Abstract
Architectural space is naturally experienced by our senses and that is why we don't reflect the manner of our perceiving of the space. Architectural space is very easily captured by senses, but it is very difficult to be defined as a theoretical term.
It is not possible to capture the space as an object, because we are part of the space, which surrounds us. Jan Patočka says: "space can not be captured as an object, because its purpose is to reveal other things and not to be revealed itself".
Architectural space as theoretical concept was formulated in the end of the 19th century among Viennese art historians. It is hard to answer the question, why the concept of the architectural space was not the part of the theory before.
Maybe it is because the architectural space is an invent of art historians, as Rostislav Švácha provocatively suggests. What is the form of architectural space? The wall which defines the space? The space itself? Vojtěch Birnbaum emphasizes that walls are not the part of the space, so we can not speak about the space without describing the tectonic structure.
The architectural space itself without walls is not visible or tangible. So what is the form of architectural space? The border between the visible wall and invisible space? Many Czech art historians were interested in these questions.
I summarize theirs answer to these questions in this lecture. Basically, there are two main concepts of architectural space: formal understanding of space and phenomenological understanding of space.
Phenomenological understanding of space can be found in thoughts of Jan Patočka, Mojmír Horyna and Dalibor Veselý. I will illustrate the lecture with pictures of architectural space by Bruno Zevi, Luigi Moretti and other authors.