Sunday 16 October 2011

Inspiring text. Space and place

Citations from Herman Hertzberger book "Space and the Architect"

* 'Feeling free means having the space you need.'
* 'If nothing obstructs our view, it can carry very far indeed. But if it meets nothing, it sees nothing: it sees only the thing it meets: space, that is what obstructs the view, what catches the eye...'
* 'The sense of space is sustained by the lack of an overall view of the space you are in. Even when we mean a space shut in on all sides that is surveyable in all its parts,there is, or at least so it seems, always something around the corner.'

Mountains outside, mountains inside
Johan van der keuken, 1975
* 'So, in your mind, the external space is projected inside through this rectangular lens of the darkened room, into the space inside yourself, your own space.'
* 'Place is where you recognise yourself, something familiar and safe, specially for you.'
* 'Meaking space and leaving space are inseparably bound, there must always be that openness to new interpretations. The dilemma here is that the more suitable and right you make something, the stronger one particular significance will clamp to it. This significance then leads a stubborn life of its own. The more riveted space is to significance, the less space there remains for other significations and experiences.'