, as well as the particular sounds and odors—these are the concrete processes of place, shaping the physiological and psychological responses of the subject to the environment for which the architectural project is conceived. By contrast, spatial processes belong to the cognitive, ideal, and symbolic realm of plans and hypothesis: they are the ideal operations of the architect and collaborators through which symbolic spatial forms are generated, beginning from phenomenological data and passing through their topological organization, before geometrical considerations come into play.
In this sense, chōra emerges as a third kind of reality—between place, which is concrete and physical, and space, which is abstract and ideal. The abstract realm of space enables us to imagine and adapt an almost infinite range of actions and behaviors to places, and to project future transformations of place through envisioned actions and behaviors. Chōra is thus neither place nor space, yet it is both: the medium in which the two converge—this is chōra.
Neither place nor space, yet both place and space: this is chōra
Here you can find a description of the Växjö Tennis Hall, a project awarded at the World Architecture Community Awards. If you are interested in the different design phases, this link provides access to the video-clip I presented at the architectural competition for which the project was originally conceived. The video-clip retraces the successive phases of constructing an archi-texture, beginning with the phenomenological analysis of place and culminating in the topological and geometrical conceptualizations that underpin the creation of architectural space.
Image Credits
Featured Image: Vaxjo Tennis Hall, preliminary study, Alessandro Calvi Rollino Architetto
