On Aesthetics and Spatial Configuration

This article takes as its point of departure that any question concerning architecture, in a broad sense, has cultural and aesthetic implications, whether directly concerned with them or focused on social, technical, functional or other concerns. From such an outset, so does spatial configuration. However, while questions of aesthetics have been addressed within syntax research, it has rarely been the central point. This article intends to address more specifically the question of spatial configuration as aesthetics, on the one hand, and the aesthetic implications of configurational analysis on the other. In doing so, it will discuss aesthetic implications of ostensibly non-aesthetic considerations by addressing aesthetics as cultural, social and formal values embedded in and expressed through architectural works, and mediated through engaged and distracted experience. Concretely, the discussion will revolve around a small selection of works to develop a reasoning around aesthetics and con guration. This includes Alexander Klein’s graphic methods to evaluate building plans and its relation to a selection of Mies van der Rohe’s works, to conclude with a discussion relating the ndings to habits and dispositions. QC 20170815SRE Architecture in the Makin