spatial connection
A connection struck me recently between two buildings which had some of the most wonderful spatial qualities I think I’ve ever experienced. One is a favorite of mine, Andrea Palladio’s Villa Rotonda:
The other is simply a beautiful twentieth century home I recently visited.
What do they have in common? Even with contrasting styles, both had a beautiful connectedness between interior and exterior spaces.
Looking at the plan of Villa Rotonda, you can see the lines of sight that cut through every room and out to a window. Being in the space, there is an absolutely wonderful awareness of not only the room you are in, but how it is a part of the rest of the spatial organization. And the outside--on opposite sides of the building--is also always visible.
It was the same in the twentieth century residence. Not nearly such a clear, simply geometry of course, but in a house that could otherwise have been quite standard there was an amazing spatial quality achieved through beautifully thoughtful arrangements of visual connections throughout. No matter where one stood, the outside on either side of the house and layers of internal spaces were always present.
A quality to strive for.
