SoRBERG Scuuz. GENIUS LOCI TOWARDS A BEE oye or Rizzoud EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART LIBRARYPREFACE, “Logie is doubtless un: buriteannot withstand amin who wants to live. Frans Kafka Wie Prial akable, The present book forms a sequel co my theoretical works Intentions at Architec- ture (1963) and Exisience, Space and ‘Architecture (1971). leis also related to my historical study Meaning in Wester Architecture (1975). Common to all of them is the view that architeccure fepresents a means to give man an “existeatial foothold”. My” primary) aim is therefore to investigate the psyhic implications of architecture rather than prectical side, although certainly idmit thot there exists an iaterrelation- ship herween the ewo aspects, In Prten- fons in Architecture the practical, “fanctional”, dimension was in fact discussed as part of a comprehensive system At the same time, however, the book stressed that the’ “environment influences human beings, and chis in plies that the purpose of architecture transcends the definition given by early functicnalism”. A thorough discussion of perception and. symbolization was therefore included, and it was em- phasized thet man’ cannot gain 2 foor hold through scientific understanding aloue, He needs symbols, that is, works sf act which “represent life sitsations™. ‘The conception of the work of art as 4 “coneretization” of a life-situarion is maintained in the present book. It is one cf the basic needs of man to experience his lifesituations as meaningful, and the purpose of the work of art is to “keep” ‘and ansiic meanings. The concept of Smeaning’was abo intcoduced in [re tentions in Architecture. In general, the early hook aimed at understanding ar. chitecture in concrete “architectural” terms, an aim which 1 still consider particularly important. Too much con- fusion is created today by those who talk about everything else when the discuss architecture! My writings chere- + fore reflect a belief in architecture; I do not accept that architecture, vernacular for monumental, is a luxury or perhaps 5 something which i made “to impress the populace” (Rapopon). There are not diffrent. “Kinds* of architecture, but foal lifcren sitvations) whichis requite diferent solutions inorder to satisfy Thais physical ard psychic needs My general aim™ and approach has therefore been the’ same in all the iwritings mentioned above. As time has passed, however, a certain chitge in method fas. become manifest. It (eine We Aroletetate ie aad terete merlin rah Hatin by reste ccoeiode ules Gree io natal ween ink that this approach i wrong, but today Lin Caiher nechoueimure Muriarie (Wher Wwe trent architecture analyticilly, we Iniss the conerete environmental” cae Tacter, that Bde very Guallty Which fs the obec ofl man's Wantifieationy and which may give him a sense of ex istential foothold. To overcame this iroduced in Existence, Space ure the concept of “ex- ial space”, “Existential space” is not a_logico-mathematical term, but Comprises the basic relationships be. eween man and his eaviconment. The present book continues the cearch for a Concrete understanding of the environ- ‘ment. The concept of existential space is here divided in the complementary terms “space” and character’, in accordance with the basic psychic functions “orient ation” and “densification. Space and character are not treated in a purely philosophical way (as has been done by ©. F. Bolinow), bur are directly related to architecture, following the definition of architecture as a “eoncretization of existential space”, “Concretization” is furthermore explained by means of the concepts of * and “thing” The word ‘ originally meant « gathering, and the meaning of anythin Consists in what it gathers. Thus Hei degger said: “A thing gathers world” The philosophy of Heidegger has been the catalyst which has made the present book possible and determined its ap~ proach, The wish for understanding architecture as 9 conerete phenomenon already expressed in Pmtevitions in Are chitecture, could be satisfied in the present book, thanks to Heidewger's essays on language and aesthetics, which have been collecied and admirably trans- lated into. English by A. Hofstadter Pactry, Language, Thonght, New York 1971), Fist of all L owe to Heidegger the concept of dwelling. “Existential foorhnlé” and “dwelling” are synonyms, and “dwelling”, in an existential seme, is the purpose of architecture. Man dwells when he can. orientate himself within and identify himself with an environment, or, in short, when he ‘experiences the environment as meaning- ful, Dwelling therefore implies some thing more than “shelter”. Ic implies that the spaces where life occurs are places in the true sense of the word. A place is a space which has a distinct character. Since ancient times the genizs loct, or “spiric of place. has been recognized 3s, the conerete reality man has t0 face and come to terms with in his daily life Archizecture means to visualize the ge- nins loci, and the task of the architect is to create meaningful places, whereby he helpsman to dwell z Lam well aware of the shortcomings ol the present book. Many problems could only be treated in a very sketchy way, and need further elaboration. The book represents, however, 2 first step towards a "phenomenolozy of archivecture", that is, a theory which understands archi- tecture in concrete, existential terms. The conquest of the existential dimen- sion is in fact the main purpose of the present book. After decades of abstract, “scientific” theory, it is urgent thar we return to 4 qualitative, phenomenolon- ical understanding of architecure. Itdocs aot help much to solve practic problems as long. as this understanding is lacking. The book therefore docs not treat economical and social proble ‘The exiscential dimension is nor “deter mined” by. the socio-economical con- ditions, although they may facilitare or F) realization of certain r impede the (se existential stre ical conditions are like a pictare-fram they offer a certain “space” for life to take place, bur do nor determine its existential ' meanings, The existential meanings have deeper roors. They are determined by the structures of our being-in-the-world, which have been analyzed by Heidegger in his. classical work “Being and Time” (Sein tnd Zeit, 1926). In his essay. “Building Dwelling Thinking” (1951), Heidegger moreover related basic existential structures to the fonctions of building and dwelling, and “The Thing” (1950) he demonstrated the fundamental importance of the con- cept of “gathering”. Modern architects have in general excluded the existential dimension, although some of chem spon= tancously "recognized its _ significance Thus Le Corbusier wrote: “The purpose of architecture is fo move us. Ar- chitectural emotion exists when the work rings within us in tune with a universe whose laws we obey, recognize and. respect”, (Vers me architecture, 1923). Only with Louis Kalin, however, the existential dimension has regained its tue imporcance, and in his questi “What does the building want to be?” the problem is posed in its essential form. The existential dimension (“ruth”) be- comes manifest in history, but its mean- ings wanscend the historical. situatio History, on the other hand, only. b comes meaningful if it represents new concretizations of the existential dimen- sion. In general the concretization of the existential dimension depends on how ¢ socio-econom things are made, that is, it depends on form and technology (‘inspired tech- nology”, Louis Kahn said). This also inchides the “how” of the Nasural environment. Inthe present hook we have therefore chosen. to approach the existential dimension in terms of place. ‘The piace represents architecture's share in wuth, The place is the concree manifestation of man’s dwelling, and his identity depends on his belonging 10 places Twant co thank all chose colleagues ard students who have given me inspiration and help, In particular thanks go to my wife Anna Maria De Dominicis for her criticism and untiring help. Because of the composite nature of the book I have not included any. bie bliography. All references are found in thefoot-nows. Oslo, June 1976 A concrete ter I PLACE? 1. The Phenomenon of Place Our everyday lifeworld consists. of conereie “phenomena”. It consists of people, of animals, of flowers, trees and forests, of stone, earth, wood and weater, of towns,” streets’ and houses, doors. windows and furnitare, And it consists of sun, moon and. stars, of drifting clouds, ‘of night and day ‘and Changing seasons. But it also compnses more” intangible phenomera such as feclings. This, is what is “given”, this is the of our existence. Thus Rilke asks: “Are we perhaps heve to say: house, bridge, founsain, gate, jug, fruit tree, ‘window, at’ best? column, tower...” Everything else, such as acoms and molecules, numbers and all kinds of “daca”, are abstractions or tools Which are constructed 10 serve other purposes than those of everyday Today it is common to give more importance to the tools chan our hfe: world, The concrete things which constiute our given world are interrelated in complex and perhaps contradictory ways, Seme of the phenomena may for instance comprise others. The forest conssts of trees, and the town is made up of houses. “Landscape” is such a com: prehensive phenomenon, In general we may say that some phenomena form an \ “environment” to others. for_environment_is It is common usage to. say. that “nats and occurrences take pplacen in Tact it is meaningless co imagine any hap: pening without reference toa locality. Place—isevidentlyan_integral_part-of- existence! What, then, do we mean with the word place“? Obviously we mean. somethi more than absiraet location, We mean a totality made up of eoneree thi having material substance, shape, tex ture and colour. Together these things determine an “environmental character, pla(page 7) A te veri, which is the essence of place, In general 4 place is given as such a character or mosphere”. A place is therefore a qualitative, “ioral” phenomenon, which ‘we cannot reduce to any of its proper- ties, such a5 spacial relationships, with- out Tosing its concrete nature Gut of taken sight. Everyday experience moreover tells us that differene actions need different environments to take place in a satis actory way. Asa consequence towns and houses ‘consist of a multiude oF particular places. This fact is oF course into consideration by current theory of planning and architecture, but so far the problem has been treated in a too abstract way. “Taking place” usually understood in a_ quai “functional” sense, with implications such as spatial distribution and dimen- sioning. But are noc. “functions”inter- human and similar everywhere? Evi- dently not, “Similac” functions, even the most basic ones such a3_slesping and eating, take place in very different ways, and demand places with different pro- accordance with different ditions and different environ- mental conditions, The functional ap- proach therefore left out the place as a Concrete “here” having its particular identi Being qualitative totalities of « complex: nature, places cannot he deserbed by meins of analytic, “scientific” concepis. ‘As a matter of principle sce stracts” from the given so neutral, “objective” knowledge. hae fh lost, however fs the eve ‘day Hd, which ought « be the real Upon chetable bread and wine’. Zoncemn OF man in gencral and planners and. architects in particular’. Foru- __nately a way out of the impasse exists, thats, the known as pheno: mmenology. Pheniamenclogy was conceived as a “rerum to things”, as opposed to ab- “point out a few properties which stractions and mental constructions. $0 far phenomenologisis have heen mainly concerned with ontology, psychology, ethics and to some extent aesthetics, and have given rektively litle attention to the phenomenology of the daily e vironment. A few pioneer works how- exer cist, bur they hardly contain any Girect reference to archiveccure. A phenomenology of architecture is there- foreurgently needed Some of the philosophers who have approached the problem of our life- world, have used language and literature as sources of “information”. Poetry in fact is able 10 concietize those totalities which elude science, and may therefore suggest how we mighe proceed to absain the needed understanding. One of the poems used by Heidegger to explain the nature of language, is the splendid A Winter Evening by Georg Trakl', The words of Trakl also serve our purpose very well, as they make present a total life-situation where the aspect of place is strongly fee. AWINTERE Window with falling snow is arrayed, Long tolls the vesper bell, ‘Thehouseis provided well, Thetableis for many laid. ‘Wandering ones, more than afew. Come to the door on darksome courses. Goblen blooms the tree of graces Drawing up the earth’s cool dew. Wanderer quietly steps within Pair has turned the threshold fo stone. “There lie, in limpid brightness shown, NING We shall not repeat Heidegger's pro found analysis of the poem, but rather Tuminate our problem. In general, Trak} uses concrete images which we all know from our everyday world. He talks “window”, “house” ble”, “door”, Sree”, “threshold”, “bread and wine", “darkness” and “light”, and he charaecerizes man as a “wanderer”, These images, however also imply more general structures. First of all the poem distinguishes between an onside and an inside, The ouside is presented in tie first two verses of the first stanza, and comprises atiral as well as ntan-onade elements. Natural place is present in the falling snow, which implies winter, and by the evening. The very title of the poem “places” everything in this natural Context, A winter evening, however, 1s something more chan a point inthe calendar. As a concrete presence, it is experienced as a set of particular qua- lities, or in general as a Stonnnung_ oF character” which forms a background to acts and occurrences. In the poem this character is given by the snow falling on the window, cool, soft and soundiess, hiding the comours of those objects which are still recognized in the approaching darkness. The word “fall ing” moreover creates a sense of space, or rather: an implied. presence of earth and sky. With a minimum of words ‘Trakl thus brings 2 total natural en- Vironment to life. Bat the outside alo has man-made properties. This is in- dicated by che yesper bell, which is heard everywhere, and makes the “private” inside become part of a com: prehensive, “public” totality. The vesper bell, however, is something more than a practical man-made artifact. It is a symbol, which reminds us of the com: mon values which are at the bass of get's word tolling of the evening bell brings m mortals, bofore thedivine™ ‘The inside is presented in the next two verses. It is described as a house, which offers man shelier ane secarity, by being enclosed and ‘well provided”. It has however a window, an opening which about “snow”makes us experience the inside as a complement to the outside. As a final focus within the house we find the table, which “is for many laid”. At the table men come together, it is the centre which _more than anything else con- stitues the inside, The character of the inside is hardly told, but anyhow. pre- sent, It is luminous and warm, in Contrast to the cold darkness outside, and its silence is pregnane with potential sound, In general the inside is a com- prehensible world of things, where the life of “many” may’ sake place In the next two stanzas the perspective is deepened. Here the meaning of places and things comes forth, and man is presented as a wanderer’ on “darksome Courses", Rather than being placed safe Jy within the house he has created for Fume, he comes. from the outside, fiom the “path of life”, which also represents man’s attempt at “orientating” himself in the given unknown environ- tment Bat nature also has another side: it offers the grace of growth and blossom, In the image of the “golden” tree, earth, and sky are unified and become a world. Through man’s labour this world is brought inside as bread. and_w whereby the inside is, “illuminated”, thatis, becomes meaningful Without the “sacred” fruits of sky and ‘arth, the inside would remain “empty”. The house and the table receive. and gather, and bring the world “lose”. To divell na house therefore means to inhabit the world. But this dwelling, is not easy: it has to be reached on dark paths, and a threshold separates the ‘outside from the inside, Representing the “rife” between “otherness” and fest meaning, it embodies su‘feri is “wumeé (© sone”. In the threshold, thus, the problem of dwelling comes to the fore’ Trakl’s poem illuminates. some essential 9 2, Outsideinside, on the wrounad wader the sy: Diadebrane Gollerstont. Chapel 3. Outcdosnside. Gigho Coste, 4. Stinmieng, Nordic forest near Osto.Phenomena, of ur lifeworld, and in particular the basic properties ‘of place. Fiscor alittle us that every station ig local as well as generat. The winter ning deseribed is obviously a local, nordic phenomenon, but. the implied notions of outside and inside are gener: al, as are the meanings connected with this distinction. The poem het cretizes basic. properties of existene “Coneretize” here means co-make the general “visible” as a concrete, local Situation, In doing this, the poem moves inthe opposite direction of scientific thought. Whereas science depars from the “given”, poetry brings us back to the concrete things, uncovering the me: ings inherent in the lifeworld, Furthermore Trakl’s poem distinguishes berween natural and man-made ele- ments, whereby it suggests « point of departure for an “environmental phe- nomenology”” Natural elements are evidently the primary components of the given, and places are in fact usually defined in geographical terms. We must repeat however, that “place” means something more than location Various attempts at_a description of natural places are offered by. current literature on “landscape”, bur again ve find that the usual approach is too abstract, being based on “functional” or perhaps’ “visual” considerations’. Again We must turn to philosophy for help. As a fist, fandameneal dizinodion, Heid ger introduces the concept and “sky”, and says: sen the ig bearer, blossoming and fruiting, spreading out in rock and water, rising up into plant and animal...” “The sky is the vaulting path of the sun, the course of the changing moon, the gliuer of the stars, the year’s scasons, the light and dusk of day, the gloom and glow of night, the clemency and inclemency of the weather, the drifting clouds and blue depth of the ether.,."!, Like many fandamencal insights, the dissinetion ber ween cath and sky’ might seem trivial. les importance however comes out when we add Heidegper’s definition of “dwvel- ”: "The way in which you are and I he way in which we humans are on ch, i dwelling...”. But “on the already means “under the sky"). earth’ He also calls what is between earth and shy the wonkd, and says that “the world is the house where the mortals dwell" In other words, when man is capable of dwelling the world becomes an “inside”, In weneal nature, forms, an etended comprehensive totalit} “place”, which fing 10 ‘oeal eraurisainces Nas @ articular identity. This identity, of “Kpirie’, may be described by means of the kind of concrete, “qualitative” terms Heidegger uses to retire earth and sky, and has to take this. fundamental distinetion as its point of departure, In this way we might arrive at an ‘ex istentially relevant understanding of landscape, which ought 10 be preserved a8 the main designation of navural places, Within the Tandscape, however, there are subordinate places, as wall as natural “things” such as Trakl’s “tree”. In these things the meaning of the natural environmencis “condensed”, The man-made parts of the environment are first of all “settlements” of different Secale, from houses and farims (0 villages and towns, and secondly “paths” which connect these settlements, as well as various elements which transform nature into a “cultural landscape”, IF the settlements are organically related to their environment, it implies that they serve as foci where the environmental character is condensed and “explained”. Thus Heidegger says: “The single houses, the villages, the towns are works” of building which within and around themselves gather. the mul farious in-between. The buildings the eaith as the inhabited. landscape close man, and ac the same time place the closeness of neighbourly dwelling under the-expanse of the sky", The) sic. property of man-made places is “therefore concentration and enclosure, ‘They are “insides” in a full sense, which means that they “gather” what is Known. To fulfll this function they have openings which relate 10 the outside, (Only san inside can in face have fpenings). Buildings are furthermore related to their environment by resting ‘on the ground and rising towards the sky. Finally the man-made environments comprise artifacts or “things”, which may serve as internal foci, and em phasize the gathering function of the sectlement, ln Heidegger’swords: “TI thing things world”, where “thingie? tated in the original sense of “gathering”, and further: “Only what corjoins itself out of world becomesa thing”, Que introductory remarks’ give several indications about the structur® of places. Some of these have already been worked out by phenomenologist. philosophers, and offer a good point of departure for ‘a more complete phenomenology. A first step is taken with the distinction of ratural and man-made phenomena, for in concrete terms between ‘land: scape” and “settlement”, A second step is represented by the categories of earth-sky.(horizontal-vertcal) and. out sileinside, These tal implica tions, and “space” is hence reantro- duced, not primarily asa mathematical concept, but as en existential dimen- sion!’, "A final and particularly. im= portant step is taken with the concept of “character”. Character is determined by how things are, ane gives our ine vestigation a basis in the conerste phenomena of our everyday lifeword ‘Only in this way ave may fully grasp the genius locks the “spirit of place” which 10the ancients recognized as that “op= posite” man has co come to terms with, tobeable to dwell 2, The Structure of Place Gur preliminary discussion of the phe- nomena of place led to the conelasion that the structure of place ought to be described in cerms of “landscape” and “setlement”, a f the caugories “space” and “characte Whereas “Space” denotes, the three-di- mensional organization of the elements which make up 2, place, “charact denotes the general “atmosphere” which is the most comprehensive property of nstead of _making a dis- tinetion between space snd character, it is of course possible to employ one comprehensive concept, such as. “lived space”! For our purpose, however, it is practical to distinguish between space and character. Similac spatial organiza- tions may possess very different char: ters according to the of the space-defining el (ihe boundary). In history the basic spatial forms have been given ever new ch: terizing imerprecations"®. On the other hand it has to be pointed out that the spatial organization puts certain jimits to characterization, and that the two concepts are interdependent. architeeiurl theory, But space ean mean iminy things. In current literature we may disinguish between two uses: space as. three-dimensional geometry, and space 2s perceptual field”. None of these however are satisfactory, being abstractions from. the intuitive three= dimensional totality of everyday ex- perieace, which we may call “concrete space”, Conerete human aetions in fact do not take place in an homogeneous tropic space, but in a tinguished by “qualitative ifferences, such as “up” and “down”. In architec: 1 5. Sting. Desert village outside Khari 6 Inside, Old Nereegian cotage, Tekmark‘aro Speco, tural theory several attempts have been space in concrete, . Giedion, thus, uses inction between “ourside” and as the basis for a. grand. view ‘of architectural history. Kevin. Lynch trates deeper inco the structure of Concrete space, introducing, the coa- cepts of “node” (Mandmark’), “path”, digo” and “districe", to. denore. those ch form the basis. for men’s orientation in_ space’. Paolo ortoghesi_ finally defines space aS a system of places”, implying that the concep: of space” has its roots in Concrete siatations, although spaces tay be described by means of mathe matics. ‘The latter view coresponds to Heidegger's statement. that, “space receive their being from locations. and ot from “space™'. The outsidesnside relation which is a primary. aspect of concrete space, implies that speces pos- sess a varying degree of exievsion and enclosure, Whereas landscapes are dis- tinguished by a varied, but basically continuous extension, Settlements ate enclosed entities. Settlement and land- scape therefore have a figure-growd relationship, In general any enclosure becomes manifest as a “figure” in tel ation to the exiended ground of the landscape. A setlement loses ts ident ity if this relationship is corrupted, just a3 much asthe landscape loss. its identity as comprehensive extension. In a wider context any enclosure become a. centre, which may function asa “focus” for its surroundings. From the cenzre space extends with a varying degree of continuity (rhythm) in dif ferent. directions. Evidently the main directions are horizontal and vertical thar is, the directions of earth and sky. Ceniralization, direction ané rhythm are therefore other imporant properties of concrete space. Firally i has to be mentoned that natural ele: 12‘ments (such as hills) and settlements may be clustered or grouped with a varying degree of proximity. AIL the spatial properties mentioned. are of a “topological” kind, and correspond to the wellknown “principles of or- ganization” of Gestalt theory. The prim= ary existential importance of these prin- ciples is confirmed by the researches of Paget on the child’s conception of space. Geoneirical modes of organization only develop later in life vo serve particular Purposes, and may in general be under- sod asa more “precise” definition of the basic topological structures. The topological enclosure thus becomes a Gil the free” curve a staght line, and the cluster a grid. In orchitecture geometry is used to make a general Comprehensive system manifest, such as aninferred “cosmic order”. Any enclosure is defined by a boundary. Heidegger says: “A boundary is nor thar at which something stops but, asthe Greeks cecognized, the boundary is that, from which’ something begins. its. pre: sencing’®', ‘The boundaries of a. built space are known as floor, mall and ediling, The boundaries of a landscape are structurally similar, and consist of ground, horizon, and sky. ‘This simple structural similarity is of basic im- portance for the relationship benveen 1 Matural and man-made places, The en- ebsing properties of a boundary are determined by. its openings, as was poetically inuuited by ‘Trak! when using the images of window, door aad thre- shold. In general the bourdary, and in particular the wall, makes the. spatial strucure visible as’ continuous or dis- continuous extension, direction and rhythm, “Character” is at the same time a more general and a more concree concept than “space". On the one hand it denoces a general comprehensive at- 13 8 Sotbonnt inthe lndkcape. Caprosats, sera, 9. Urban inside. If Campo, Siena10, Wall. 8. Gimignano, Toseant mosphere, and on the other the concret form and substance of the space-defining, cements, Any. real presence is intimately finked wah a character, A phen rmenology of charieer is wo cup of mantle chattel Gol Sin eeijensy cbceee eae deecerinanes, We have poled ult different-actions demand places with different acter. Avch ng has to be Sprocecive’s an office ‘pracy 4 teitsoom “estve anda hutch ae anc When We sha felt we aie lly suck by ins prea Sharer whi Secon Se Ea pare of the experience. Landscapes ako possess character, some of which are of wparticuar “natural” Kind, This we talk about “barren” and “fertile”, “smil- tng’ and. “threatening” landscapes, In gieral we have to emphasize tt al Gen hore Cuaaeld (ane tebe base mod in which the wend Syvent To some exten Ge arian a place is a function of time; it changes with the seasons, the course of the day ard the weather, factors which above al determine different conditions of light. he charaaer is determined bythe aerial andorra) eon GeO See We muse ec oea aE ie ground on which we wally ot the dey abovelour beads run teat how are the boundaries which define the place. How a boundary is depends upon its formal articulation, which is again felaed to the way iis “bulk, Loo fr a bulleay Hom ths pol of view, frei cionue lay Geet eta Gains Ga lew casa Assia 1 attention has to be given to its davies, or walls, which also contribute decisively (0 determine che character of the urban environment. We are indebted to Robert Venturi for having recognized this fact, after it had 'y 1, Floor: Strat si Séromonota, Las 12. Mating. St: Mary's Woolnoth, Londen by Haske more!” talk about “facades”. Usually the character of a “family” of buildings } Which constitute a place, is “condensed iin characteristic mous, such as. pare ticular types of windows, doors. and roofs. Such motifs may become “con- ventional elements”, which serve to transpose a character from one place to another, In the boundary, thus, charac- ter and space come together, ‘and we may agiee with Venturi when he defines auchiecture as “the wall between the inside and the outside” Except for che intuicions of Venturi, the problem of character has hardly been considered in current architectural theory. Asa result, theory has to a high | extent” lost contac: with the concrete liewordd. This is particularly the case with technology, which is today con- sidered a mere means to satisfy practical mands. Character however, depends how things are made, and is “therefore determined by. the technical realization (“building”). Heidegger points out that the Greek word techie | meant a creative “re-vealing” (Entber- get) of truth, and belonged 10 poiesis, that is, “making. A- phenomenology of place therefore has to comprise the basic modes of construction and their relationship to formal articulation. Only in this way architectural theory gets a \ truly conerete bas + The structure of place becomes manifest 4s environmental toralities. waieh com- pse the aspects of character and space Such places are known as “counties”, “regions”, “landscapes”, “settlements” and buildings”. Here we return to the conerste “things” of our everyday’ life world, which was our point of de ture, and remember Rilke’s words: We perhaps here to say...” When places are dassified we should therefore use teams such as, “island”, “promontory”, “hay”, “forest”, “grove”, or “squar “cree”, “courtyard”, "and “floor”, 15“roof”, “ceiling”, “window” and Places ‘are hence designated by owns This imples that they. are considered teal ‘gs chat exist, which ithe original meaning of the word. “subs Go Saer ncend as Ucyeerreh relations, is denoced by prepositions. In. our daily life we hardly talk abour Space’, bu about things that are “over or “under”, “before” or “behind” each. tther, oF ve use. pres an Sa Sn Svihin’s to, “fronts “along, "hen" All these pre positions denote topological relations of the Kind mentioned. brloe, Characer, «finally is denoted by adiectives, #6 wae indicated above. A character is a com- plex totality, and a. single adjeccive fvidenty cannot cover more than one aspect of this totality. Often, however, 4 Giarices ie 30 istact teat ne weed sree (o peats es corners We this, hac the sory roctre of everyday language confirms our analysis ofp, Countries, regions, landscapes, sere: ments, buildings (and their sub-places) form a series with a gradi diminish- ing sie, The eps bv this seis may be called "environrvenal leds" Ar the og ok he Gaaueya nancies Teeter eae Pelt i contain” the mancmade places on the “lower” levels." The later have the “gathering and “focusing” function memioned above, In other words, man Mreeelves" dhe environment and makes i (Goad leg ara EE thersby “explain the entconmcrt aed ee Ginecerrantec orient things themselves become meaningful, That is the basic function of deiail in Zour surroundings". ‘This does not imply, however, that the different levels must have the same structure. Architectural history tn face shows that this 1s Fuel the ive. Vernacular seilements usualyLi Mace News 14, Environments! eves reshci with monsstsry by 15. Vouaizaion. Calais, Lazio, have a topological organization, al though the single houses may be st geometrical. Ih, larger cities we find topologically. organized hoods within a general structure, ete We shall return to. the particular problems of structural cor respondence later, but have to say some words about the main “step” in the scale of environmental levels: the relation = beween naural and man-made places. Manmade places. are related to nature in dee basie ways. Firstly, man wants to make che natural seracture more precise. That is, he wants to wisnalize fis “amderseanding” of nature, “Expres ing” the existential foothold he has gained. To achieve this, he builds what he has seen. Where delimited space he build: where nature appetrs “centralized”, erects a Mal where nature indicates direction, he makes 1 path. Secondly, man has to complement the given situation, by adding what itis “lacking” Finally, he has 10 syntbolize his under- standing of ature ‘(inclading himself). Symbolization implies thar an exp iexced meaning is “translated” into a ‘other medium, “A natural character is fo ins sl building who properties se ake the character manilest. “The purpose of symboliz- ation is co free the meaning. from the immediace situation, whereby it becom: @ “cultural object”, which may form Pact of 4 more complex situation, or be moved to another place. All the three relationships imply that man gather the nings to create for him somerrical experienced me Sell an inmago. mtendi or ‘microcosmos which-concretizes his. world, Gathering evidently depends on symbolization, and implies a tarsposition of meanings to another place, which thereby becomes anexistential “centre” symbolization are aspects of the general 17 16. Visual Alo Adie, 17, Synbprocesses of settling; and dwelling, in the existential sense of the word, de- pends on these functions. Heidegger lusteates the problem by means.of the bridge; a. “building” which visualizes, symbolizes and gathers, and makes the cavironment become a unified whole, ‘Thus he says: “The bridge swings over the stream with case and power. It does not just connect banks that are already there, the banks emerge as banks only as the bridge erosses the stream. The bridge designedly causes them to lie across from each other. One side is set off against the other by the bridge. Nor do the banks sireich along the stream as indiffecent border strips of the dry land With the banks, the bridge brings to the € ney stream the one and the other expanse of the landscape lying behind them. It brings stream and bank and land into each other's neighborhood. ‘The bridge gathers the earth as landscape around the steam™*, Heidegger also. describes what the bridge gathers and. thereby uncovers its value asa symbol. We cannot here enter into these details, but want © emphasize hac the landscape as such gets its value through the bridge. Before, the meaning of the landscape fas “hidden”, and the building of the bbridge brings it out into the open, “The bridge gathers Being into 2 cerain “location” that we may call a “place”. This *place”, however, did nor exist as an entity before the bridge (although there were always many “Sites” along the river-bank where it could sriss), bue comesto-presence with and as the brid 2". The existential purpose of buile- ing (architecture) is therefore to make a site become a place, that is, to. uncover the meanings potentially present in the given environment. ‘The structure of a place is nor a fixed, ezemal state. As a rule places change, sometimes rapidly. This does not mean, however, that the gonins loci necessarily “and conserve the genit changes or gets lost. Later we stall show that tating place presupposes that the places conserve theit identity during, 4 certain sreich of time, Stabititas loci is ‘a necessary condition for human life. How then is this stability compatible eth the dynamics of change? Fist ofall we may point out that any place ought to have the “capacity” of receiving diffeent “contents’, naturally within Feercain limits". A piace which is only fied for one particular parpose would soon become useless. Secondly ie is ident that a place may be ‘inter- preted” in different ways. To protect loci in fact means to concretize its essence in ever historical contexts. We might also say that the history of a place ought to be its “self-realization”. What was there ‘as. possibilities ac the, outset, is un covered through human action, illumi- nated and “kepe” in works of ar- chitecture which ate simultaneously “old and new", A place therefore comprises properties having a varying degree of In general we may conclude that place is the point of departure as well as the goal of our structural investigation; at the outset place is presented as a given, spontaneously experienced totality, at the end it appears as a structured world, illuminated by the analysis of the aspects, of spaceand character. 3. The SpiritofPlace Genius foci is a Roman concept. Act cording to anciont Roman belief every “independent” being has its geniue, its guardian spirit, This spirit gives life to People and places, accompenies them from birth to death, and determines their character or essence. Even the gods had their genius, a fect which illustrates the fundamental navure of the concept". The geniies thus denotes what a thing. is, for what ie “wants to be”, to use a word 18. Gthering,Seleburg 19, The bridge. Zurch, of Loais Kahn, It is not necessary in ou context t go. into the history: of the concept of geutius and its relationship to the damon of the Greeks. It suf point out that ancient man expericnced his environment as consisting of definite characters. In. particular he recognized that ic is of great existential importance {0 come to terms with the genius of the locality where his life takes place, In the past survival depended on a “good” Felationship c@ che. place in a physical as well as a psychic sense, In ancien: Egypt, for instance, the country was no: only cukivated in accordance with the Nile floods, but the very structure of the landscape served as. i-mode forthe lay-out of the “public” buildings which should give man a sense of secutiry by symbolizing an eternal environmental order” During the course of history the gewius foci has remained a living reality, al though it may nor have been expres sively named as such. Artists and writers have found inspiration in local character and have “explained” the pheromens of everyday life as well as art, referring (0 landscapes and urban milieus, Thus Gocthe says: “It is evident, that the eye 's educated by the things it secs fom childhood on, and therefore Veneian painters must see everything, clearer and with more joy than other people”, Suill in 1960 Lawrence Durrell wrote: *As you get to know Europe slowly, tasting the wines, cheeses and characters of the differen countries you begin. (0 realize that the important determinant of any culture is after all the spicit of place’! Modern turism proves that the ex perience of different places is a major human interest, although also this value today tends to’ get lost. In fact modern man for a long time believed. that science and technology had freed him from a direct dependence on places? Bhas proved an_ illusion; pollution and environmental chaos have idly appeared as a frightening 8, and as a result the problem of place has regained its true importance. We haye used the ‘Word “dwelling” to dicate the total man-place relationship. To understand more fully what this word implies, itis useful to return to the distinction between “space” and “char- er”, When man dwells, be is ously located in space and exposed {© @ cermin. environmental. character. The wo. psychological functions. in- yolved, may he called “orientation” and jentificarion™, To gain en foothold man has to be able to ori himself; he has two know where he is. But he also has to identify himself with the environment, that is, he has to know howheis «certain place. The problem of orientation has been 1 considerable atention in recent ‘tical literature on pl |» whose concepts 01 “node”, “path” and “district” denote the basic spatial structures which are the obj n's orientation. The per- ship of these elements constitute an mental image”, image its “possessor ity". Accordingly all_cultures have developed “systems of orientation”, that is, “Spatial structures which facilitate the development of a good environmental image”, “The world may be organized around a set of focal points, oF be broken into named regions, oF be linked by remembered. rou fren these systems of orientation are based on or ved from a given natural structure, Where the system. is weak, the image making becomes difficult, and man feels Most 2 nes from ‘the necessity that20, ldenification, Nordic wine: 21, densification. Khartoum, Sudan. ganism be oriented in its. surround: ings". To. be lost is evidently the ‘opposite of the feeling of security which distinguibhes dwelling. The enviroament- al quality which prowe jetting lost, Lynch calls “imageabil which means ‘that shape, color ot arrangement. which facilitates the mak- ing of vividly identified, powerfully structured, highly useful mental images of the environment”. Here Lynch im- plies that the elements which constitute the spatial stcucture ‘concrece “things” with “character” and ‘mean: ing’. He limits himself, however, 10 discuss the spatial function of these elements, and thus leaves us with @ fragmentary understanding of dwelling. Nevertheless, the work of Lynch con- stitutes an essential contribution to the theory of place. Its importance also consists in the fact that his. ewpitical studies of conerete urban structure con firm the genecal “principles of organi ation” defined by Gestalt_ psychology and by the researches into child. psy- chology of Piaget’. Without reducing the importance of orientation, we have to stress that dwelling abore all presupposes. iden- jon_with the environment. AE though orientation and identification are aspects of one otal relations have a certain independence within the toulity. Ir is evidencly possible to orientate oneself without crue identi: ‘cation; one gets along without feeing at home”. And it is possible to feel ai home without being well acquained with the spacial structure of the place that is, the place is only experienced as a gratifying general character. True belonging however _ presupposes that both psychological functions. are fal developed. In primitive societies we fin that even the smallest. environmental details are known and meaningful, ané that they make up complex. spatial »siructures". In modern society, how: eFer, attention has almost exclusively been) consenteated on the “practical” function of orientation, wheress. iden tification has been left to chance./As a result true dwelling, ina psychological sense, has been substituted by alien- ation. It is therefore urgently needed to at a fuller understanding of the eoncepis of “identification” and ‘char- In our context “identification” means to Ineceme “friends” with a particular ene Viroament, Nordic man has to be iriend with fog, ice and cold winds; he has 10 enjoy the creaking sound of snow under the feet when he walks around, he has to experience the poetical yalue of being fnmersed in fog, ss Hermant Hesse did when he wrote’ the lines: “Steange to swan fog! Lonely: i every bush and stone, no tree sees the other, everything is alone,..”®”. The Arab, instead, has to be a friend of the infinitely extended, sandy desert and the burning sun. This does not mean that his settlements should noc protect him against the natural “forces”, a desert settlement in fact primarily aims at the exclusion of sind and sun and therefore complements the natural stuation. Bue ic implies thar the environment is experienced as meaningful. Bollnow says appropriately: “Jede Stinymung. ist Ubereinstinnmeng?, that is, every character consists in a correspondence berween outer and inner world, and between body and psyene™. For modern usban maa the friendship with a natural environment is reduced £0 fiagmentary relations, Instead he has to identify with man-made things, such as streets and houses. The Gen American architect. Gechard ‘once told a story which illusirates what this meas. Visiting at the end of the Second World War his native Berlin safter many years of absence, he wanted fo see the house where he had grown 21 up. As must be expected in Berlin, the hhouse had disappearel, and Mr. Kall mann felt somewhat ‘lost. Then he suddenly recognized the typical pave meat of the sidewalk: the floor on which he had played as a child. And he experienced a strong feeling of having returned home, The story teaches us that the objects of identification are concrete environmental propecties and that man’s lationship to there is usually developed during child- hood. ‘The child grows up in green, brown or white spaces: it walks or plays on sand, earth, stone or moss, under a cloudy or serene sky; it grasps and lifts hard and soft things; it hears noises, such as the sound of the wind moving the leaves of a particular kind of tree: the child gets acquainted with the environment, and develops perceptual schemata which determine all future experiences'?, ‘The schemata comprise universal structures which are_inter- human, as. well-as_locally determined and culturally conditioned structures. Evidently every human being has wo possess schemata of crientation as well as identification, The entity of a person is defined in terms of the schemaia developed, be- cause they determine the “world” which ig accessible. This fact is confirmed by common linguistic usage. When a per- son wants 1 tell who he is, itis im fact usual co say: “Lam a New Yorker", or “Lam a Roman”, This means something much more concrete than t0 say: “lam. an architect”, or pethaps: “Tam an optimist”. We understand that human idencity is to a high extent a function of places and things. Thus Heidegger says: “Wir sind die Be-Dingten”™. It is there- fore not only important that our en- vironment has a spatial structure which facilitates orientation, but that it con- 22, ldentfication, &. Gregorio, Cosenes 23. Idevfcaton. Naples24, Sidewalk, Berlin 25. Eneloitre, Montriggion, Toscana Homan identity presupposes the identity of place. Identification and crientation are prim ary aspects of man’s being-in-the-worid, Whereas identification is the basis for man’s sense of belonging, orientation is the function which enables him to be that homo victor, which is part of his nature, It is characteristic for modern man thac for a long time he gave the role as « wanderer pride of place. He wanted 10 be “free” and conquer the world, Today we start to realize that true freedom presupposes, belonging, and that “dwelling” means belonging t0 a.concrete place. The word to “dwell” his several cone notations which confirm and illuminate ‘our thesis, Firstly it ought © be m tioned that “chvell” is derived from the Old Norse dvelia, which meant to linger or remain, Analogously Heidegger rela- ted the German “wohnen” co “bkiben” and “sich aufhalten"*, Furthermore he points out that the Gothic winian meant to “be at peace”, “to remain in peace”. The German word for Pesce, Friede, means to be res, that_isy protected from harm and danger. This protection is achieved by means of an Unfriedung or enclosure. “Friede” is also related to cufrieden (content), Freund (friend) and the Gothic frion (love). Heidegger uses these linguistic Telaticnships to show that dwelling means to be at peace in a protected place. We should also mention that the German word for dwelling, Wobning, derives from das Getwohinte, which means what is known or habitual “Habit” and “habitat” show an an: aloguous rdationship. In_ocher words, man knows what has become accessible to him through divelling. We here rewrn 1 the Ubereinstinmnung ot correspon dence between man and his environ: ment, and arrive at the very root of the problem of “gathering”. To gather ameans that the everyday lifeworld has ecome “gewohnt” or “habitual”. But fathering is a concrete phenomenon, and thus leads us. co the final con: notition of “dwelling”. Again Heidegger who has uncovered a fun: damental relationship. Thus he_ points ut that the Old English and High German word for “building”, bua, rheant co dwell, and that itis intimately relaied to the verb fo be. “What then does ich bin mean? The old word bauer, tw which the bin belongs, ane swerss ick bint, de bist, means 1 dwell, you dwell. The way in which you are and Iam, the manner in which we humans are on earth, is. buan, dwell- ing’. We may conclude that dwelling means to gather the world as a concrete tuilding or “thing”, and that the ar- chetypal act of building is the Um Sfiedung or enclosure. “Trakls poetic intuition of the inside-ourside relation- ship thus gets its confirmation, and we understand that our concept of con- gretization denotes the essence of dwvel ling’. Man dwells when he is able to. con- retize the world in buildings and things. As we have mentioned above, “coneretization” is. the function of the work of art, ae opposed to the “ab seaction” of science’”. Works of art oneretize what remains “between” the pure objets of science. Our, everday fe-vorld consists of such “incermedi- ary" objects, and we understand that the fundamental function of art is w gather ihe contradictions and complexities of the lifeworld. Being an inugo mundi, to dwell Holderlin was right when he said “Full of merit, yet postically, dwellsonthis earth”. This means: man’s merits de not count much if he is unable to dwell poetically, that i, to dwell in the true sense of the word. Thus Heidegger says: “Pocuy B does not fly above and surmount the faith in order co escape it and hover ‘over it. Poetry is what first brings man into the earth, making him belong 10 it, and thus brings him into dweling”*, Only poetry in all its forms (also as the Sart of living’) makes human existence ‘meaningful, and meaning is the fun damental human need. Architecture belongs to poetry, and its Purpose is to help man to dwell. But architecture is a difficult art. To. make practical towns and buildings is nov enough. Architecture comes into being when 4 ‘total enviconment is made Visible”, to quote the definition of Susanne Langer. In general, this means to concretize the gers loci. We have seen that this is done by means of buildings which gathe- the properties of the piace and bring them close to man. The basic act of architecture is therefore t0 understand the “vocation” of the place. In this way we protect the earth and become ourselves part of a com- prehensive tocality. What is here ad- vocated is not some kind of “environ- mental determinism”. We only recognize the fact that man & an integral part of the envionment, and that it ean only lead to human alienation and. environ disruption if he forgets that. To belong to a place means to have an existential foothold, in a concrete every- day sense, When God sail to Adam: “You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the Earth”; he put man in front of his most basic’ problem: 0 cross. the threshold and regain the lost place. W NATURAL PLACE 1. The Phenomena of Natural Place To be able to dwell berween heaven and earth, man hés t0 “understand” these two elements, as well as their, inter- action. The word “understand” here does not mean scientific knowledge; it is rather an existential concept wl enoes the experience of meanings ‘When. the environment is_meaningful man feels “st home”. The places where ‘ye have grown up are such “homes”; we know exactly how it feels to walk on that particular ground, to be under that particular sky, or between those par- fieular trees5 we know the warm all embracing sinshine of the South or the iysterious summer nights of the Noth In general we know “realities” which carry our existence. Bur “understanding” goes beyond such immediate sensations, From the begmning of time man has recognized that nature consists of inter- related elements which express funda- mental aspects of being. The landscape where he lives is not a mere flux of phenomena, it has structure and em- bodies meanings. These structures and meanings have given rise to mythologies (cosmogonies and. cosmologies) which have formed the basis of dwelling’, A phenomenology of natural place ought to take these mythologies as its point of eepartare. In doing this, we do not have to retell the tales, rather we should ask which concrete categories of understand- ing they represent. In’ general any understanding of the natural environment grows cut of a primeval experience of nature as a inukitude of living “forces”. The world is experienced as a “Thos” eather than an “it?, Man was thus imbedded in ature and dependent upon the natural forces, The growth of man’s mental faculties proceeds from the grasping of such dif use qualities, into” more ar- ticulate experiences where the pars and the inwerrelacionships within the totality26 Monte Bianco. 27, Vestn, 28 Kocks at Petra, Jontan are understood. This process may hap- pen in different ways according to the local environmene, and ie does noe mean thar the world loses its concrete, live character. Such a loss implies” pure quantification, and_is. thus linked with the modem scientific attitude’. We may distinguish between five basic modes of mythical understanding, which have dif- ferent weightin different cultures The first mode of natural understand: ing takes the forces as its point of departure and relates them to, concrete natural dements or “ehing ancient cosmogonies concentrat aspect and explain how “everything” has come into being. Usually creation is Understood as a “marriage” of heaven and earth, Thus Hesiod says: “Earth (Gaia) first of all gave birth to a being equal e9 herself, who could overspread her completely, the starry. heaven (Ouranos)..". This primeval couple generated the gods end the other myth ical creatures, that is, all those “orc Which make’ up. the. “multifarious. in- between”. A similar image is found in Egypt. where the world was represented asa “space” between heaven (Nut) and earth (Geb); the only difference being that the sexes of the two elemenis. are here exchanged. The earth is the “sery- ing bearer” from which life emerges, the very foundation of existence (tellus mater). The sky, instead, is something “high” and inaccessible. Its. shape is described by “the vaulting path of the sun", and its properties in general are expevienced as transcendence, order and ‘creative power (rain), The sky primarily has “cosmic” implications, whereas che earth may satisfy man’s need for prot- ection anc intimacy. At the same time, however, the earth constitutes. the ex- tended ground on which his actions cake place ‘The marriage between heaven and earth forms the point of departure for che2. The Roman campagne 30. Mace in the shadow under a Jordan Petra, further differentiation of “things”, The mrowntain, thus, belongs to the earth, but it rises towards the sky. Iris “high”, it is close to heaven, it is a meeting place where the two bssic elements come together. Mountains were there fore considered “centres” through which the axis mundi goes, ...a spot where one ean pass from ene cosmic zone to another™. In other words, mountains are places within the comprehensive landscape, places which make the struc- ture of Being manifest. AS such they “gather” Various properties. To. the general ones already mentioned, we muse add dhe hardness and permanence of stone as a material. Racks and stones have been given primary importance by many cultures because of their im perishableness. In general, however, mountains remain “distant” and son what frightening, and do not constitute “insides” where’ man can dwell. in al painting, thus, rocks and ntains were symbols of “wilder thelandscape painting of Romanti But there are other kinds of natural “things” which reveal meanings. In. the tree heaven and earth are also united, not oaly in a spatial sense because the tree rises up from the ground, but because it grows and is “alive”. Every Year the tree re-enact the very process creation, ard "to a primisive religious nd the teee fe the univeroy and iti $0 because it reproduces it and sams it up..." In general vegetation is the manifestation of living reality. But veget- ation ‘has also forms which are_ less friendly or even frightening, The forest, thus, is primarily a “wilderness” full of strange and menacing forces. Bachelard writes: “We do not have to be long in the woods to experience the rather anxious impression of “going deeper and deeper” into a limitless world. Soon, if we do not know where we are going,31, Wovad al Arce, Alban bills 33, Grove at Khartoum, Sudan, 32 Nonegun Fors 3, Olive grove. S. Gregorio, Catanzaro, 26‘we no longer know where we are Only when the wood is of limited extersion and becomes a grove, it remains intelligible and positively meaningful, The Paradise has in fact been imagined as a delimited or enclosed grove orgarden. | In the images of Paradise we encoumer another basic element of ancient cos- mogonies: water. ‘The very. particular nature of water has always been recog- hied, In the Genesis, God separates the dry land from the water alter the creation of heaven and earth, light and ater is the primeval substance from Wwaich ail forms come", The presence of water, thus, gives identity to the land, and the legend of the Deluge preseats the “loss of place” as a great flood. Although ic is the opposite of place, water belongs intimately to living real iy. As a fertilizer ie even became a symbol of life, ard in the images of Paradise four rivers flow from a spring in the very centre, The history of Taadscape painting illustrates the im- Portance of water as a life-spending ment, The “ideal” landscapes of the lecenth the sixteerth centuries usually contain a centrally placed river or lake along which man’s. setlements are nested, and from which the cule tivated land extends. Later, water is justly understood and depicted as a local ekment of primary characterizing. im- portance, and in Romantic landscapes, it reappeas as a dynamic chthonie ferce, Being the primary natural “things”, rocks, vegetation and water make a place mearingful or ”, to use the term of Mircea Eliade, He writes: “The most primitive of the “sacred places” we Know of constituted a_microcosm: a fandscape of stones, water and trees”, Moreover he poins our -that “such pheis are never chosen by many they 2 Bs Brook at Ve, Lazioare merely discovered by him; in other words the stcred place in some way 0° nother reveals itself to him”. In the frivironment the sacred places, function as centres"; they serve as objects of ‘man’s orientation and identification, and constitute a spatial structure, In man’s understanding of nature we thus reco tize the origin of the concept of space a3 a system of places. Only a. system of meiningful places makes a tly human life possible. The second mode of natural under standing. consists inv abstracting a sys- tematic cosinic order from the flux of ‘occurrences. Such an onder is. usually based on the course of the sun, as the most invariant and. grandiose “nataral pheiomenon, and the cardinal points. Ia Some places it may also be related to the local" ycographical structure, as in Egypt, where the couth-north’ direction fof the Nile constizutes 2 primary element of man’s orientation" An order of this kind implies that the world is under- stood as a structured “space”, where the main directions represent differe “qualities” or meanings. tn) ancient Egypt, thus, the east, the direction of the sun’s rising, was the domain of birth tind life, whereas the west was the = domain of death. “When thou settest on the western horizon, the land isin darkness in the manner of death... (but) wwhen the day breaks, as thow rises on the horizon... they awake ind stand upon their feet... they line because chou has acisen for them”, The belief in a cosmic order is usually connected with a concrete image of some kind. In Exypt the world was imagined 2s ‘a flat platter with a corragated rim. The inside bottom of this platier was the flat alluvial plain of Egypt, and the cor- rugated rim was the rim of mountain countries... This platter floated in water... Aboye the earth was, the ine vented pan of the sky, setting the outer 36, Desrallisbre, tonple of Hasepsowe in the lascape limit to the universe”. Heaven was imagined 10 rest_on four posts at the comers, In the Nordic countries where the sun loses much of its importance, an abstract “heavenly axis” running north- south was imagined, around which the world turns, This axis ends in the Polar Scar, where it is carried by a column, an Frminsul, A similar axis. nuendi was imagined by the Romans, whose heaven ly cardo runs south from the Polar Star, ‘crossing at a right angle the decunrarus avhich represents the course of the sa From, the east to the west”. In Rome, thus, primary elements of Southern and Nordic cosmologies were unified The third mode of natural-understand- ing consists. in the definition of -the character of natural places, relating them to basic human trait, (¢ abstraction of characters was the achievement of the Greeks, and was evidently made possible by the_very structure of the Grek landscape. Topo graphically Greece consists of numerous distinet bur varied sites. Each landscape is a clearly delimited, easily imageable “personality. ncense sunlight” and clear air give the forms on unusual presencs, “Because of the ordered va ty, clarity and scale in the landscape, the human being is neither engulfed nor adrift in Greece. He can come close to the earth to experience either its mfort Or its threat”, ‘The basic property of the Greek environment, therefore, is che individual and intelligible characier_ of places. In some places the surroundings Appear to offer protection, in others they menace, and in others again we fee at the centre of a welkdefined cosmos. In some places there are natural cle- iments of a very particular shape or function, such as homed rocks, caves or ‘wells, In “understanding” these characte: ristics, the Greeks personified chem ay anthropomodtic gods, and every. place ith pronounced properties became a37. Dilpli, tole of Atbera 38. Dulphi, share and temple of Apollo. 39, Trees and light. Sacro Spevo, Subiaco sation of a particular god, Places the fertile earth leels close were dedicated 10 the Old chthonic deities Demeter and Hera, and. places wh man’s incellect and discipline con ment and oppose the chthonic forces were dedicated to Apollo, There are places where the environment is ex- petienced as an ordered whole, such as Mountains with an all-round view, dedicated (0 Zeus, and groves close 10 water or swampy land dedicated to Artemis. Before any temple was built, opencair altars were erected “in dhe ideal position from which the whole sscre Tandscape could be understand thus haw Gi took the meaningful pla Of departure, human charact reconciliat man and nature which is particularly well concresized at Dadphi. Here the old symbols of the earth, ‘the omphalos or ‘navel of the world” and bothros or offering cave the Great Goddess of the earth, a its points By relating natural and eda enclosed within Apollo’s temple. This they were caken over by the “new” god and ide of a total vision” of nature also comprises _a_fourth cegory of phenomena which are less able, Light has of course alwaye experienced as a basic part of reality, but ancient man conceatrated his mn the sun-as 4 “thing”, rather more gener concept. of light", In Greek: civilization, however, light Was understood as a Symbol. of Knowledge, artistic ay. well as. intel= leaual, and was connected with Apello, sored the oli! sunged Hllion became. an. “el ment” of prime imporiance, a symbol of conjunction and unity which was con- ted with the concept of love. Ged was considered pater tums, and “Divine Light a manifestation of thespirit, In Byzantine painting Divine Light was coneretived as a golden ground which “surrounds them Figures as with a halo of sanctity”2!, stressing the iconogeaphic foci. sacred place, thus, was distinguished by the presence of light, and accordingly Dante wrote: “The Divine Light penetrates the universe according to its dignity”. The nice, instead, understood | che asa microtheos which God is manifest in every ching, As a result, che landscape painters depicted the environ- ment as a totality of “facts”, where everything down to the smallest derail seems fully understood and loved. "Facts become art through love, which’ uniiies them and lifis them to a higher pith of reality and, in landscape, this all embracing love is expressed by light”. Light is not only the most gener natural phenomenon, but also, the constant. Light conditions change from morning to evening, and during the night darkness fills the world, as’ light does during the day. Light,” thus, is, intimately connected with the iemporal rhythms of nawure which form a fifth dimension of understanding. The phe- which ° distinguish” a natura place cannot he separated from. these rhythms!!, The seasons, thus, change the appearance of places; in some regions more, in others less. In the orthem countries green summers and white winters alternate, and both seasons are characterized by very dif- ferent conditions of light, The temporal rhythms obviously donot change the basic elements which constitute ana tural place, but in many. cases. they contribute decisively co its character and are therefore often reflected in local myths and fairytales, In landscape paint ing, the local importance of temporal rhythms and light conditions were snadied from the eighteenth century on, a development which culminated with impressionism’. In mythopoeic ‘thought cime is just as id conerece a5 other natural and is experienced in the periodicity ‘ard rhythm of man's own fe as well as in the if of acu. an’s participation in the natural total- ity is eonereized in rituals, in which “cosmic events”, such as creation, death and resurrection are re-enacted. AS such, rituals do not howerer belong to the natural environment, and will be dis- vith cussed in the next chapter, togeth the general prablem af representing time. Thing, order, character, light and time are the basic categories "of concrete natural understanding. Whereas thing and. order, are spatial (in a concrete qualitative’ sense), charsecer and light fefer to the gencral atmosphere of a place. We may also point out that “thing” and “character” (in. the sense here used) are dimensions of the earth, whereas “order” and “light” are deter~ mined by the sky. Time, finally, is the dimension of constancy and change, and makes space and. character parts of living reality, which at any moment is given as. particular place, as a genius loci. In general the categories designate the meaniags man hes abstracted. from the flux of phenomena (“forces”). In, his classical work on the relationship. bet- ween nature and the “human soul”, Willy calls such meanings "cand says: “EX- {stential contents have their soure: in the land! 2, The Structure of Natural place The term “natural place” denotes a series. of environmental levels, from continents and countries down to the shaded ares under an individual tee, ll these “places” are determined by the concrete prope: sky The ground is ob 10. Nomeegian forest intr AL, Eetonded lind. Valle del Mareeba, Felt element, although some of its properties change with the seasons, bot the more variable and less concrete sky also plays 1 “characterizing” role of decisive im- Portance. It is nacueal to take the more stable properties as the poiee of depar- ture for our discussion, in relation to the environmental level which serves as the comprehensive stage for everyday life, thatis: landscape, ‘The distinctive quality of any is extension, and its particular dl and spatial properties are determined by. ow it extends. Extension, thus, more or Tess continuous, sib-laces within the all-embracing landscape may. be formed and its capa man-made elements. var The “how” of extension primarily. de- pends on the nature of the ground, that is, on the topogtaphical conditions, “Topography” simply means “place-de scription”, but it is generally used to denote the physical configuration of a place. In our context “topography” primarily. means what geographers call the surface relief. On. a. flat plain, extension is general and. infinite, ut usually variations in the surface reef reste dircetions and defined Ir is important to, distinguish. beween the statcrire and the ale oF the FEE ‘The structure may be described in terms of nodes, paths and domains, thac is, elements which “centralize” space. such as isolated hills and mountains. or Gircumscribed basins, elements which direct space such ay valleys, rivers and wadis, and elements which define an extended spatial pattern, sich asa felasvely, usiforin cluster’ of fell of hills, Evidently. the effect of such sle- ments is very different according to their dimensions, For cur purpose it is prict- ical to distinguish between three levels: micro, medium and macro. The micro elements define spaces which are coo small co serve human parposes, wile 3242. Externe lal, Valle dria, Pugh, 4. Extended land. Romagna 44, Extended land. Nonway fram the sir os the macro elements are analogously too large. Spaces which are directly suited dimensionally elated to. huma dvvalling hive a medium or * Seale. As examples of different vironmental scales we may mention the Nocvesian forest, che plains of Northem France (the campagne|, and the rolling countryside of Denmark. In the Nor- vegian forest the ground is covered. by minuscule hilocks and tufts, The ground is never open and free, but cut bby ciay “walleye” benvern n e “hills”. A kind of micro-lan Scape is formed, which seems to ha been made for gnomes or dwarfs. In Northern France, instead, the surface telief consistes of extended but low, ndulating mounds, whose super-human scale creates a. feeling of infinite, ‘cosmic’, extension. In Denmark the landscape is somewhat similar, but the sesle is smaller, and an” intimate “human” environment, results, If we maintain the “Danish” scale horizon- tally, but accentuate the vertical dim sions of the relief, a “human hill Tandscape” is formed. As examples_we may mention the central parts of Tu- seany and the Monferrato in Italy Where the depressions reach a certain death, however. the hills become sepa- rated and the ground loses its. con- tinuity, As a result the lindscape ap- pears forbidding and “wild”. This is the ase in Liguria, where the land is cut through by a neuvork of narrow ravines". A sclatively small change thus suffices to transform the inviting and ordered hill Landscape of the neighbour regions into a kind of confused maze. Our examples have indicated how varia- tions in the surface relief determine the spatial properties of the landscape, and To some extent its character. Characters such as “wild” and “friendiy” are thus functions of the relief, olthough they ‘may be accentuated or conteadicted by4 in AS) Nerenepat ere 46 Compages in Contal ita 47, Rolling courtrside in Denmark texture, colour and vegetation. The words “texture” and “colour” refer to the material substance of the ground, that is, whether it consists of sand, earth, Stone, grass or water, whereas vegetation” denotes elements which are added 1 end transform the surface relief The character of the landscape is evidently to a high extent determined by these “secondary” elements. Similar re- liefs may appear as a “barren” desert of “fertile” phhin, according to the absence or presence of vegetation. At the same time, however, similar celieis preserve fundamental common properties, such as “infinite” extension. ‘The undulating plains of Northern France, for instance, possess the “cosmic” quality which is tusually found in the desert, but simul- taneously the land is fertile, A scinating synthesis is thus experienced When vegetation becomes a primary feature, the landscape in general gets its name from this property, as in the various types of forest landscapes, In the forest landscape the surface relict is less prominent than the spatial effect of the vegetation. Often reef and vegetation combine to form very particular land- scapes. In Finland, for instance, the Continuous forest is “interpenetrated” by a complex system of interconnected lakes. As a resale an eminently Nordic character is created, where the mic ferostructure of the forest is by the mobile and “live” clement water", In general the presence of water adds a certain micro-scale to landscapes whose relief lacks this dimerston, or it adds to the mystery of landscapes ‘which alceady. possess the micro level. When water is. present as a swift river or cascade, nature itself becomes mobile and dynamic, The reflecting surface of fakes and ponds also has a dematerial- izing effect which counteracts. the stable topographical structure. Ina swamp landscape, finally, the ground48. Hien 49. Finnish 50, Revine. Vitorchurmo, Lao Monferana £4. Coaulline in Bavilicana, Marat lendicape52. Valley in Noreay, 94. Noneegin stands. St Noneegian ond gas a maximum of indeterminacy. The Banks of rivers and lakes, on the contrary, form precise edges which usually: funetion as. primary structural elements. in the landscape, Such edges have the double function of giving definition to the water itself as well as the adjoining land, Evidently this defini- tion may happen on all environmental levels, and on the most comprehensive it is the ocean which forms the “final” ground on which the continents. appear asdistinct figures?™!. ‘Through the interaction of surface, relief, vegetation and water, character- istic ‘totalities or places are formed which constitute the basic elements of landscapes, phenomerology of natural phice obviously ought 19 contain a systematic survey of such concrete :0- talities, Variations in the surface relief generate a series of places, for which ‘ur language has. well-known names: plain, valley, bosin, ravine, plateau, hill, mountain, “All these places possess cist tinctive phenomenological characterist- ies. The plain, chus, makes extension as such manifest, whereas the valley is a delimited and directed space. A basin is a centralized valley, where space be- comes enclosed and static. Whereas valleys and basins have a macto or medium scale, a ravine (cleft, gorge) is distinguished “by a. “forbidding” nar- rowness, It has the quality of an world” which gives access 10 the side” of the carth. In a ravine we feel caught or trapped, and the etymology of the word in face leads us back to rapere, thar is to. “seize”. Hills and mountains are spatial complements to. valleys and basins, and function as primary space- defining “things” in. the environment. The general structural. properties of hills and mountains are denoted by words such as “slope”, “crest”, “ridge” and “peak”. We have already suggested that the presence of water may emphasize the58, Clouds. Lineburger Heide. 56, Valley and situate. Subiaco, 57. From the Sania dese 58. Countryside x Denmark, place-strueture of the surface relief. A yalley is literally “underlined” by a river, and the image of a basin is strengthened by a lake, Buc water also generates particular Kinds of spatial configura- tions: island, point, promontory, penin- sula, bay and fjord, all of which must be counted among the most distnenve natural places. ‘The island thus, is a wee par excellence, appearing ‘as an isolited”, clearly defined figure. Ex= ly the island brings us back to the origins; ir rises out of the element from which everything was originally born. The word, “peninsula” means “almost an island”, and thus language expresses an important spatial structure. A gulf or bay is also a strong archetypal place, which may be characterized as an “inverted peninsula”. ‘The typical places generated by vegetation, such as forest, grove, and field, have already been mentioned; we only have to remind of their importance as parts of “living” reality? con the earth implies to be under the sky. Although the sky is distant and imangible, it hay conctete “properties”, and a very important characterizing n. In daily life we vake che sky for granted; we notice that it changes with the weather, but hardly recognize its importance for the general “atmos- phere”. It is only when we visit places very different irom our home that we sudeently experience the sky as “low” oF “high”, or otherwise different from what we are used to. The effect of the sky is basically due to ewo factors. Firstly the constitution of che sky itself, chat is, the quality of light and colour, and’ the presence of characteristic clouds, Secondly its relationship to the ground, that is, how ic appears, from_ below, Seen from an extended épen plain, the sky becomes a complete hemisphere, and when the weather is “good”, its appearanc: is allembracing and trulyeandiose, In places with a pronounced surface relief or rich vegetation, how- exer, only a sector of the sky is seen at the ‘time. Space coniracts, and the landscaze becomes. intimate or even constricted, That this is not a modern experience, is confirmed by the report of an ancient Egyptian seribe: “Thaw hast not trodden ‘the road to. Meger (in Syria), im which the sky is daek by day, Which is overgrown with cypresies, oaks and cedars thar reach the heavens, Shuddering seizes thee, (the hair of) thy head stands on end and the soul lies in thy hand... The ravine is on one side of thee, while the mountain rises on the ‘other, A frightening experience indeed for an Egyptian who was used to see the suit in all its course. In general we may say that the sky i as large as the space from which itis seen. Remembering that a space begins its “presencing” from the boundary, we understand. howd silbouetie’ of the surrounding. “walls” becomes importane when the space is nacrow. Instead of being. a comprehen sive hemisphere within a linear horizon, the sky is reduced to a background for the contours of the surface relief. The lardssape characte thus becomes man- ifese as a sithouetce matically determined sppearance of the sky acts as a counterpoint to its general spatial properties. In the desert areas of North Africa and the Nea East, the cloudless blue sky gives em- phasis co the infinite extension of the land, and we experience the landscape a8 embodying an eternal order, cemered ‘on ourselves. On the plains of Norther Europe, instead, the sky is usually “low” and “flat”. Even on cloudless days. its colour is relatively pale, and the feeling of being under an embracing dome is usually absent, The horizontal direction is therefore experienced as mere ex- tension, Many. variations. are “however possible according co the local surface fell and the quality of the fight. In areas which are noe too distant from the coast, the atmospheric conditions are. continuously changing and light be- comes a live and strongly poetic de- ment, In a country like Hollands where the ground is flat and. subalivided tn fall spaces, light remains & local and intimate values In. Northem France, instead, the landscape opens up ard’ the extended sky becomes # comprehensive “stage” for the continuously changing quality of light A “igheworkl experienced, which evidently inspin the luminous walls of tie Gothie cathe deals andl the impressionist. palneings Of Monet”. In Souther Europe: these poetic quélties “ef lighe are’ monly absent; the strong and warm sun “ the space” and brings out the plastic qualives of natural forms. and “thing As a onsecuenct alan landscape ating has always concentrated. is trenton on the sculptural ebjers and depics an sovicoaime corwieing of evenly illiminated dlccrete objects. In general the earth is the “stage” where man’s daily life takes place. To some extent it may be controlled end shaped, and a friendly relationship resus, Nas tural Landscape thas. becomes. cual Lindscape, that is; aa erviconment where man ‘bas. fond place within the totaly, “The sky, instead, remains distant is dis- tinguished by its “otherness”. bn seu tural terms ‘these basic facts are ex- Pressel by the horizontol andthe ver fica. The simplest model of "man's cxlitental space is therefore a horizontal plane pierce by 2 vereal axl, On the plane man choses and. crercs ‘commen paths and domains which make up the concrete space of his everyday world. Our brief excursion into the stuctite of natural place has implica that tt pov sesses_on several “levels”. A whole country may be the object’ of concrete identification, in accordance with its particular structure, Italy. is thus dis ished by its being a peninsula with 2 chain of moureaing in the middle, On both sides of the central ridge, lane scapes of various kinds are formed: plains, valleys, basins ard bays, which because of the topography of the coun. wy, maintain a certain independence. Within the landscapes, subephees offee man the possibilty of intimate dwelling Among the sub-places we also find the archetypal retreat where man may still experience the presence of the criinal of the earth. The “Careeri" of St. is outside Assisi or the Sacro Speco of St. Benedict near Subiaco are charac teristic examples. In these places the saints of the Middle Ages experienced the mystery of nature, which to. them meant the presence of God Being 1 peninsula divided by 3 range of moun: tains, Scandinavia i structurally similar fo aly, But the dimensions ave larger, and the’ spatial properties of the regions more varied, As a resule, the peninsula Comprises iteo countries with ditinet, characeeristics, wherens. ie would not f serge 0 split Italy longitudinally in “halves”. In southern. Norway we find a primary “hand-shaped” system of valleys with the centre in Oslo, which therefore acts as i natural focus. Wese fern Norway is subdivided by a stcies of parallel fjords between tall mountains, and therefore consiss of more separste, albeit “similar” landscapes. Northern Sweilen possesses an analogous. system of long, parallel valleys, wheress. the southern part of the country rather may be called 1 duscer of domains defined by Jakes and hills, The coax of both countries is accompanied by = belt of islands and skerries, which introduces a “microstructure” entirely lacking, ina ly,Structurally orientation and identifica: tion thus means. the experience of natural place within natural place. The differcre “insides” are “known” in. ace cordance with their structural proper- ties, In all couueries in fact we find that the naming of regions and landscapes reflect the existance of natural places which have 2 structurally determined identity". The individual genius loci is therefore pact of a hierarchical system, and must be seen in this context to be fully understood. 3. The spirit of Natwal Place Gur discussion of the phenomena of natural place has uncovered several basic types of natural factors, which in general are reluted co the earth or the sky, of express an interaction of the two basic “elements”. Our discussion has furthermore implied that in some regions the sky may appear the domin- ant factor, whereas in others the earth contributes the primary presence. Al though some kind of interaction. be- tiveen the wo elements exists every- ces where sky and exrth “seem to have realized 3 par ticularly happy In these places the mnmmene becomes mani- fest as a harmonious whole of mei seale which allows for. relatively easy and complete identification.,.Among the landscapes where the sky dominates we ‘may distinguish between those where the “cosmic order” is of primary importance and those where the changing atmos pheric conditions contribute decisively 10 the environmental character. Where the earth is dominant, a dassification must based on the presence of archetypal “things” as well as variations in scale (miero-macro). Rontantic Landscape Ir iz natural to stare a discussion of archetypal natural places with the kind of landscape where the original forces are still most strongly felt: the Nordic forest, as it is known in certain parts of Central Europe and particularly in Scan- dinavia. The Nordic forest is. distin guished by an interminable multitude of different phenomena The ground is rarely continuos is subdivided and has a varied. relief; rocks and depressions, groves and glades, bushes and tufts create rich “microstructure”. The sky is hardly experienced as 2 total hemisphere, bur is narrowed in berween the contours of trees and rocks, and is continuously modified by » bur it clouds. The guns reatvely lew and creates 9 varied phy of spots of light and shadow, with clouds and, vegetation acting as enriching “filters”. Water is fever present as a dynamic element, both a8 running sireams and quies, reflecting ponds. The quality of the sir is constantly changing, from moist fog to refereshing ovone. ‘As a whole, the environment seems to make a mutable and_ rather incom: prehensible world manifest, where sur- prises belong co the order of the day ‘The general instability is emphasized by the contrast berween the seasons and by frequent changes of weather, In, general we may say that the Nordic landscape is characterized by at indefinite multitude of different places. Behind every hillock and rock there is. new place, and only exceptionally the landscape is unified co form a simple, univocal space Nordic landscape. there counters a host of natural “forces”, whereas A general unifying order is lacking. This becomes clearly manifest in the literature, art and mu Nordic countries, where, natural prestions and moods play a. primary role. In legends and fairysrales we igieaunnae! the TSE tab this world: gnomes, dwarfs and trolls. Still today Nordic man carries these beings within his psyche, and when he wants to “live”, he leaves the city to. expetience the mysteries of the Nord lamscape, In coltg ths: he Keoeaiiad diergones laei; witch be heslotaatn” band ta gain auext foothold. In general we may characterize the Nordic world as a romantic world, in the sense that it brings man back to a distant “past”, which. is experienced emotionally rather than understood as: SInpiey oF Ritery hat Kad of dwelling, possble the Nordic landscape? We have already, suggested that Nordic man has to approach tare vith enigethy, be has tor live with nature in an’ intinaie Sense. Direct participation is this mote important than abstraction of ements are cree, The eertaearons IeMeram is ger soukl. Rather nt toelie at individual finds his own *hiding-place” in nature. “My home is_my castle”, is in fact a Nordic saying. The process 0f empathy and participation obviously takes. place in ‘ifferene ways in dle ferent regions. In Denmark, whete le feale, a human and Hayles; Oct aa Sieg to seule Dawe Ge Meel mounds, under the large trees, em braced by the changing sky. In Nore ways instead, it means to find 4 pice in “wild” nature, between rocks and dark, gloomy confess, preferably nekt to 8 Swi ream ot nee le cases however, the “forces” of nature fare. presenk andl mala dwelling kecatea am ntti Merce mana eivironment. ‘The eseential propery Which makes these forces manifest, 1 Mhicrosttcture. The Nordic landscape is therefore dominated by the earih. It Ba dudtoie lnndseape, bial ee et Wah case tie? opt seprsney HERE and ite characte we determied Bf a 296% Coondelandicaps, Desert with camels, Jordan. 66, Oasis at Lasor Imeracting multivude of unintelligible desl. Cosmic Landscape In the desert the complexities of our concrete life-world are reduced to a few, simple phenomena The infinite extension of the. monoto- ous barren ground; the immense, embracing vault of the cloudless sky (which is rarely experienced a¢ 4 sector ewween rocks and trees); the buming sua which ives an_ almost shadowless light; the dry, warm air, which tells us hhow’ imporiant breathing, is for the experience of place. ‘As a whole, the environment seems 10 make an absolute and eternal order manifest, a world which is distinguished by permanence and structure. Even the dimension of time does not introduce any ambiguities, The course of the sun thus describes an almost exiet meridian, and divides space into , cident”, “midnight”, and is, qualitative domains which in the South are commonly used as cenotations for the cardinal points’, Sunset and sunrise connect day and night without transkional effects of light, and create a simple temporal rhythm, Even the an- imals of the desert participate inthe infinie, monotonous environmental rhythms, as it becomes manifese in che movements of the camel, “the ship of thedeser” The only, Surprise one might encounter in the desert is the sand-storm, the hhavoob of the Arabs. But the sandstorm fs also monotonous. It does not_re- present a different kind of orders it hides theworld, but does not chan; In the desert, thus, the earth does nor offer man a’ sulficient existential foo- thold. fi does ol contain individeal places, but forms a continuous neutral ground. The sky, instead, is structured by the san (and also by the moon and % the stars) and ics simple order is nor obscured by atmospheric changes. In the desert, therefore, man does not encounter the muliferieus “forces” of nature, but experiences its most absolure cosmic properties. This is the existential situation behind’ the Arabic prover! “The further you go into the desert, the closer you come to God". The belief that there is ony one God, monotheism, has in fact come into being in the desert countries of the Near East. Both Juda- ism and Christianity stem from the desert, although their doctrines have become “humanized” by the _ more friendly landscape of Palestine, In Is- lam, however, the desert has found supreme expression. For the Muslim th conception of the one God is the only dogma, and five times « day he cures towards Mecea to say: “lr aha ill allah”, there is no God but Allah™*. By thus proclaiming the unity of Ged, the Muslim confirms the unity of his world, a world which has the gers foci of the desert as its natural model. For the desert-dvellee che gevriue foci is a mani« festation of the Absolute”. Existen« Cally, the desert és in a very particular way, ‘and its being has to be known as such to make dwelling possible. Islam therefore confirms that the Arab. has become a friend of che desert. It is no longer understood as “death”, as it was by the ancient Egyptians,” but ha become @ basis for life. This does not mean however, that the Arab seitles in the desert. For settling he needs the ‘oasis, that is, he needs an intimate place within the cosmic macroworld", In the oasis the slender tmunks of the palms which rise from the flae exparse of the ground seem to make the order of horizontals and verticals which con- stitute Arabic space manifest. Within this abstract order no truly plastic objects ate possible, the “play of light and shadow” is extinguished, and every- thing is reduced to surface and line, In the oasis. dwelling gets its fell range, comprising the totality os well as the individual localey. Classical Landscape Between the South and the Noh we find the classical landscape. It was iscovered™ in Greece, and later it became one of the primary components of the Roman environment. The clas sical landscape is neither characterized b monotony nor by mubifariousness. Ra ther we find an intelligible consposition (of distinct elements: clearly defined hills and mountains which are rarely covered by the staggy woods of the North, clearly delimited, imageable nawural spaces such as valleys and basins, which appear as individual “words”; «| strong and evenly distributed light and a transparent air which give tre forms a maximum of sculptural presence. ‘The ground is simulcaneously continuous and Varied, and the sky is high and em- acing without however possessing the absolute qualizy. encounvered in the desert. A true microstructure is lacking, all dimensions are “human” and con. stitute a total, harmonious equilibrium, The environment thus consists of palp- able “things” winich stand our (ekesist) In light. The classic landscape “receives” Fight viehout losing is conciete pre In general the classical landscape may be described asa meaningful order of distinct, individual places. Thus Ludwig Curtius writes: “The single Greek land: scape is naturally given asa destly delimited anit, which to the eye appears as an integrated cotality (geschlossencs Gobilde). The Greck sense for plastic form and boundary, for the whole and the parts, is founded. on the land- scape...""" We have already pointed out that the Greeks personified the various characters experienced in the landscape67. Casal andscepe. Lago dé Maas eth Mate ° er Bes a5 anthropomorphic gods, interrelating thus natural and human properties. In nature Greek man found binself, rather than the absolute God of the desert or the tolls of the Nordic forest. That means that by knowing himself he knew the world, and became freed from che total abstraction as well as the empathy seussed in connection with the cosm and the romantic landscapes. The ci Sical lanuscape therefore makes «human fellowship possible, where every part conserves its identity within the totality. Here the individual neither is absorbed by an abstract system, nor has to find his private hiding-place. A true "x thering” thus becomes possible, which fulfils the most basic aspects oF dwell ing, How then does “classical man” dwell in the landscape? Basically we may say that he places himself ie fone of nature a8 an equal “pariner”. He is where he is, and Jooks at nature as a_ friendly complement to his own being This Simple and stable relationskip helps to release Auman. viuality, whereas. the mucable Nordic world makes _ man search sccurity in introvert heaviness. When man places himself “in front of" nature, he reduces kindscape to 9 vethie 44, and the classical landscape is in fact hardly “used” in. the Nordic sense of “going into nature”. The union of man and nature is rather expressed through the practical use of agriculture, which accentuates the landseape structure a9 an “addition” of relatively. independent, in- dividual places. The genius loci of the classical landscape is therefore frst of all manifest where clearly defined. natural places are emphasized by the loving care of man. As a well known example we may mention the Valdarno in. Italy, where the cultural landSape indeed expresses the classical “reconeiliation In general dhe reconciliation is mani as 2 harmonious equilibrium of earth 4669, Settlement nthe Landscape. Soriano at Cini, and sky. Plastically present, the earth, rises up without drama, and blossoms in trees which have their individual plascic y Values The olden ight of the sky answers vently, and promises man “bread and wine”, | Complex Landscapes The romantic, cosmic and_ classical landscapes. are archerypes of natural plice, Being generated by the basic tWationships henveen earth and sky, | they-are relevant categories which may help 1s to “understand” the genius of any concrete situation. “As types, however, they harely appear in “pure” form, but participate in various kinds of J syntheses, We haye already. mentioned the “Yertle desert” of the French cam- agne, where cosmic, romantic and hssical properties unify to form a particularly meaningful totality, « land- seape which made Gothic architecture possible, and hence a particularly com plete interprecation of che Chris Mmesage, We igh ao “mention place like Naples, where classical spaces an characters mest the romantic mosphere of the sea and the chthonic forces of the volcano, or Venice where cosmic extension comes together with the everchanging, slitering surface of the lhgoon, In Brandenburg, instead, extension is squeezed. in becween a sandy moor and alow, geey sky, ereating a landscape which seems saturs ted by the monotonous, cheerless thrthm of marching soldiers. In. the ‘Alps, on the contrary, we find a “wikdcomantic” character, which is marly determined by ‘the, contrast ween serrate silhouettes and impene- rable ravines. The possibilities ate © legion and. determine a corresponding mileitade of “existeneial meanings” The notion that the landseape deter mines fundamental existential meanings ‘or contents, is confirmed by the fact 4Naples, panorama The crater of he Veswcin 1 Venice sero the goon Norwegian lndscane Alpine lendscate. that most people feel “lost” when they are moved to a “foreign” landscape. Iv is well known that people of the great plains easily suffer from claustrophobia ‘when they have to live ina hilly country, and that those who are used to be surrounded by intimate spaces easily become victims of agoraphobia. In ony ease, however, landscape functions as an extended growd to the man-made places. It contains these places, and as a “preparation” for them, it also contains natural. “insides”. We’ have described these as “meaningful places” which are “known” because they possess particular strucural properties. Dwelling in nature is therefore not a simple question of "refuge". Rather it means to understand the given environment as a set of “insides”, from the macro down to the micro level. In the romantic landscape dwelling means to rist up from the ‘micro. fo the macro levels here. the immediately given are the forees of the earth, whereas God is hidden. In the cosmic landscape the process ha: the oppesite direction, and the enclosed den or “paradise” becomes the ul- ie goal. In the classical landscape, finally, man finds himself in. monious nd may reach swell as “in”, Rilke told us what about: “Eaeth, is not wants invisibly to arise in us?" what youmH MAN-MADE PLACI 1, The Phenomena of Man-made Place To dwell between heaven and carth means to “settle” in the “multifarious ween’, that is, to concrerize the al situation as a mian-made place. The word “sete” here does not mean mere economical relationship; ic is ra ther an existential concept which dé notes the ability t0 symbolize meaning When the man-made environment. is meaningful, man is “st home". The places where we have growa up are such “homes”; we know exactly how it feels to walk on that particular pavement, 10 be between those particular walls,” or tunder that particular ceiling; we know the cool, enclosure of the Southern house, and the eonforting warmth of the Nordic dwelling. In general, we know “realities” which carry our existence, But “settling” goes beyond such. immediare gratifications, From. the begincing of time man has recognized that 10 ereate a place means 0 express the essence of beng, The man-made environment where he lives is not_a mere practical tool or the result of arbitcary hap- penings, it has structire and embodies meanings. These meanings and sruce tures are reflections of man's under- standing of the natural environment and his existential situation in. general!, A study of man-made. place’ therefore ought to have a natieral basis: it should take the relationship 0 the natal environment as its poine of departure, Architectural history shows that_man's primeval experience of everything “Thou”, also determined his rela co buildings andar elements, they were they had mans, or maj Demonic powers’ in fact ai by giving them a “ewe they are fixed to a place influenced by man? The architecture of early civilizations may therefore be inter preted asa coneretization of the under power, conquered Stave church, None 77. Mealibic stractre, Seg, Lai.standing of nature, described. above in terms of things, order, character, light and time, The proceses involved in Yeranslating’” these meanings into. made forms have already been defined and “symbolization”, whereas ing” serves the somewhat different pur pose of making the mon-made place Become a ricrocpsrios, in general We tay Say thatman “builds” his world The fist mode of building consists in conererizing the natural forces. In the arly history of Westean art and archi- tecture we encounter two basic ways of doing this, Either the forces are “directiy” expressed by means of lines end oriament, or they are concretized as made things, which represent. the jentioned! above. Where was employed by che *Nordie” peoples, the second was de. xelonell by the Mediterranean eiviliza tions!. We shall here concentrate our attention on the “Mediterranean” mode. Early Mediterranean architecture is first of all disinguished by the Use of large Sones. It is 4 megalithic architecture where the material symbolizes the solid- ity and permianenee found in mountains and rocks. Permanence was unilerstood a8 @ primary exisential need, and was related to man ability of procreation, The stone, menbir, was simul taneously a “built” rock anda phallic symbol, and the massive, cyclopic wall embodied the same forces!, Through a forces were transformed into a system of erticals and horizontals: (*active” and passive” elements). a development which culminated in. the orthogonal structures of Egyptian architecture. Other natural meanings were also rela- ted 0 this system. ‘The Egyptian py- amid are “artificial mountains” which fete kuik 19 make che properties of a 78. Sten pyramid at Saagara 79, Cave dwelling at Perainferred vertical axis which connects hand sky and “receives” the sun, Thus the pyramid unifies the primocdial mouniain of Egyptian mythology with the radiant sun-god Ra, and represents the king. as his son. At the same time the pyramids through their location between oasis and desert (life and death), visual- ize the spatial structure of the country a longitudinal fertile valley between finite expanses of barren land’. Here buildings are used to define a significant boundary (“edge”). Finally we may mention that Egyptians “huile” the sky, decorating ceilings of tombs, temples and houses with stars on a blue ground yy. means of visualization and sym- bolization the ancient Egyptians thus concretized their known world, We gave already mentioned the cave as, another archetypal naceral_ element, In salithic architecture artificial caves, dole, were built to visualie this aspect of the earth, Being simultaneously interior spaces and feminine symbols, the artificial caves were understood as representations of the woril asa whole', an interpretation which was completed by the introduction of vertica “masculine” elemenss, such as a pillar, or an orthogonal system of vertical and horizontal members. The ‘marriage of keaven and earth” which was the point of departure for ancient cosmogonies wats thus coneretized_in_ built form, Typical examples are furnished by the megalichic temples of Malta, where the apses contained a movrbir and the houndaries are orthogonally articulaced. In ancient archi we alo. en- counter other representations of natural elements, The Ionic temple with its rmumerous columns has thus been de- scribed as a “sacred grove", and the expression “forest of columns” is often used to designate the hypostyle halls of early civilizations. In the Eyyptian tem. ples the columns are in fet derived from plant forms, such as palm, papyrus and lotus. The Egyptian forest” of columns represented “the land and the sacred plans which rose out of the fertilized soil w bring protection, per- manence and sustenance to the land and its people" In_general man’ under standing of the ferle soils visualized through agriculture. In the cultur: andscape the natural forces are “domes: ticated” and living reality is made manifest as an ordered process. wher ‘man participates. The garden is her place where living nature is concietived As an organic conlity. Man's image of Paradise was in fact always an enclosed garden. In the garden the known cle- ments of nature are gathered: fruit tres, lowers and “tamed” water. In Mediae- val painting it is depicted as a, ortus conclusus with the “Tree of Life” and a fountain in the middle, surrounded by a “‘wildemess” of mountains and forests Even water may thus be “built”, that is, given precise definition as part of a cultural landscape, or visualized ina fountain. In the cultural landscape man builds” the earth, and makes its powen- al structure manifest as a meaningful tality. A culcural landscape is based on ‘cultivation”, and contains defined phar ces, paths and domains which concretize mans understanding of the navural environment. Orthogonal space, cave-like interior and cultural landscape suggest general com- prehensive orders, which to some extent satisfy man’s need for understanding, nature as a sieuctured whole, comprising all environmental levels from the artifact to the region. The quest for order, however, above all becomes manifest through ‘the “building” of one of the cosmic orders mentioned in connection with natural place. We understand im- mediately that the’ orthogonal space of the Egyptians comprised this. aspect, unifying the east-west course of the sun 80 Temple of Amesopis il, Lavon: 81, Valley-tonple uf Chephren El Gi and the southsnorth direction of the Nile. Moreover the Egyptians over ani ‘over again reproduced their general image of heaven and earth in the floors, walls and ceilings of their temples, We have ako reason to believe that the imagined four poses on which the sky rests, are a derivation fom an are chetypal building with a fle ceiling and @ column at each corner. The under standing of the natural” environment therefore does not necessarily. precede building, The very act of building may become a means to this understanding, and the house may act as a “model” for the cosmic image, at Las if « structural Similrny is present, We this realize the fundamental importance of architeccure as a means to give man_an existential foothold. ‘The Nordic image of the cosmos as a house where the heaveath axis forms the ridge-beam and the Trminsud the aorehern of the ‘wo posts fon which it rests, is also a prejecion of the structure of a simple archetypal house into the cosmic sphere’. And the Mediterranean image of a. “cosmic cave”, in obviously derived from natural caves as well as anificial caves such as the Roman Pantheon. In this case, we find a reciprocal relationship. between thenatural and the man-made place, The Romans possessed both the eave image and the house-image, represent again a_meeting of Mediterranean. and Nordic elements. In the Pantheon «wo crossing axes. are integrated inthe caverlike rotunda, expressing thus that the world is both oriented and *ro- und”. On the urban level the Romans visualized the cosmic order by mes of ‘wo tain streets crossing each other ata fight angle; the cardo” running” north: south and the decumanus easi-west. This scheme has been known by many civilizations and was still alive in, the Middle Ages", ‘The word “quarter” in connection. with cities stems. from this 59division in four pars by the crossing axes. In the Middle Ages whole coun tries like Ireland and Iceland were divided in four parts, A Medieval world map from the 12* or 13% century, shows four symmetrically disposed continents, separated by seas and. sursounded by imare oagnun”™, We may also ce | in this connection that the Ch- ristian basliea with transept is organized around “cressing”. Whereas a cosmic order is visualized-by means of spatial organization, characters, fare symbolized through formal articul- ation, Characters are more intangible than natural “things” and_ spatial rela tionships, and demand particular at- tention from the builder. In fact their oncretization presupposes a language of symbolic forms (style). Such a language consists of basic elements which may be varied and combined in different ways. In othe words it depends on systematic formal articulation, ‘The decisive siep in the development of a coherent formal language was taken by the Greeks. We have already pointed out that the Greek achievement consisted in a precise de- finition of different kinds of natural places, which were related to basic human characters. This definition meant something more than the meaningful dedication of a particular place to 2 particular god, although this might have Been the first step!. Primarily it con: sisted in the building of symbolic struc. tures, temples, which gave the intended character presence. The single temple may be understood as an individual metaber of a “family”, just as the gods forimed a family which symbolized the various roles and interactions of man on earth, The individual differences within the family were first of all expressed by the so called classical Orders, but alse by variations within the Orders as well as combinations of traits from two or more Orders. Our theoretical knowledge82, Forum of Gerasa, jordan, with card and desumains on he backgronnd: 82 Sword H Pecan, rd madera ane “pera san Vado, of the Orders goes back to the Roman architect Virravius. Vitruvius, maintains that temples ought co be built in ¢ different style according to their ded: ication, and proceeds by explaining the “Orders in. terms-of human. characters, The Doric column “furnishes the pro portion of a man’s body, its strength and beauty”. The lonic is’ characterized by “feminine slenderness”, whereas the Corinthian “imitates the slight figure of a maider”'’, The articulation of Greek architecture ‘therefore, cannot be under stood in merely visual or aesthetic terms, Articulation meant making, pre cise panicular characte:, and character, simple or complex, deter mined_every part of the buildiog. In Renaissance architecture articulation vwas based on the "Vicruviaa” tradition. Setlio calls the orders opera di mao, and implies that they represent different modes of human existence, while rust ication was opera di natura, that is, @ symbol of the origival forces of the earth, As late as the cightesnth century the classical Orders formed the basis for an exceptionally sensitive treatment of symbolic characterization’. Architectural history, however, also knows other cohereat symbolic. lane guages. In Mediaeval European archites (ure, a systematic approach to archicee tural form served the purpose of sym bolizing the ordered Christian coos!” As the Christian world is founded on the spirit as an. existential reality, Medizeval articulation aimed. at “dem tevalization”, and negated the anthro- pomorphic classical Orders, Demater- ‘alization was understood as a function of light, ay a divine manifestation. We may therefore say thet Medi “buile” light, the most in natural phenomena. Since then light has been a primary means. of architectural characterization, z V addition to “forces”, order, character 5h| smu aE man i | MATTIE ff | = ays 253, Belang dg. Cop 86, Balding ght. Aniers Cather and light, the cacegories of natural standing also comprise time, which ‘sa basically different dimension. Time |S not a phenomenon, but the order of phenomenal suecession and change, Buildings and seitlements, however, are static, apart from. certain mobile’ ele ments of secondary importance. Nonethe less man has succeeded in “building” time, by translating basic temporal Structures into spatial properties Prima “movement”, and as suey ssesses “direction” and shythm”, path is. therefore. 3 fundamen symbol which concrete of ties Some? times the pach leads to @ meaningful nl, where the moxement is 2 Bnd. time becomes permanence, Another hasie symbol which eoncretizes the tem- ral dimension is therefore the centre I buildings which visualize the concept. of centre are the Mal and the endosire, which often app combination. The zations vas usually understood. o¢ avis mundi. At the acropolis, Mal (hill) and enclosure (plateau) are unified. ancient architecture we also usual which leads to. the micting. of “eesmic” events. Ti the Christian basilica, path (nave) and goil {alear) are united 'o symbolize the * Of Salvation” of Christian doctrine. The basic phenomena of the urban environ: ment, the siveet and the square, also belong to the categories of path and centre, The man-made place visualizes, com plements and symbolizes man’s under Standing of his environment, In addition it may ako gather a number of n settlement is founded on forms are the farm, the ageicultaral village”, the ue ban dwelling, and the town or city. All these places are essentially man-made or 56Santficial", but they fall into two dis tinct categories. The first two are girly razed tothe Land hot is they form par of a particular environment, snd their structure is determined by this environment, In the urban dwelling and the town as'a whole, instead, the direct relation co the natural environment is weakened of almost lost, and gathering hheeames a bringing together of forms which have their roots in other lo- calicies, This is the essential property of the whan settlement. The main his- torical cites are therefore hardly found in places. where a pariéeular natural character is revealed (such as Delphi or Olympia), but somewhere between these places, Thereby they become com prehensive centres for a world which comprises a multitude of meanings. By moving the natural forces. imo the settlement, the forces were “domestica- ted”, and the eity became a fact “which helped co liberate man from the verror of the natural world with its dark powers and limiting law!’ In a such as Priene, the main gods are brought cogether and located, according to their particular nature, within. the urban area, transforming thus the town into a meaningful microcosmos. But also the other buildings, public as well as private, are articulatet by means of the classical Orders, and ore thus related to the same system of meanings. It goes withour saying that the gathering. fan tion of the town determines a complex internal structure, an urban, “inside The same holds’ true for the house, which Alberti called a “small ci Through building, man-made places are cxeated. which possess. their individual genius loci. This genius is determined by what is visualized, complemented, syn bolized or gathered. In vernacular 3 chitecture the man-made genius loci ought to correspond closely. that of the natural place, in urban architecture, instead, ie is more comprehensive, The genius loci of a town, thus, ought co comprise the spirit of the locality to get but it should also gather con- tents of general interest, contents which have their roots elsewhere, and which have been moved by means of sym- bolization. Some of these contents (meanings) are so general that they apply to all places 2, The Stmeture of Man-ntade Piace ‘The term “man-made place” denotes a series of environmental levels, from villages and cowns-down 10 houses and tein imeriors. All these “places” begin their_“presencing” (being) from the Boundaries, We have already pointed Gut that the “presencing’ thereby” de- fined, in principle implies parncular relationships to the ground and to the sky. A general introduction to. the stiucutre of man-made places. therefore has. t0 investigate these relationships with regard to the different environ- mental levels, Hore does a. building (rise? (Evidently “sanding” comprises lateral extension and contact with the surroundings by means Of openings). How isa settlement related to its eavironmient, and. hove is sithoueite? Questions of this kind pue the matter of structure in. conerete erm, and give the phenomenology’ of architecture a realistic basis The distinctive quality of any man-made place is enclosire, and its character and spatial properties are determined by how itis enclosed. Enclosure, thus, may be more or less complete,” openings and impled directions may be present, and the capacity of the place varies -ac- jrdingly. Enclosure primarily means distinet area which is separated Irom the surroundings by means of a builr bound ary, Ie may also be manifest in less strict form as a dense cluster of elements, ‘where & continuous boundary is inferred 90. Urban gateray. Prine, Asa Minor. 91. Enlosure, Momteriggions, Toscana rather than positively present. An ‘ene closure” may even be created by 2 mete change in the texture of the ground. The cultural importance of def ‘which is qualitatively dif the surroundings, cannot_be over timated. The remenos is che archetypal | form of mesninglal space, and. con= sritures the point of departure for hhuman settlement. In Japan, as has been shown by Ginter Nischke, basic cul= ural phenomena of various kinds wer detived fromthe process of land de- markation®’, The landmarks themselves were bundles of grass or reeds were bound sogether in the middle to form a fan-like artifact which visializes 1 separation of earth and heaven (bot= com and top), A, three-dimensional “cosmos” was thus defined within the given chaos. Nitschke furthermore points out. that the-very—word for enclosed) land, shina, was derived. {fom the fanie Of the lind oxcupati mark, -sbime;-and-teminds —us_ of connection of words inthe in Marke (mack, sig) and Mark | ‘We may add eral Nordic terms for an en: closed “inside”, town, tun (norw.), Hin ) (cach) are derived from Zau, that is, “valley”, goes. together with callin, “wall”, “palisade’y” and vallis, “pole”, Indeed the enclosure began its presencing from the boundaey The “how of the enclosure depends upon the concrete properties of the boundaries. boundaries determine the degree of enclosure openness’) a5 Well as the spatial direction, which are CWO aspects of the same_phenomeron. When an. opening is introduced in a centralized enclosure, an axis is created chick implies longitudinal movement. ‘We find such_a__combination_of en: closure and_longitadinality. already a Stonehenge, where the “altar” is moved away from the geometrical centre in “fence”, vallis, 58oh to the processional path The spatial scructures developed. ching = / the history of architecture are always in ‘one. way..6r the other based on cen- walzation_and longitudinality_and theit combinations. “The” general_ significance ‘OF the concepts of centre-and. path 1s thus confirmed, but the particular ways ® of using these themes are to a high extent locally determined, Centralization and longitadinality are often emphs \_by the upper boundary of the spac instance by « hemispherical dome or a barrel vault, The ceiling mi determine andl visualize the spatial structure. In general the pre of a ceiling defines the particular kind of enclosures Enown at “interior space” When there is no eviling, the sky acts as the upper boundary, and the spa spite _of lateral boundaries, part of ‘exterior space”. An enclosed space Which is lit from above therefore offers a strange experience of being inside and Outside at the same time. The main_ucban_ elements are ceneres and paths. A square obviously functions as a centre and a street asa path, As such they are enclosures; their spatial identity in fact depends upon the presen- (Uce of relatively: continuous lateral boun- edaries. In addition to centre and path, we have introduced the word domain ¢ denote abasic type of enclosure urban distrier is such a domain, again “we find” that the presence of a boundary is of decisive importance district, thus, is cither defined by con- spicuous edges of some kind, or at lease by a change in urten texture which iplies boundary. In combination, centres, paths and domains may. forin complex totalities which serve” ma need for orientation. OF particular inter- est are the cases when a centre generates a domain, or “field”, to use the word of This happens fora Yiu §, Cato, Pater Disnct. Pte, Bastiat insrance when @ circular piazea i surrounded bye eaecnmioasysern ot streets, The properties of a “Pela” are tiene errmied by tha erste, or bp razor repetition of structural proper: ties When several fields interacts a complex spatial structure results, of arying) density, tension and dyham- Gore ;spuhianil Gornain ire general era Merce esacd gic saeaite the Gestak principio sono arclacoctrs ne Mire civics oe cherypal_ configurations, which are. ge- nerated by these principles, or rather Which may be casted 5 centres, pachs or domains. In archicetmeil history, thus, we eicoumier centalized forms Ben oe estate sl hess egg maltadan piiciecesetee rece Eieisialivies. Le Corbucier till con- sidered the sphere, the cube, the pY- rami aid the cylinder the elements of Brchitectural fort", The. basic. longi tudial forms stem from an organization ff space around a curved or straight ke aid We Stall) apo a buildings and woe As bulk dornaing wwe may, finaly, consider al kinds of clusters and groups of spaces or bull ings, Whereas the custer based on Simple proximity of the elements, and Shows relatively. indeterminate spatial relationships, the word "group" is most Iy wae 0) Henge iepile, possibly Homtsieal, tne Oe thoes daeeeneal sfatel orgeitexion’ THe eporanea of the archetypal ‘configurations is con- figmed by the fier thar towns and villages in any. part of the world either belong. to the cemalized, the. longi tudinal or the clustered type. i. German ihe pes. are, karen as "sewed, Reitendorf and. Hanferdorfos Tats fpr] puny of partcalt ince are the grid and the libyrith, The grid an “open, orthogonal infasruccre of pathsy which may belied in withbuildings in differen ways". ‘The laby- rinth insiead, is characterized by al of straight and continuons. paths. high density. Ie is the teadivions seenene tert Abe character of a man-made place is to ( igh erent deternainad by i Genre ok “opemees”. The solidity or ru ‘the boundaries make the ibolaed or as_pare of a lity. We here return to ide relavionship which every essence of archives: ture. A place may thus be an isolated refuge, whose ng is due to the presence of symbolic elements, it, may Communicate With an “understood” con J ideal, ie Baroque archiveccure, where the side proper is embedded in a lursinous one which symbolizes the omnipresence ‘of Divine Light, Zones_of_w so" be usec! to relate the internal > structure of the place to the struct <2 \henacuraror man-ma 3c Robert Venus, who says: “At occurs_at_ the meeting of interior and exterior forces of use_and space”! Niveteatly- this meeting 1 exprened ic apa snd in partcdar iw ihe ‘openings which connect the no “do- ‘A man-made place, however, is some- thing more chan a space with’ a varying degree of openness. As a building, it | stands on the ground, and rises towerds the sky. The character of the place is to a high extent determined by how this Santng and ising 5 concetzed, Ths also Holds true for entire settlements, such as towns. When a town pleases us Because of ies distinct character, it is isially Because 4 of its buile are related 97. Linear village, Caprarola Last, 98. Cluster village with kebyrouline spaces, Osta, Tag.express_a_common_form_of life, a Zommon Wa} ‘onthe earth, allows fe 2 The “how” -omprises general and particular aspect. In general any building possesses a conerete struc -rechnical terms, and in particular jdval_avticulation of this steuc~ archetypal building in_this <4 house whose primar ich a house a.clear, easily imagezble order, hich in_ancient_times_helped man ‘L'gain_a_ieeling of secu “Fonfirmed by the eiymology and rel ‘tionship of the terms which denote the aurious parts of the structure. The word “ridge”, chus, in general means the crest of something, and in particular a chain of mountains. The corres vegian word is means “hill” and as wall as the ridge of the house. The German First has many connotations, among which Forst is particukarly inter sting, & Hosed area in general". OF primary importance in the stracture is the point where the horizon- cal and verted! members are connected, the "gable". In. the Middle Ages the German world Giebel meant gable as wall as the poles of the sky, Here we return again c0 the relationship between hhouse “and. cosmic order, which was disewssed shove. What is imporcane co stress in this context however, is. chat the meaning of a building is rektted to its structure. Meaning and character not be interpreted in purely formal Or aesthetic terms, but are, as we have already pointed ‘out, intimately com rected with making defines the * werk set is_the meaning of architectural _con- eretization: to set a place iulo work, in102 Maliing, Chey bons Tons 10% Making. Loft at Kite, Amt, Nome the sense of conerete building, The sharaeter_of a work of architecture is therefore first of all determined by the Kind of construction usedy swhether it i, skeletal, open and transparent (poten= Gially or in. fact), oF and encosed. And secondh as such: binding, joining, crecting ete These processes express how the mea ing of dhe work becomes. a “thing Thus Mies van der Rohe sai chitecwre starts when you put two bricks carefully upon each orher” Making. is an aspect of articwlation. The other aspect is “form”. Articula determines how a building stands fists, and how it receives light, The word “sand” denotgs its relationship the earth, and “rise” its relationship 1 the sky. Standing is eoneretized through the treatment of the fuse and the. xual A massive and pe concave, base and is “tie” the building to the ground, whereas an emphasis on the vertical direction tends to make it “free”, Vertical lines and forms express an aetive teh po the sky and o wish for receiving light. Verticalism and religions aspiration have in fact always gone together. In. the wall, thus, earth and sky meet, and the way man “is” on earth is concretized by the solution of this meeting. Some buildings are “grouné-hugging", others tise freely, and in others again we find meaningful equilibrium. Such an eguil brium is for instance found in the Dore temple, where the deiails and the prow portions of the columns express that they stand and rise, By means of subtle variations in the treatment, the Greeks could express significant nuances within the general equilibrium. In che first Hera temple in Paestum the strong, antasis of the columns as well as other details brings us close to the earth, in accordance with the character of ‘the goddess. In the temple of Apollo in\ 104. Maki. Stone brings Montepuian. 105. Stnding snd rising. Sree i lnmbrack 106, Standing ane ring, Temple in Selante Corinth, inseaul, entasts is entirely. ae bolished 10 express the more abstract, intelecrul strength of the god ‘A meaningful relationship benween horizonta's and verticals also desends on the form of the roof. Flat or sloping roofs, gables, domes and pointed spires express different relations to earth and sky, and determine the general character ff the building. In his houses, Frank Hyd Wright wasted simultancously to express belonging to. the earth and “freedom” in space". Thus he composed, | the building of planes’ of “ink extension parallel to the ground, but 4 rocuced a vertical core as well as low ipped roofs to give it an anchorage. i (ice orca) ecto in opice 4 concretized by an opening up of the wall: by means of bands of glass. The Avalls no longer there to enclose space, but rather to direct it and to achieve a | mification of inside and outside. In general openings serve to concretize ditferer ide-outside —relationshi | z ‘wall give emphasis, to enclosure and interiority, whereas the (filling in of a skeletal wall by: large (surfaces of glass “de-maerialize™ the building and create an imeraction bet- Veen exerior and incor, Openins aso reveive and transmit light, an; | therefore main determinants ol archi- {ectural character, Large-scale environ: menis are often characterized by. pars ticular types of windows end “doors, which thereby become motifs schich | condense and visualize the local ch ter. Finally, it ought to be mentioned that material and colour may conteibute decisively to characterization. Stone brick and wood are “presences whidh express the way buildings “ate fon earth. In Florence, for instance, rusticated stone was wsed to concretize rational, “built” envionment possessing Selassie” substance and oeder. In Si na, instead, the use of continuous | o68‘le-macrialized” brick surfaces ereae an atmosphere of Madiaeval spirituality It goes without saying that the choice of ‘material and colour is intimately: inked with “making” in general, although a certain independence may be meaning, ful, as when built walls are painted in colours which have a mere character izing function, \ “freedom” of this kind is obviously more common in enclosed interior spaces, where the direct contact with the enviconment is weaker, and where character therefore implies a athering of “distant” meanings. it would i this context carry us too far to develop a systematic typology of man-made places, We have already mmeniioned the farm, the village, the ucban house and the town as. primary eaegores. A further differentiation fovght to be based on the various “building-rasks” which make up 2 hue man settlement®, It ought to be repea ted, however, that manmade places form a hierarchy of environmental feeb, The sealement ay a whole is externally related to a natural oF cule tural landscape by which itis contained. Internally the settlement contains. sub- places such as squares, streets and districts (“quarters”). These sub-places again conrain and are defined by buil- dings serving different purposes. Within the buildings we find the interior spaces, in the common sensé of the word. The ineerior contains artifacts which define fn innermost goal (such as the altar of 2 church, or the table in Trak!’s poem), The structural properties of the various levels aswell as. their formal. inter- Telations, coneretize the “form of life” as whole, in an individual as well as a social sense, We shall later inroduce the eoncepis of “private” and “public” to arrive a¢ a fuller understanding of the place as a “living” totality Scructurally, orientation” and identific- ation means the experience of man-made o place within man-made place. The dif- ferent “insides” are “known” in ac~ cordance with theie structural proper In most settlements in fact we find thar the naming of the urban spaces reflects the existence of distinet_man- made places which have a stcucturally determined idemiity", “The man-made sentus loci depends on how these places are in terms of space and character, that is, in terms of organization andar ticulation 3. ‘The Spirit of Man-Made Place Our discussion of the phenomena of man-made place has uncovered several basic types of man-made factors, which helped. cur understanding of the stcue- ture of man-made place, as well as it relationship to natural place. Any’ con cree situation is distinguished by a particular combination of these factors, which constitute the genius loci as an integrated totality, There are man-made places where the variety and mystery of the natural forces are strongly felt, there are plaees where the manifestation of an abscract general order has been the main intention, and there are places where foree and order have found a com- prehensible equilibrim, We thus rewwrn to the categories of, “romantic”, "cos- mic” and “classical”. Although these categories are abstractions which are hardly coneretized in pure” form, they expres concrete tendencies, and there- fore serve a general understanding of the spirit of place. Any concrete situation may in fact be understood as a synthesis of these basic categories. Using the word ‘urchirecture” to denote the coneretiz= ation of man-made places in general, we may hence talk about “romantic a= “classical architecture” Romantic architecture As “romantic” we designate am ar chitecture distinguished by. multiplicity and variety. It cannoy easily be under~ stood in logical. cerms, but. scems ir rational and. “subjective” (akkhough the inherent meanings may be of general value), Romantic architect fs cham; terized by a strong “atmosphere”, and may. appear “phantastic” and. “myster- ious”, but alo “intimate” and “idyllic In general i is distinguished by a live and dynamic choracter, and aims at expression"! Its forms seem to be a result of “growth” rather than orsaniz~ ation, and resemble the forms of living nature. Romantic space is topological rather geometrical, On the urban level iy that the basic configurations and indeterminate eluster and varied row. The are distinguished by ie- regular enclosure, and contain funetions ina general way, without aiming. at regular, defined distribution. “Strong romantic spaces and configurations demand a continuous but geometrically indeterminate boundary. [a relation 10 the surroundings the romantic settlement is identified by the proximity of its elements, or by general enclosure, The “atmosphere” and _ expressive character of romantic architecture is ‘obtained by means of formal complexity and contradiction. Simple, intelligible turban spaces volumes are avoided and." ansformed into transparent, skeletal steuctures where the line becomes a symbol of force and dynamism. Although the eon- struction as sick may be logical, it Usually appears irrational duet ‘the multiplication of members, variation in detailing, and introduction. of “free ommament, “The outside-inside rekuion: ship is wsually complex, and the rom ic building and settlement are characterized by a serrate and. “wild” silhouette. Light is used to emphasize variety and atmosphere rather thancomprehensible elemenss, Usually it has ality, which may be swesed through the application of par- ticular colours. The Mediaeval wown is the romantic settlement par excellence, particularly in Ceniral Europe, where classical influen- ce (natural or histoncal) i less strongly felt than for instance in. aly, The Mediaeval town makes its pres visible in towers and. spines, and spaces aire characerized hy the poinred srables of the houses, as well as by rich itrational detail. According to the n. tural environment the character varies, from the “wild-romantie” Alpine set. ement 10 the idyllic interaction of buildings and surroundings in Norcheen Germany and Denmaek. In Tansbeuck, for instance, the houses are heavy and massive down at the ground with lov and mysterious arcades, but they rise towards the sky with stepped and undulating gables. 9a northern town like Celle, the gabled houses become skeletal and are’ transformed ikon aumospherie play of colours. In Norway, finally, the Nordic character eulminatex in the’ eminently romantic structures. of the stave-chure and the foft, and in the white-painted houses which concretize the luminosity of the Nordic summer night, The summee night in fact beceme part of man’s built enviconment when the colour white was invenced. Before, the houses were dark, reflecting the mystery of the winter sky, which is also the light of the stwe-church interior. In the stave-church it makes sense 10 ralk about “dark Tight", asa Divine mani Festation. ny more’ recent architecture, the rome antic character is fully present and wonderfully interpreted in the Art Now eae, Later, it appears, ina different key, in the “Yorest” architecture of Alvar Aalto, differently: again, in the works of Hiring, who aimed ar making anLZ Roartc architecuns. Diels 113, Romane architecture, Street Cal 114. Rorsante arciteture, Dare and th painted itt Tysont, Nemodal Novoty onsanhaft architecture, that is, buildings which are “organs” to the functions they serve, like the orgens of our body. Thereby Hiring gave the romantic ap- proach an actual definition". In general, the muliplicity and variety of romantic architecture is unifted by a basic Stin- mung, which corresponds to particular formative principles. Romantic an ture is therefore eminently local, Cosmic architectre As “cosmic” we designate an architec= tute distinguished by uniformity and absolute” order. It can be understood a8 an integrated logical system, and seams rational and “abstraes", inthe serse of transcending the individual conerste ion. Cosmic architecture is distinguished by a certain lack of “armesphere’, and by a very limited umber of basic characters. It is neither “phantastic” nor *idyllic", words which Uenote direct human participation, but remainy aloof. Its forms are static rather than dynamic, and seems 10 be. the revelation of a “hidden” order, richer than, the result of concrete composition Ie aims at “necessity™ rather than ex= pression. Cosmic space is strictly geometrical and 'S usually concretized as a regular grid, oe aa cross of omhogonal axes (cando-decwwnanes). Ie is uniform and isotropic, although its sirections are qualitatively different. That is, the qualitative differences are not expressed as such, but are absorbed by the system, Cosmie’ space, however, also knows an “inversion” which we may call “laby- finthine space". The labyrinth does not poses any defined or goal-oriented direction, it reses in itself without beginning and. end. Basically ie is therefore “cosmi cems to belong to another than the arid. “Strong” cost demand a leat visualization of the system. In 1 115, Romantic achtecuire. Orem boase by Guomard, Pars,116, Cosmic architecture. Decumanis at Gers 117. Cosmic architecre. Covrtyard of the Micah mong Istanbul 118. Labyrindine world, Vilage at Tati sland, horton, " 113 Open grid. Massachusetts ave Cambri, ave relation to the surroundings it may remain “open”, as ie dors not take the local microseructure into consideration. The character of cosmic architecture is also distinguished by. “abstraction” Thus at shuns sculptural presence, and tends to dematerialize volumes” ard surfaces by meany of “earpetlike™ dec oration (mosaic, glazed tiles ete. ).ar.by the introduction of inericate geometrical webs. Horizoneals and verticals (lo. not represent active forces, hut are put in a simple juxtaposition as manifestations of the general order. In Islamic architecture the cosmic ap- proach finds its major manifestation, The Islamic city, thus, consists of a combination of yeometrical and, laby= rinthine space. Whereas the main pi- blic buildings are based on an orthogonal arid (Mosque, Medrese,ete.), the residential quarters are labyrinthine, a fact which expresses the desert ocigin of Islamic culture as well as the social structure of the Arabic seitlement*, which, after all, are ovo aspects of the same fouality. The “absteset™ presence of horizontals and verticals (the Minaret), concretizes the general order, and. gives 4 first suggestion of the cosmic charac- ter. In interior space this character becomes the manifestation of an ideal world, a paradise of white, green, and blue, that is, the colours of pure light, vegetation and water, which represents the goal of man’s desert voyage But cosmic architecture maybe inter- preced in ocher ways. We have already described the absolute systems of the Egyptians and the Romans. The latter is of particular interest in our context, as ic was brought along and imptanced everywhere regardless of the losal cir cumstances, In general the Ri therby expressed that every in place forms part of a comprehensive cosmic (and political!) system which it has to obey. In Roman architecture this bPB order penetrated all levels, down to the interior space of “sigividual. buildings, Thus the Roman conquest of the world happened as the manifestation of a reestablished cosmic order, “in agree- ment with the gods In modern times, the image of a cosmic order has degenerated into spatial tems which coneretize political, social or economic structures. The gri-iron plans of American cities, for instande, do not express any cosmological concept, hut make an “open” world of opportunities manifest. This world is open horizor tally as well as. vertically. Whereas the community expands horizontally, che suczess of the individual is indicated by the hight of the building erceted on the standard lot. Although the grid-iren thus possesses a certain “freedom”, it hardly allows for the concretization of a distiner genius loci. Spatial systsms of the cosmic type therefore ought to form part of more complex totalit te Order. Its organization can be understood in logical terms, whereas “substance” asks for empathy, It the fore appears “objective”, in the double sense of the word, Classical archiveccure nd each element’ is a_distine: “per "is forms are neither static ner mic, but pregnant with “organic . They seem the resul: of a con- ious composition of individual el ments, and give man simultancot sense of belonging and freedom. Classical space unifies topological and geometrical traits. The individal build ingmay-postesc a strict geometrical ‘order, which forms, the basis for its identity", whereas the organization of several buildings is topological. A ce tain “democratic” Freedom is” thereby120, Classical architecture. Det from the Dropylasa, Athens 121, Clusia arebtecture, The acropolis, Atens, expressed, Classical architecture is thus distinguished by the absence of a gener al, dominant system, and its space may be defined as an additive grouping. of individual places, Whereas the classical landscape was understood as a_reda, classical architecture is described by means of perspectiow. In relation tothe surroundings the classical settlement p> pears a8 a distinet, characteristic grsem- This. presence is achieved by means of plastic articulation, In. the classical building all the parts have their in- dividual identity, ac the same time as they condense, ‘explain and perhaps diffeceniace the general character of the whole. Each character forms part of a “family” of characters, which are de- libeeately related to huiman qualities, In dlassical architecture the original forces re thus “humanized”, and present nselves_ as individual’ participants in aningful world The logic of construction is intecproted as. an interaction of active and passive members, and the classical building therefore appears “built” in a direct an intelligible way. Light, finally, is-use.to give emphasis to the plastic presenc: of the parts and the whole by means of a play, of light and shadow’ which *mo- del the form. We have already made several references to Greek architecture, and should only add that it, in its developed Classical phase, represents the archetype of clas- sical architecture, Throughout history the harmonious and meaningful equilibrium of Greek buildings and settlements hes remained an ideal, which has been revived in ever new contexts. In Roman architecture the classical component was scrong, but it faded away towards late Antiquity, when plastic presence wes subscituted by de-materialization and the symbolic “building” of light”. In the Florentine Reraissanec, however, certain th a. comprehensive, 1 "4122, Temple of Nike, bens, 125, Renassance. Ospedale dete lanacen Floren by Bnmallent aspects of classical architecture reap peared. Again we find the wish for iving the buildings individual plastic presence and anthropomorpkous characterization, in combination. with simple, inteligible-construction,. We also find that spatial organization was under- stood as. an addition of “independent units. Whar is different form Classical reek architecture, is the coordination of all parts within a comprehensi homogeneous space, a concept which has cosmic implications, and reflects. a belief ina “harmonious” universe. ‘The development of homogeneous space, however, did not prevent meaningful spavial differentiation", In our own time the has played an important part. ‘Thus Le Corbusier wrote: “Architecture is. the masterly, correct and) magnificent, play ‘of volumes brought together in_ light Our eyes are made 10 see forms in light; fight and shade reveal these forms; ctibes, cones, spheres, cylinders and pyramids are the great primary forms... the image of thes: is distiner... and hout ambi Corbusier dently wanted plascic presence and ine telligibiliry, but a certain “abstraction” is also felt, Which differs from the “or- ganic” approach of Greek architecture The true presence which brings the world “close”, was in fact hardly under stoad by early modern architecture. lacsical_ottinude Complex architecture Romantic, cosmic and classical architec: ture are archeiypes of man-made plac: As they are related to the basic ca tegories of natural understanding, they help us to interpre: the gonivs loci of any particular settlement. Being types, however, they hardly appear in pure form, but participate in various kines of syntheses, Inthe history of European architecture two such syntheses. are_ of particular interest: The Gothic cathedral124, Gothic archiectare, Strasbourg Cathedral 12S, Baroque garden palace. Vousle- Vict by Le Van and te Notre and the Bareque garden-palace, The Gothic cathedral belongs tthe som antic Mediaeval town, but transcends its attachment in the natural environment. In the interior of the cathedral atmos- pheric light is translated into a Divine manifestation, and the systematically sub- divided structure represents 3 visializ on of the ordered. cosmes described byacholestiephlosophyes, The cathedral therefore unites romantic ad cosmic qualities, and. through its isparent walls the locally interpreted nings of Christianity were transmitted 10 the town, whose everyday life-world thereby gor a cosmic dimen- sion, In the Baroque garden-palace we ind a different kind of synthesis‘, Here the cosmic dimension is not represented by light as a symbol of the spirit and by a structural system which rises up to receive this light, but by a horizontally extended geometrical network of paths which concretizes the absolutist pre tions of the Sovereign located at th centre of the system. The cevere is moreover used to divide the “world” in an er two hahes: a man-made, vironment on one side, and “infinicely” extended nature on the other. Close to the centre nature appears as cultural lanésgape (parterre), further away it becomes more “natural” (bosquet), co end in a “wiklemess”. In the Baroque gardenpalace, thus, _mansmade and natural. place 2 to form a comprehensive whole, with romantic and cosmic implications as well as a buile form of classical derivation in the palace itsel As the urban environment is. based On gathering, ir usually offers many pos sibilities of identification. It is therefore easier 0 feel “st home” in a foreign city than in a foreign landscape. The genes Toci of the human settlement in face represents a mierocosmos, and. cities differ in what they gather. In some, theforces of the éarth are strongly felt, in others the ordering power of the sky, others again have the presence of humanized nature, or are sacuraied with light. All cities, However, have to pos- se38 something of all these categories of meaning io make suban divvlling pose sible. Urban dvelling consists assuring experience of being simule ously located and open to the wo that is: located in the narural gent and open to the work! ‘throt gathering of the man-made gems Vv PRAGUE 1. bmnage Few places exer such a fascination as Prague, Other cities may be grander, more charming, or more “beautiful” Prague, however, seizes you and remains with youashardly any other place Prague does not lec yo cither of you or of me. This lite avorher has chiws, There is noching for it but to give in or =. We would have to set it on fire From two sides, at the Yyichrad- and at the Hradéany, only. thus could we free ourselves"! The fascinarion of Prague resides first of Il ina strong sense of mystery. Here you have the Ieeling thac itis possible 10 things penetrate ever deeper’ into Streets, gates, courtyards, stainca you into an endless “inside”. O ‘over again this theme comes ou literature of Prague; in Kafka it forms the ground for his images and charac- ters, and in Gustay Meyrink’s novel “The Golem”, the unfachomable spaces of the Old Town become the bearing, theme. These spaces do nat only lo themselves horizontally, bur also. under the ground of everyday life. The sym- bolic content of “The Golem” is. thus encred on an empty room which has a window but no door To reach it one has to go through a subterranean kaby- finth and find an opening in the floor The same we have to do if we want © understand the genius loci of Prague Here all houses have deep roots in layers of history, and from these rooxs. they rise up, haying individual nares which suggest a legendary past. Architecturally these coots aire expressed by heavy. and massive ground-floors, law arcades and deeply-se openings, Walking around. in old Prague, one always has the feeling of being “down” in spaces that are mysterious and frightening, bur also warm and protective This closeness to the earth, however, is only one aspect of its genus loct. Prague126, Water night Prague127. Old street in Prague 128, ‘ elurch fromthe OM Town Square 129, The “Pragee view”. The Small Pow across te Vhaea is ako known as the “city of hundred steeples”: and its architecture is in fact saturated with vertical movement. The urban spaces are focased on towers and spires, and the dormers and gables of the old houses accompany us every: where. Simple vertical accents do. not seem to be enough in Prague, and the mediaeval sceeples of churches, town: halls and bridge-towers are surrounded by clusters of pointed spires. Inthe Barcque churches, the verticil move ment seems transformed into flames which rise toward the sky. Thus the mysteries of the earth find their coun: terpartin heavenly aspiration. The strength of Prague is a place depends first of all on the felt presence of the genius loci throughout; pracically every old house is simultaneously ground-hugging and aspiring. In some buildings, however, the local character is given particular emphasis, and. it is very significant that these buildings serve as foci to the different parts of the city. In the Old Town, thus, the Tyn church with its clustered Gothic steeples rises above the low arcades of the main square, whereas the Small Town on the other side of the river is dominated by the Baroque dome and tower of St Nicholas, which grow out of a massive and heavy basement. Bat this is not all ako as un urban totality Prague is distinguished by. the contrast between cearth and sky. Thus the steep hill of the Hradéany castle contrasts with the horizontally extended cluster of the Old Town, and the castle itself gathers the local character in its long horizoreal lines over which the Cathedral of Se. Vitus rises vertically towards the sky. This fast justaposition is the crowning motif of the famous “Prague view": the vertically climbing Small ‘Town seen over the horizontal expanse of the Viva. 1 there. am city inthe work! where che character is thusconcretized in one single veduta which comprises all environmental levels. from the landscape down to the articulation of the individual building? The two main parts of Prague, the Old Town down on the flac land within the curve of the river, and che Small Towa and castle hill on the other side, are linked by the Charles Bridge. ln Prague indeed “the bridue gathers the earth as Jandscape around the stream”, but it also gathers what man has contributed to the plice, as a townscape of unique ‘quality. Landscape and wownscape are thus unified the “Prague view" is in fact saturated with gardens, withow ing however, the figural cha the man-made place. From the bridge the whok is experienced as an en vironment in the full sense of the word; the bridge constitates the very centre of this world, which evidently gathers so many meanings ‘The Charles Bridge is work of art in its own ight; iis broken and pardy enrved movement collects the streets on cither side, and its towers and statues form s counterpoint to the horizontal series of arches across the river. k bridges, Men and women crossing pastthe statues of saints \with their faint glimmer of light. Clouds drifting over grey skies, past churches with misty towers, Aman leaning ovr the parapet ‘and gazing into the riverat evening his hands resting on ancient stone, The strength of Prague as a place therefore also depends om irs. imageabile ity. Its secrets do not make us get lost, the unfathomable insides always form part of a meaningfal general structre Which ties them together as the facts oF 4 mysteriously glimmering. gem. Like a gem, indeed, Prague changes: with the 150, Charles tiidge fram above 131, 132, ma, Prague ae weiner Diagrammatic map of Boer Prague the landscapeweather, the time of the day and the asons. Only rarely, however, the stin gives. its buildings their full plasti Mostly the light is. fikered through clouds, the towers become “misty” and the sky is hidden. And. still, this does not mean a loss oF presence. In Prague what is hiddea seems even’ gnore real that what is directly pereetted. The presence of the invisble is used by Kafka, at the very beginning of “The Castle” to intonawe the basic atmosphere of the novel. In Prague, thus, we encounter a particular “kind of “mi- ccostructure’s « structure whose richness does not only reside in the micro ss but im what is dimly: suggested. In the night the streetlights make this wereristic particularly evident. The ation isnot continuous and ever: strony and dark zones. alternate, and make ws remember the times when street lamp created place. The architecture of Prague is cosmo- politan without ever losing its local Flavour. Romanesque, Gothic, Re sance, Baroque, Jigend and’ “Cubist buildings live together as if they were variations on the same theme’, Mediae- val and classical forms are transformed to make the sme local character mani= fest; motifs from the Slavic east, the Gecmanie north, the Gallic west and the Latin south meet in Prague and blend into a singular synthesis. The catalyse which made this process possible was the genius loci proper, which, as we have already suggested, consists in a J49 pariicular sense of earth and sky. In Prague classical architecture becomes romantic, and roman ccture a sors the classical characters to endow the earth with a particular kind of surreal humanity. Both became cosmic. not in the sense. of abstract order, but as spiritual aspiration. Evidently Prague is ‘one of the great meeting-places where & rmulkicucle of meanings are gathered.134. Hovzontals and eorivals The Hradany ber the Sal Tie 2, Space we take a look at the map of Central Europe, the particular location of Prag- ue is immediately evident. Not only is Prague sitiated at the ceatre of Bohe- mia, but Bohemia is also in che very middle of those countries awhich for and turbulent core of the Western Ad. The central location of Bohern mphasized hy the almost continuous nge of mountains and hills which surround the area, A. kind of basin is thus created, although the land has a very varied. surface relief and natvral “eo “The feeling of a boundary is strengthened by the vegetation; the fertile interior is enclosed by forests witich “accompany the mountains. In general Bohemia appears as a rolling and friendly countryside, but it contains many surprises such as wild and strange rock formations. From the south 0 the norch the counury is divided in. wo halves by the river Vitava (Mola) and eomiinuation, the Labe (Elbe). In the past it was difficule to cross these rivers: only one ford had a convenient, centeal location, Here the ancient roid. from Ucraina’ and Poland crossed the Vitava and continued into Germany. At the ford, it met the road which led from Austria in the south, co Saxony and Prussia. A very important node was thus created, and already in the sixeh century ic gave rise to a settlement which should become the city of Prague. The geographical properties of Bohemia made the country predestined to become 2 cosmopolitan centre, A similar role is played by Swiverland, but here che geographical definition is less distiner, and 1 primary nodal point is lacking. In Europe, with its many. ethnic groups and civilizations, « meeting place neces- sans problems. Hardly any other European country, in fact, has hada more complex and difficule history than 84Bohemia. Ie is obviously duc to the clear geographical definition that the first permanent settlers, the Czechs, have c 10 survive. Possessing their red world, they have for cen turies resisted the pressure of the neigh- ours, who managed, however, to oc- cupy the zones along the border’ Throughout history, thus, Bohemia has been both a meesing place and an ethnic Sigand” with its own distinct identity The double nature of the country isa main reason for its very particular character. As an ethnic island ic has always conserved its roots in the proper soil, and as a meeting place it has been exposed tw the impact of thi Feropean culture. The face that foreign import has always been trans: formed when it came to Bohemia proves the strength of its people and its genius loi. At Prague the rolling landscape of central Bohemia is condensed 10 form a particularly beautifal configuration, A= Tong the large hend of the Vitava an extended hill rises which visualizes the carve of the river. The hl and the river are opposed but complementary forces, Wich make nature become alive with expressive. power. Within the curve, ‘opposite the hill, the land opens up in hocizontal expanse before it starts to rise ently towards the south-east, At either end of the river ~ bend cwo marked isolated hills give definition to. the area The two halves of this extraordinary landscape were linked by a ford, a litte to the north of the present ‘Charles Bridge. On the left bank at the height of the ford, there isa valley which makes ic possible'to reach the castle hill and che ands towards the west. As predestined for an urban settlement was this site, nox only because of its beauty, but because it satisfied the three “basic demands of the early Middle Ages: the flac plain for a market place, the hill for 85 a provecting castle, and the ford for ‘communication and commerce In the ninth cemury the Czech Ti lids built the first castle and in 890 the first historically known Czech Bofivoj added the first church in Bohe- mia, which was dedicated to the Holy Virgin, The Czech word for castle, brad, dewcmined its name, Hradéany The oldest report on Prague stems [ror 965, and was written by an Arabic Jewish merchant Ibrahim Tin Jakub. He tells that the cown was built of stone and mortar, and that it was the richest place in the whole country. The popu- lation already comprised groups af Ger man, Jewish and Latin origin, About 1203, Romonesque Prague had 25 chure ches, many monasteries and a_ stone bridge. Shortly afterwards the different settlements on the right bank were ithered within a eity wall, and in 34 the Old Town (Stars “Mésto) asa legal reality. The Small Town (Mali Strana) 07 the left bank was founded in 1257, and about 1300 the settlement on the Hradéany. got urban rights. A fourth city, the New Town (Nové Mésto) was added around the Old Town by Charles IV in 1348. Already in the Middle Ages, thus, the spatial structure of Prague’ had. been defined, The city had found its form in accordance with the natural sitwation, First of all it consists of three paris: the dense sertiement down on the plain, the dominant castle on the hill above,” and the river as a separating and connecting element between them. We have seen that this structure is still alive, and ic becomes immediately evident when the place is experienced from its centre, the bridge. During the course of history the basic juxtaposition has been interpreted and enriched by the buildings of sve cessive generations. The verticalism of the hill has found an echo in the steeples and towers of the town, and the aamachment to the earth of the latter is reflected in the horizontal expanse of che castle, In this way Prague has become an integrated totality, where the par ticular relationship benween horirontal and vertical, baween “above” and below” serves as the unifying force. When we walk around in the streets or along the river, the relationship beaween ced town and castle is expe ever new variations, During history this justaposition has had its particular meaning. Whereas the castle in che Mediaeval cities meant protection and security, in Prague it often represented a threat. On the Hradéany Tived the tulers, who, at several crucial occasions, spoke’ another language and_ professed another faith than the majority of the inhabitants. ‘The Thirty Years war in fact started in Prague with a revele, when the infuriated crowd chrew the Imperial governors out of the windows of the castle, according 10 an “old Czech growth into an industrial capital from the ninetecnd century on, has brought about some changes which nthe general ueban structure, ‘The delimitation of the Old. and New Fouins by means of city walls i gone although the street pattern sill gives them a certain spatial entity. “The urban sprawl around the old core hits impaired the figural character of the city, although the generous extension of Charles IV for centuries allowed Prague to grow inside its walls. Certain urban districts have disappeared, first of all the Ghetto which was situated in the north- western part of the Old Town, It was one of the most characteristic parts of the city, but because of its stumlike conditions it was torn down after 1883. Today the Small Town and the Hrad- Eany best preserve the goneral structures here the habitat is sill surrounded by greeny such as the Petéin and Leu135, Model of Prague with main thoroughfare wer end of the «as lls ae in part standing. ban spaces of Prague sill follow the pattern laid our in the Middle Ages. The old thoroughfare between East and West serves as a backbone, connecting. the main foci of the Old and the Small Towns. AAs the visitor walks along this path, the history of Prague becomes alive, and gradually a rich and coherent image of the city is formed in his tind, parks ac It starts ac the Powder-Tower (1479), whi is what remains of the old city The tower is richly omate and was ously intended as something mere than a mere “functional” city-gate, In- side the gate a well conserved stieet, the Gelemns leads to the Old Town Square (Stromésteké Namésti). On the way it es the oldest part of the town, the where the merchants. throughout the Centuries paid duty for their goods, The Ty is a large courtyard enclosed by buildings whose Mediaeval core is covered with Renaissance and Baroque fagades. The Old Town Souace isa large “ring”, subdivided by the centrally placed Town Hall and adjacent buil- dings into a larger and a smaller part. ft is surrounded by relatively nartow ga- bled houses, ané dominated by the win towers of ‘the Tin church (13658). From the Small Square the pach con: tinues rather toctuously co the Charles Bridge (13571). The bridge is a space in its own right, havi c gates at either end and being lined with Statucs. [ts bent movement is due to the fact that it was parily built over the foundations of the old Judith-bridze (1158-72) which collapsed in 1343, Upon entering the Small Town another splendid, wellconserved street, the Mes- tecké Ieads up to the Small Town Square (Malostranské Namésti). which fepeats the “ring” pattern of the Old Town Square. Here, however, the 86hutch of St. Nicholas (1703-52) with adjacent Jesuit college takes up_ the Centre, whereas the Town Hall is situa- ted along the eastern side of the square. Another beautiful, steeply rising. street, the Nerudova, connects the Small Town with the Hradéany. Actually the Nerud- wards the west under a steep hill however leads up t) the Hradéiny Square, which is Situated between the castle’ proper and the castle town, From here the view of Prague is splendid; the hill and the arch of the river embrace the Old Town, which respends. with its towers and steeples. Under the castle the Small Town steps rhythmically down towards the river with its dense cluster of kouses and, gardens. But our walk. is nor finished before we enter the castle. Here a chister of courtyards and. lanes re presents a variation on. the spatia themes of the city itself, and in the Genre we find the splendid interior space of the Cathedeal (13441). Whereas the urban siructure of the Olé Town and the Small Town follows the exrly Mediaeval pattern, the New Town svas deliberaiely planned. As it forms. 2 wide belt around the eastern side of the Old Town, a radial lay-ouc was natural Rather than being a centralized structure in its own right, it prepares for the dhe Old alimost ciccular enclosure of Town’. The radial pattern is vist ty three large squares which in the past served as hay market, horse market and fattle market, respectively, The middle fone, St. Venceslaus? Square (Vaclavske Namési) has the rather unusual length Of 680 mt., and functions today as 2 Kind of “inain street” for the whole city Up sill our time the New Town re mained quite open and green. Thus che Old Town always was the dense core of the wholeconurbation When the old city walls were torn down in the nineteenth century, streets were 7 136, 137, The Poweter- ower The Tin cortvard. The Old Town Siar88 139, Old house145, The Small Town Square wit St. Nicholas, laid out according to the old pattern and new bridges were built to connect the main streets on both sides of the river Although the Charles Bridge is no longer alone, it has maintained ies focal im- portance, and the new bridges are well integrated in the “organic” path siruc- ture of the city The secondary streets of old Prague have the character of narrow, ‘wisting alleys. As such they possess’ an oute spoken continuity, but many sinall = squares are introduced as. subordinate urban feei. In the Old Town it is very common that the houses may’ be entered from two sides (Durchhéuser). It is therefore possible to walk through cer- tain sections of the town witkout using the streets. This particular spatial pro- perty comwributes decisively 10 the “mysterious” quality of Prague. The internal passages often lead” through several courtyards which are mostly surrounded by characteristic balconies (pavlaé). In the past these balconies were the stage where the colourful popular life took place. Spatially they ferred. as a, semi-publie transition be tween the urban ouside and the private interior of the houses. We understand, thus, that the feeling typical for Prague, that” one might penetrate ever deeper inside is determined by its spatial struc- ture. In the Small Town the spaces are somewhat different, As it was a well to-do discrict, the houses are larger and also more secluded. What is lost in penetrability, however, is gained in Movement up and down, In the Small Town many of the secondary. streets have steps, and the broken surface relief creates an’ exceptionally varied richness ‘of urban spaces, which offer ever new Perspectives and bits of panoramic The spatial structure of Prague is gar thered and condensed in the interiors of its main public buildings. From. the 2147, The Castle and the Cathedral seen from tee Posi 148. View from the Castle 14 Interior, St. Vitus Cathedral by Peter Parl Middle Ages on, the lecal archivecture has had its particular spatial properties In general we note a strong wish for integeation and dynamism. The classical principle of individual, static units, which are added together, is unknown in Prague, In St. Vitus the integration, horizontally and. vertically, is. stronger than in any other great Gothic deal, and in the Vladislav Hall (B. Ri 1493-1502) it has become impossible to tal’ about “bays”: the space is an indivisible whole which is saturated with dynamic movement”, The wish for spatial id dynamism cule minated pulsating” interiors of ch i hofer Small Town hy the former (1703-11) consists of a series of interpenecrating ovals. In the vault however, the spatial definition is dislocated relative to. the floor. As a result a spatial “syncopation” is created, which represents a unique vion in the history of archiceecure, ronmental riehness of Prague is intimately related to the spatial proper: ties outlined shove. These properties are not only distinguished. by variety, but they also constitute an imageable whole. Summing up we may take a look at the basic structure of the four primary domains, The Old Town is situated on the fat promontory embraced by the river, and is gathered around the Old Town Square. The New Town fan out from the Old Town and rises slightly. It is located betveen the St. Vitus hill in the norh and the VySehrad in. the south, and is given internal structure by the three radial markets. Ideally the New Town isa segment of a ring, but the shape is stretched to reach the more Uiseant Vylehrad. The Small Town is situated imder the hill, within the concave valley, and is gathered alone the Mostecki-Nerudowi path. The Hradéany is above the other domains on 4152, The Viadstv Hull in the Caste by Benedite Ried 153, Inerny, St. Nicbols i the Sua Town by Gand RT Bintsentofr. the conyex hill, and stretches ont along a ridge Whereas the New Town is subordinate to the Old Town and does not possess an independent focus, the other three domains are centred on significant inner cores which have their spatial identity at the same time as they are identified in the cownseape by vertical “landmarks”. All the domains are integrated by the Charles. Bridge. The prepositions needed to de- scribe the spatial structure of Prague ndicste its richness. In general it is topological and therefore does not make one particular environmental system est. It is open to many. inter- ious, and teaches us that “orient bur also “discovery Knowing Prague is great work of music: it always discloses new aspects of itself 3. Character The character of Prague eannor be understood without taking the natural nvironment into consideration. With ‘natural environment” we donot only have in mind the site of the city, but Bohemia as a whole. For centuries Bohemia has been the object of an exceptionally strong patriotism and love. Not only the historical cireumstances have demanded fall human identific- ation, but che country as such has the “Bohemian” 2 particular identity. In the past this identity was rot the property of a single ethnic group. During the religious wars Czech and German speaking people fought together ‘on both sides ard the “nation” was first of all a qualitative geographical concept We may very well say that the in- nts of Bohemia loved the genius the country was theirs because they identified with its qualities, Their love has been expressed in literature and ‘music and not least in building. Fav154, Bohemian landscape 155, Popstar Baroque howes in THebon. other countries have an architecture wich is more unified and at the same time more varied. The themes eminently Bohemian, but the variations are legion and give testimony to the exceptional artistic abilities of the Bohemian people. Like some other great cities, such as Rome, Prague has shaped the foreign artists who have settled there. From Peter Parler to Christoph Dientzenhofer they all became Bohenian and adapted their own cultural import What then are the natural phenomena behind the gers loci? We have already mentioned the rolling countryside of Bohemia, and the many surprises which break che general continuity of the land Towards the border these sirprises become ees wid focks, ox springs, deep valleys and impenetrable forests bring the original Forces of nature into presence. ‘The Bohemian landscape, however, is not characterized by. simple imageable elements, such as well defined valley-spaces or dominant mountains. Rather one might say that everything is simultaneously there, 2 fact which was noticed by Goethe: “Beautiful view over Bohemian landscapes, which hhaye the particular character that they are neither mountains nor plains nor valleys, but everything at the same time™, Obviously the whole of Bohemia does not have this “synthetic” quality. Ie is, however, the distinctive mark of the more characteristic parts of the country, and therefore becomes a general “Bohemian” trait. Such a generalization is natural, because Bohemia is a simple hydro-geophysical unit, In Bohemia all the basic natural _ele- ments are present within a relatively tmall and well-defined area, Mountains, vegetation and water are there, not as Separate “things”, but mixed to form a “romantic” microcosms. The earth in its different manifestations is exper- 98ied as the primary reality, and asks man for identification. ‘The’ Bohemian microcosmos is centred on Prague. Not only is Prague situated in the middle, on the iver Vitava’ which in popular imagination is the main identifying ekment of the country, but its ste comprises all the main nawral *forees”, Ip Prague we find the justaposiion of an andulsting. pln, rocky" lle and the site besuifully: gathers sents the surrounding, country. To experience Prague fully, one there- fore has to know Bohemia. It cannot be Understood in isolation, bat only as a Syorld withina world", The sane holds true for the architecture of Although the city was a meeting-place for. # multitude of artisic currents, the basic architectural themes are intimately related to the vernacular buildings and. settlements of Bohemia. (of urban. spaces are similar, in the coummy we find the same continuous but varied streets lined narrow houses, and the sa “ring’-shaped areaded squares. As typ= ical examples we may mention Ceské Budgjovice in the south, Domavtice in the vest, Jéin in the north and LitomySl in the east", ‘The basic settlement pattern is evidently the Slavic ring Village where che maly be round OF square. There arc in fact towns in Bohemia which only consist of a single Fow of houses around the square (Nove Mésto nad Metaji), In some places. the hhouses are small and simple, in others richer, but the basic type is the same. Normally it is a Owosstorey structure With a third floor in che gable. Arcaces ue nomial when the houses fave the square. This may even be the case in small villages with timber houses. ‘The houses have a very particular character, Which mainly consists in a massive and heavy: appearance. The ground-floor is set directly on the ground, the windows 99 150, The Small Old Tow Square 157. Howse inthe Srealt Town, 158. Paes in the Old Tours by Ru Dienterhofer.159, "Durcibaus" with “pavlae™ inthe Old Tout. 160, 161, The Posehn by Kl, Dientzonofer, are low and rclatively smell, and the ‘wall is usually kept down by the optical weight of large roofs. As a contras 10 these ground-hugging properties, richely articulate and ornate gables rise up towards the sky. The houses may have Gothic, Renaissance or Baroque forms, but their basic relationship to earth and sky has remained the same for centuries. Regional differences exists in Southem Bohemia for instance, che mural houses are white and the decoration richer, but the basic Bohemian qualities are main- tained. In the architecture of Prague the Bohemian relationship to earth and sky reaches a splendid climax. Everywhere the old urban spaces make the basic themes clearly manifest, and the presen- ce of great architects has mack possible parcicular interpretations which, make them shine in “limpid brightness”. Ore of the best exampks is offered by the house Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer built for himself (1725-28) in the suburo of Smichov"', today known ay the Port boimka. “The rectangular volume has towerlike elements at the four comes and a convex ressault_in the centre towards the garden, ‘The scheme is “international” and directly derived from Hildebrand’s Upper Belvedere in. Vien- The articulation, however, is cruly local, Over the heavy musiicated base ment with its low-set windows, the forms become gradually “free” towards the sky. The main architrave is broken in the centre 10 give place for a pointed gable, whereas the comer towers rise up through the horizontal members, Small blind dorniers are added to give em- phasis to the vertical moyemert, and the lop comice of the towers is beat upwards as a last expression of its aspiring force. At che sime time how- ever, the towers are tied to the main volume by the horizontal lines which circumscribe the whole building even at 100the break in the Mansard roof. A rather voolent but subdle interplay of horizon- toly and verticals is thus created, an interplay which represents a particularly Sophisticated interpresation oF the basic Prague theme. Another _charaeceristic property may sso be pointed out. In general the surface relief of the facade is slight, and the Rataess is accentuated by the windows which fush with the wall, ‘The windows thus reflect the colours of the surtounding vegetation and the sky, and give the whole building a certain immaterial feeling which concrasts with the general voluminous character. In certain points strong plastic accents are added which give emphasis to the ambiguous mass-surface relationship. A similar ambiguity is fourd everywhere in Prague and creates an urban characcer Wwhicd i simultaneously sensvally. earth- bound and " Another main work by Kilian Ignaz Dienvenhofer, the St, Nicholas church in che Old Town (1732-37), gives the same themes. a “ered” and truly grandiose interpr ation. Here the towers and the central ressault free themselves completely but gradually from a continuous, horizoncal bise, and rise towards the sky. with violent dynamism. Other examples could be added aid infininan, and we may also recall thae the main. Prague vedi gets its singular impact from the same “integrated dichotomy” between horizonal and vertical “forces”. Thus the buildings of Prague gather and condense the genius foct, and make the city appear as a place which is saturated with locilly rooted meaning, ‘The houses which make up the streets and squares of Prague vary the basic themes, and the urban spaces appear as sets of variations, some of them more modest, some more imaginative and splendid, The greatest set of variations {s found in the Olé Town Square where arcaded gable houses surround most of 101 162. Se. Nichols in the OM Town by Kl beter Dienthe space. They are nor mechani lined up, but constitute a. topological succession which gives variety and life to the enclosed space. The houses are quite = harrow and ereate a dynamic movement full of surprises. The variations reach dlimax in the stem Tyo Church, which prefigures the basic artiailation’ of St Nichols near by. The only old building which because of its. size br continuity of the boundary, Kinsky Palace (1755-66). Again, how- ever, Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer éemon- sirates his artistic abilities. and respeet for the gerius loci!®. Instead of cen tering she building on’a dominant gate, he doubled the composition, and used two gabled ressanlts to break down the large volume so as to suit the general dimensions and rhythm of the urban ¢ boundary. A similar adaptation is found already in the Toscana Palace by J. B. Mathey (1689) and. the Clam-Gallas Palace by Fischer von Erlach (17151). We have characterized Pragie as a world where ic is possible to penetrate ever deeper “inside”, and, in fact, in the interiors of the main” buildings we encounter a character which represents a further condensation of the properties which distinguish, the urban space and whole, This. chi through several centuries, ‘The first ge manifestation. is the presbytery. of the by Peter Parler (1352-85). In position of the French cathedrals, but the articulation shows several significant innovations. First of all we notice that the arcade is simplified in such a way that it appears as a continuous wall with cut-out openings. At the same time the ttiforium and the clerestory are com- bined to form one large glazed surface. The interior is covered by a net-vaull which unifies the space horizontally and 102163. Se Nichole mw the OLE Town, demi 164, St Nihots is the Old Town, teri makes it dissolve vertically. The hori ‘wal imegration is moreover empha- Sed by the introduction of small, ciagomally placed elements in the tri: forium and cleresiory, which make the bays unite ina continuous. undul movement, The space is A strong contrast between the nassive” arcade and the de-material- ized upper wall and vault, and in general by an expressive iniecplay horizontal and vertical “forces”. We see thus how a generally yalid building. type has been modified to suit the gemies loc. The same basic traits find a still more original and mature interpretation in the Vladislav Hall in the Hradéany: by Benedikt Ried (1493-1502)! Here the interior consists of an integrated series Of baklachins which are closed off laterally by massive walls. Two systems face thus combined: the carth-bound 10n” made up by the walls, alized heavenly” which seems 0 hover aver the space. ‘The theme of the Viadishay Hall reap- Pears in the most significant Baroque buildings of Pr syncopated” space of St the Small same solution is used the Bievnoy Monasi Dientzenhofer (1709-15)!%. In the latter building curved arches span diagonally space from wallpillars ) which are set against the utcal surfice of che massive outer Wall. The basic properties of the Vla- dislav Hall and the churches of Chris toph Dientzenhofer are thus. the same, and the intention is obviously 10 make a particular relationship between earth and sky manifest, The excerior of Breynov is also. a ypical spe Prague archivecuu over a continuous bast, and a row of by Christoph 103 168, The Kinsky Palace on the Olt Town Square by Kul. Dientsenbofer and A. Liao.166. The sievnov ebuach by G. Dientsehoer. dormers. and bulging gables create a serrate silhouette The imtentions of Christoph Dientzen- hofer fourd their continuation in the works of his son, Kilian Ignaz, who may be considered the Prague architect par excellence'*. His most characteristic church in Prague is St. John onthe Rock (1730-39). In no other building, the plastic dynamism and dram quality so dear to Bohemia expressed with more ability. The chucch’s position ona cock accentuates the effect, and the stair-case in front enhances the vertical movement of the fagade. The plan may be described as a “reduced mulilste system of baldachins". On the longi: dinal axis of the “central octagon with internally convex. sides, rransv ovals are added, creating a “pulsating spatial organism’ which is enclosed with- in the kind of continuous, neutral walls we have encountered inthe Vladislav Hall and Brevnoy. In Se. John, however, the plastic form’ of the exterior cor responds to the The outer walls ate “wrapped” a the haldachins, and make the interior present in the urban environment. At the same time the walls seem to give in to the pressure of external “forces”. Outside and inside thus interact dy- namically, and the church becomes a true gathering focus. The interplay of horizontal and vertical movements’ is also expressed with unique conviction, Our discussion of the character of the architecture of Prague has implied chat the styles of the various epochs. were transformed 10 fit the genus foci. The logical structure of High Gothic ar- chitecaure way changed by Peter Parke to express the local horizoncal-vertical dichotomy. In S Vitus we cannot any more distinguish the different shafts which “carry” arches and vaults, and in the Old Town bridge-tower by the same Parler (after 1375) the Gothic dements 104