Space and place are among the most discussed concepts in
architecture. Particularly, these concepts were noticed more
in the modern architecture than it was in the past by architects
and attempts have been made to present a new image of it.
Moreover, the perception of fundamental concepts and basic
characteristics of these two elements would have been useful
in architectural processes and creating the architectural products.
In fact, if the purpose of architecture is creating a space
or a place for dwelling and living (as Heidegger and Norberg-
Schulzhad said), then the questions are: what do space
and place mean exactly? How could these concepts be created
in architecture? Nowadays, identity and sense of belonging are
among the fundamental issues in architecture and urban
design, especially in cities and regions with a historical background,
it has become very important. These are such topics
which have been related directly to space and place concepts,
thus, highlighting the necessity of discussion about these concepts.
There are a lot of different methods for recognizing and
analyzing these concepts in architecture. So, this article has
attempted to present an approach based on semiology
knowledge. Then, the capability of the semiology approach
in analyzing the concepts of space and place in architecture
has been investigated and its abilities and characteristics have
been achieved.
2 Although we use the word ‘space’ very commonly in our daily
life, the concept of space is quite complicated and makes it difficult
to define [1]. However, attempts to offer a definition for
space are assigned to Plato and Aristotle [2]. Heidegger [3] did
not consider space as something which stands in front of the
humans, rather than in his view, space is neither an external
nor an inner experience. Space is not something predetermined
and fixed; In fact, it is the personal location which defines the
space [4]. Moreover, the perception of space is only possible
in the presence of the perceptible objects therefore space is the
relation among objects [5]. Space, based on its English lexical
concepts, can be classified into three types of geographical
space, living space and (interior or central) architectural space
[4]. Bruno Zevi [6] considered space as the basis of architecture
which architecture obtains its characteristics based on it. Table 1
presents the characteristics of space and place in architecture.
[8]. Heidegger [3] discussed that the places make it possible for
a space to exist hence be built, like a constructed place establishes
and links the spaces. The mission of architecture is to
activate the potential content of environment by converting
somewhere to a place, thus the final goal of architecture is creating
and also protecting a place [9]. Table 1 indicates the characteristics
of a place from the point of view of some scholars.
In fact, place can be considered as the synthesis of space organization
and the built form, and Paolo Portoghesi defined it as
the ‘‘system of places’’ [9].
Identity and sense of place
Identity and sense of place or as Norberg-Schulz [10] said the
spirit of a place, are two of the topics which are highly
regarded in space issues. That means people need a sense of
identity and belonging to a specific place or territory [11]. In
fact, identifying a place is a social phenomenon and its identity
is a particular combination of social relations [8]. Place is like a container which contains events, through which, and also during
the time, the important and essential common experiences
are created among people [11]. The structure of a place is not a
fixed and eternal condition and usually places have been changed
[10]. The identity of a place is always defined and redefined
due to the ongoing evolution throughout the history [8]. Therefore,
every place should have the capacity to receive ‘different content’ however in specified levels [10]. Fig. 1 illustrates the
components that create the sense of place.