The Language of Architecture and Care - Topology

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, Heideggerian philosophy, and Christian Norberg-Schulz's architectural theories on topology, morphology, and typology.

Topology

The structural component of architecture concerned with spatial organization, admittance, horizontal action, and relations expressed through prepositions, grasping spatial interrelationships in terms of centre, path, and domain.

Morphology

The structural component of architecture concerned with built form, character, vertical embodiment of tension between earth and sky, and formal articulation expressed through adjectives.

Typology

The structural component of architecture concerned with how general memories of being-with are stored in types and interpreted as particular, nameable spatial and built figures expressed through nouns.

Verstehen

Heidegger's mode of being-in representing 'understanding', which Christian Norberg-Schulz maps to orientation, spatial order, and topology.

Befindlichkeit

Heidegger's mode of being-in representing 'mood' or 'attunement', which Christian Norberg-Schulz maps to identification, character, and morphology.

Mitsein

Heidegger's mode of being-in representing 'being-with', which Christian Norberg-Schulz maps to meeting, togetherness, and typology.

Rede

Heidegger's existential structure representing 'discourse'.

Spatial World Structures

Christian Norberg-Schulz's three spatial categories—order, character, and togetherness—which mirror topology, morphology, and typology respectively.

Structures of Being-in

Christian Norberg-Schulz's categories of orientation, identification, and meeting that relate Heidegger's modes of being-in to spatial architecture.

Auslegung

The German term for interpretation or layout/plan through which an architect's understanding (Verstehen) of place is enacted and made explicit.

Admittance

The topological property that admits the predominantly horizontal actions of life to take place in a rhythm-dominated spatial organization.

Embodiment

The morphological property that embodies, in a predominantly vertical way, the memories and tensions of the meeting of earth and sky.

Resonance

In architectural terms, a relational interaction where a built work interacts with and amplifies the lay of the land rather than imposing order upon it.

Resonance Transmissibility Curve

A plot depicting transmissibility $|G(\omega_A)|$ versus frequency ratio $\omega_A / \omega_N$, showing peak amplitude and disastrous resonance when damping $\delta = 0$ at $\omega_A / \omega_N = 1$.

Addition (Spatial Organization)

A method of spatial organization illustrated by Filippo Brunelleschi's Santo Spirito (1436-1482).

Division (Spatial Organization)

A method of spatial organization illustrated by Francesco Borromini's San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane (1559-1667).

Pulsation

A form of spatial integration in architecture, as exemplified by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer's St. Maria Magdalena in Karlovy Vary (1730).

Fusion

A form of spatial integration in architecture, as exemplified by Georg Dientzenhofer's Chapel near Waldsassen (Dreifaltigkeitskirche, 1684).

Grunnriss

The Norwegian term for plan, associated with topology, spatial order, and orientation.

Opriss

The Norwegian term for elevation, associated with morphology, built form, character, and identification.

Omriss

The Norwegian term for outline or Gestalt, associated with typology, figure/archetype, and memory.