Architects are Talking about Space

space; language of space; architectural education; space syntax Space is the core of architecture. In order to design, it is necessary to conceive and think about architectural space surrounding us by decoding its nature and discovering messages in its built forms. This kind of awareness helps architects to decide on the principles and concepts of his/her desired space. Critical questions arise at this point: How do architects perceive and conceptualise architectural space? How do architects understand and decode space? How do they think and talk about space? Space is more than a simple vacuum that surrounds us. First, it has its physical form that can be easily decoded and described by concrete characteristics such as length, width, scale, geometry and also texture, colour, light, etc. Second, it has other characteristics that are abstract and complex, and difficult to talk about. These are codes, rules and abstract parts shaping meaningful things in space. In understanding and discovering these spatial characteristics, key element appears as the man-space relationship. The aim of this paper is to create a debate by focusing on the following questions which are discussed in the first lecture of an elective course at undergraduate level, namely, Architectural Morphology, in Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture: How do architects conceive an