VIRTUAL Prague Research & Teaching Conference

Abstract

Architectural spatial design determines simulation conditions between potential and existing reality. Presenting an example of a design course methodology at the Architecture School of National Technical University of Athens, three different simulation conditions are discerned, described by different types of diagrams. The framework condition defines the spatial genus: Space is self-simulated to a field of activities developed by subject’s typology in a generic referent frame. Diagrams describe fractal self-similarity relationships between space and multidimensional activities of subject’s typology. The number of steps that scale the fractal simulation multiplies the kinds of interpretable activities in the designed space. The property condition determines the spatial identity: Space is simulated to various fields of known properties assembling its body. Diagrams describe mirror relationships between space and fields of known properties. The number of layers in mirror simulation increases the connotatively interpretable activities beyond typical spatial activities. The coexisting condition extends the logics of spatial identity properties: Space is doubly simulated το co-occurring spaces defining allegorical activities. Diagrams describe serial relations of double similarity in a neighborhood of polysemy. The number of varieties in serial simulation expands different descriptive logics for the embedded activities in spatial identity. In a cultural framework, the more simulations take place in framework, property, coexisting conditions, the more interpretations beyond the literal sense of space are offered, increasing the degree of spatial potentiality. Based on the multiplicity of similarity interpretations that extend activity performance, the degree of spatial potentiality represents the ideology of freedom in the development of activities.