"Introspective Space" In The Age Of Time-Space Compression-In-Depth Case Studies On Four Contemporary Buildings

The paradox comes when modernism architecture in general with its spiritual connotation and soul expression missing collide with our expectation that space bears the poetic dwelling of human consciousness, creating a sensitive issue puzzling architects from the very beginning. As intricate as heavily weighted, being difficult to retrieve in consistency, the issue has been deliberately omitted or circumvented in an age when all life aspects are unavoidably involved in consumerism and logic of capitalism. Although critical theories like "Spatial Poetics","Genius loci","Collective Memory", "Tectonic Culture"or the"Frankfurt School"and its derivative emerged in the last century, an organized, precise, subtle and accessible interpretation and analytical structure remains unfound, without which founders of conscious architecture, with their persistent effort in acclaiming the spirituality from a systematic argument were excluded from the major ideologies. Conceptual establishment of "Introspective Space" is seemingly capable of making the issue more accessible from several perspectives, and thus help rekindle their prominence.The very basics of Introspective Space is seemingly pointed to a spatial typology featured by characteristics like tranquility, sacred reticence, poise and transcendence and sublime- traits with insufficient understanding for serious research and discussion to take roots. This dissertation aims at reclaiming the concept of Time-space stretching in social background of Time-space compression, proposing it as means to remediate the causal damage of Time-space compression by resisting, transforming and decomposing, and further, accenting the universal value and significance of introspective space in general, and the important status of architects who had recognized this spiritual traits in the practice.This dissertation takes on an phenomenological, case based approach to perform a deepened studies around these four contemporary buildings on their the design logic, Time-space experience and ideologies behind. It is argued that national library of France demonstrates a high density esthetics transformed from the Time-space compression, which shows its submission to an agreement in which a value of destruction and the relevant architectural interpretation do exist. Three examples showcase Time-space stretching, i.e.,"Natural narrative routes based on geometric order"of Chichu Art Museum, "Double-Face and overlapped order" of Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporanea, "Quantization of Light" of Caja de Granada, respectively referring to "Time-space elongation", "Time-space realm expansion", and "Time-space suspending", whence the shared heritage and the discrepancies between one another are shown. It shows how the humanity, once fragmentized and dismissed eventually gets healed, repaired and emancipated. In the summary chapter, an attempt was made to depict the sought nature of buildings as the habitat accommodating both the physical and psychological desire since the beginning of architecture, and implies the difference between scientific Time-space view and the real Time-space experience of human beings. Further, a discussion was made to elucidate the mechanism in which the already accepted, socialized objective Time-space keeps controlling, regulating and homogenizing the inner space and reiterate the real meaning of the "Time-space Stretching "-the redeem and recovery of human spirit when the flattening of human instincts dominates the day.The final conclusion states that Time-space stretching should be the nature of introspective space-an intrinsic property free from the extrinsic time-space rhythm, which to some extent, enables a human being to get rid of the fixed and discipline value and ideology impinged by social norms and return to the inner realm and depreciated spiritual, thus regain the balance and mutual understanding between the individualized emotion and the societal rationalism. Architecture itself should be viewed, to certain degree, as a tool that influences, repairs and releases the internal Time-space realm of mankind.