Psarra, S; (2017) An Archaeology of the Present: Topo-Geometric Properties from the Invention of Architectural Notation to Non-Standard Variation in Architecture and Design’. In: Proceedings of the 11th Space Syntax Symposium. (pp. 172.1-172.13). Instituto Superior Tecnico: Lisbon, Portugal.

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Abstract

As digital technologies revolutionise the ways in which buildings are produced there is a growing risk for architecture to become a practice without a theory. Space syntax has contributed to architectural research, through the description of systematic relationships between patterns of use and spatial phenomena. Yet, in the last three decades it has primarily leaned towards a theory of the city1 . These are studied as the collective products of society that are either selforganising (cities), or operate independently of the agency of their architects (buildings). Yet, from the viewpoint of architecture as a social discipline, there is a need to describe buildings and their relationship to the city not simply as the emergent products of society but also as products of design. This type of study requires theories and tools that describe topo-geometric properties, or the interaction of spatial with geometrical patterns. It also needs to combine historical research with morphological analysis. In this paper I explore the relationship between topology and geometry through three key periods of Western architectural production: first, the classical invention of geometric notations in architectural drawings; second, the shift of emphasis by modern architects to movement and visual information, freeing architecture from constraints of axial geometrical planning; finally, the end of geometric and notational limitations on the variability of forms with the rise of digital technology. Rather than providing a comprehensive account of architectural design, this paper aims to understand the morphological traditions from which contemporary architectural spaces and forms derive. I argue that as much as space has been a silent instrument in architectural discourse, so has geometry been a silent conductor in Hillier and Hanson’s theory of spatial configuration. Aside to tools for topo-geometric analysis, we need theoretical accounts of the ideas we ‘think with’, bringing space syntax and contemporary architecture into the historical and morphological tradition.

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