What, then, do we mean with the word ‘place’? Obviously, we mean something more than abstract location. We mean a totality made up of concrete things having material substance, shape, texture, and colour. Together these things determine an ‘environmental character’ which is the essence of place. In general, a place is given as such a character or ‘atmosphere.’ A place…
01. Architecture, City and Landscape as a Total Environment I conclude this series of three articles focused on place, architecture and urban planning. While in The Place of Architecture The Architecture of Place – Part I: The Identity of Places I have spoken about the identity of places, proposing that the identity of a place should be understood in holistic…
This article is a critical response to a conventional mode of interpreting architecture, which goes back to the XIX century and which takes ‘space’ as the most relevant interpretative key for the discipline.[1] This long-established traditional vision overshadows the not-often recognized fact that for any space to exist (either architectural, sociocultural, or pseudo-physical) place must be already on the stage.…