Space as Protagonist

Between the late 1940’s and the early 1970’s, four canonical arguments were developed regarding ‘contained space.’ These four arguments currently act as the tradition for the representation and making of space as a primary feature in architecture. 

These four arguments are the following:

1. Bruno Zevi & Luigi Moretti’s “Interior space as positive figure” (1952)

2. Louis Kahn’s “Servant and served space” (1957)

3. Robert Venturi’s “Contradiction between the interior and the exterior whole” (1966); and

4. Colin Rowe’s “Emphasized figurative primacy of void space” (1978).

Critically and practically opposed to the ‘limitless space’ of early Le Corbusier and Mies, these four arguments have had a decisive impact both in setting precedent and in leaving space for further inquiry. This thesis work will explore these methods of configuring space as the primary feature of architecture.