Spatium Fugit. An Alternative Approach to Understanding the Meaning of Space and Time in Architecture

Abstract

This epistemological study addresses the theme of the meaning in architecture from an artistic and phenomenological perspective by investigating the experience of space and time, questioning whether the multiple horizons (spatial and temporal) of modern space have led to the concept of place becoming antiquated – prioritising to address the abstract nature of space. The immateriality and transparency of today’s architecture contribute to the acceleration of passing images, alienating us from ourselves. M. Augé suggests that the spaces of super-modernity create an excess of an overabundance of events and an acceleration of time, making understanding the modern spatial experience challenging. Revising Augé’s concepts in current time, S. Holl suggested that vocabulary has the risk of jettisoning the authentic experience; words are inherently abstract, and the true meaning comes through sensation. As spaces and places are undoubtedly encountered as multisensory lived experiences, a Phenomenological framework has been implemented to exemplify the importance of lived experiences and the understand the dynamic interplay between the perceiver and the perceived.