Time, speed and perception : intervals in the representation of architectural space

Abstract

Although the notion of "space" in architecture is a relatively contemporary one, this research looks at the difference between the conception and representation of space and the actual material reality. With contemporary thought brought about by the modern measure, as architects formalize their ideas in representations, this paper argues that there arises a tendency to quantify and objectify the represented space and discount the experiential nature of the space. This research was initiated in reaction to this tendency to conceive of space as a given, formal static container in search of a wider notion of space as a product of interactions between various dynamics. Using small time based representational design experiments as well as specific precedents of conceptions and representations of space as running parallel points of reference; this investigation explores the element of time as one of the possible components of the various dynamics that produce space. Specifically, a non-chronological look at the modern, contemporary and pre-modern notion of time was taken to explore possible alternative conceptions and representations of space and time, contending that space is neither static or exclusive of time, nor is it a stage set for speed. In other words, this paper concludes that space and time are first and foremost products of experience.