Writing the Architectural Space: Ludovico Quaroni’s Lesson in Space and the Limits of Visual Representation of Architecture
Writing the Architectural Space: Ludovico Quaroni’s Lesson in Space and the Limits of Visual Representation of Architecture

Summary/Abstract: In his 1977 book Progettare un edificio, the Italian architect Ludovico Quaroni dedicates some pages to describe the Space Effect. Through a first-person narration, he invites the readers to apprehend with their imagination the effects of movement and the experience provided by elementary volumes and spaces. After various explorations, which seem to drive the readers from the abstract to the material world, the route ends into a dome-covered cylinder, which gradually turns out to be the Pantheon. The text, which is inspired by literary techniques and cinematic visions, not only states the theatrical nature of architecture but also indirectly affirms the specificity of the written language both in mentally engaging the reader and in describing space even beyond the architectural representation’s capabilities.

• Details
• Contents