A multifaceted discourse on the relationship between architecture and time

Abstract

The dissertation presents itself as an opportunity to explore the limits of architecture beyond the three dimensions of space. Conducting research on how Architectural discourse extends to the fourth dimension of Time suggests a broad topic with multiple directions but intuitively, a suitable starting point presents itself as a modernist account of a common spirit at the beginning of the 20th century. A time when a new conception of space, Space-time, shook the foundations of disciplines seemingly unrelated, from Science to Art. The understanding that Space and Time are intertwined and completely dependent on one another, already begins to suggest that the design of spaces in the profession of architecture would extend to the incorporation of some concept of time. In an attempt to understand how this incorporation may be relevant to the profession, the literature review takes a new perspective; our perspective. How we experience time in the built environment and how it affects us, are discussed in depth by Kevin Lynch and Henri Lefebvre. An alarming situation is described where, as opposed to the cities, buildings and spaces of the past, we are no longer exposed to suitable evidence of time in the external environment. Architectural discourse suggests that the role of the environment to expose the flow of time was no longer considered when developing societies around the world emphasised a dependence on clock time in our everyday lives. Architects like Enric Miralles and Alvar Aalto challenged this notion in their work, returning to a focus on depicting an image of time through nature. How nature could provide an experience of time in the environment is not immediately evident. This calls for a tool that interprets all evidence of time in the external environment and determines its suitability for our wellbeing, and its role in our experiences of the everyday. This tool is Rhythmanalysis. Rhythms describe any processes that happen in space as well as in time and for this reason, they allow for an interpretation of time in the spaces we experience, as well as how we are affected. Elements that expose the experience of time in the external environment are best understood and described through External Rhythms. When we are exposed to these rhythms, our senses become a bridge to our Internal Rhythms and along this bridge, the rhythms meet and become synchronised. Five Qualities are outlined that elevate the capacity of a space to expose rhythms of time. External Rhythms are a eurrhythmia of Natural and Societal Rhythms, and the qualities are described in a similar fashion, since it is through their exposure of rhythms that the qualities are recognised. This new understanding of time’s role in architectural space, suggests the possibility of a meaningful definition of ‘Timeless’ as a descriptive term in architectural discourse. In order to verify the validity of these qualities, a case study analysis is carried out on different scales of the external environment: The rhythms of a city, of a building and finally, case studies of spaces shaped by concepts which were based on exposing the passage of time. The architects’ design decisions are dissected and interpreted in terms of the aforementioned qualities.