On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of RSaP—Rethinking Space and Place (September 2015–September 2025) — I offer a brief reflection on this journey through the study of spatiality so far and on the road ahead. For at least a century the classical meanings of the paired terms space and place have been under sustained scrutiny across many fields: from…
We hope to return to the fundamental material nature of what we do… Architecture is essentially all the immaterial processes of society solidified in physical form. BJARKE INGELS, Materialist Manifesto for Domus 2025 Introduction Different interpretations are possible after the quotation above, made by the talented Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, on the occasion of the presentation of his ‘materialist manifesto’,…
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…
This article offers a critical response to the conventional interpretation of architecture, rooted in the second half of the nineteenth century, which takes space as the discipline’s primary interpretive key.[1] This long-standing view often overlooks a fundamental fact: for any space to exist—whether architectural, sociocultural, or even pseudo-physical—place must already be on the stage. As I argue at RSaP, that…
In the article The Identity of a Place: Place-Based Interventions Between Land and Society, I argued for the necessity of a place-based document or report—a tool that could assist practitioners working with places (architects, planners, policymakers, social scientists, and others) in making informed decisions whenever the character of a place must be understood from a holistic perspective—or, as I prefer…