何为空间的句法?作为界面的建筑及其设计

What Does the Syntax of Space Say? Understanding and Designing Buildings as Interfaces

空间,因其为出行、可达、可见、共同在场或相遇提供了结构化的可供性,犹如一种语言,一种我们可以通过设计空间关系来满足社会或个人生活方式的媒介。我将空间句法定义为一种有关栖居空间在物理和社会层面的认知与理解的描述性理论,它关注空间环境在感知、关联和功能等方面的可供性。我进一步对空间句法作为空间语言的解释性理论和它的用途做了区分;二者分别关于社会空间系统的理解和设计。由此引出了界面这一概念,并分别从研究、设计实践及工作坊教学的角度论述了关于界面的三个案例。第一个界面的案例是传播设计公司的办公环境:运动与相遇、运动与视觉信息之间的界面促进了员工之间的共同意识和非正式学习模式,这反过来又使偶发性的工作交流变得更为高效。如此提升了公司的创造力和生产力。第二个界面的案例有关博物馆设计。可见与可达关系的互动赋予建筑的中心庭院如舞台剧场般的特质,支撑了馆方意图实现的功能多样性,不仅限于雕塑展、还可供举办各类演出和活动。第三个界面,以工作坊项目对城市中心区未来零售空间的设计思考为例,阐述了在商品陈列、存放和商客交流之间形成新的界面转化,进而从类型学角度对传统百货商店进行再定义。通过上述三个例子,本文将界面定义为影响整体空间结构的各类要素之间的复合关系,功能的可供性及其相关的句法条件界定了要素的类别。

By virtue of providing structured affordances for movement, access, view, co-presence or encounter, space acts like a language, a medium in which we can design spatial relationships to accommodate desirable ways of common or individual life. I define space syntax as a descriptive theory of the perceptual, relational and functional affordances of inhabited space that are relevant to its cognitive and social intelligibility. I then distinguish between space syntax, as a theory that accounts for the language of space, and what space syntax is used for; namely to understand and design socio- spatial systems. This brings me to the idea of interface. I describe three examples of interfaces, from the points of view of research, professional practice and studio teaching respectively. First, the work environment of a communications design company： The interfaces between movement and encounter as well as movement and visual information support patterns of co-awareness and informal learning that, in turn, ensure that serendipitous work-related interactions are more effective. This enhances organizational creativity and productivity. Second, the design of a museum： The interplay between visibility and accessibility gives the central courtyard qualities of theatricality which in turn support institutional agendas by Lnviting a variety of uses, not only sculpture exhibitions but also performances and events of all kinds. Third, projects created as part of a design studio that addresses the future of retail in downtown urban areas. These illustrate new transformations of the interface between display, storage and interaction, thus redefining the typology of the traditional department store. The examples support the definition of interface as a complex relation between classes of elements that holds over a spatial configuration as a whole. The classes of elements involved are defined in terms of programmatic affordances and associated syntactic conditions.