Orientation & Identity

It confronts the subtle spatial messages with which architecture is
capable of guiding people – via light, color, room proportions, horizontal
and vertical layering – with a clear “This Way!” This allows
functionalist architecture to dispense with all the subtleties of
way finding and limit itself to an efficient support system, a costeffective
shell and evenly distributed core access ways. Visitors
find their way through this de-mystified architecture that no longer
gives us an indication of how to move through it via the thread of
Ariadne, or the way finding system.
From an architectural perspective, the latent tensions between
architecture and signage are to a minor extent based on the
fact that signage is viewed as part of a Functionalist doctrine that
was left behind a long time ago. It is recommendable to assess
signage outside the Functionalist perspective and research the
possible relationship between way finding systems and the larger
semantic whole of architecture. This helps us understand the unfulfilled
opportunities we are left with. To do so, it is necessary to
understand the tasks access ways have in architecture, aside for
the safe and efficient movement of people and goods in a building.
At least two other activities can be identified: firstly, the staging of
space and experience sequences, and secondly, the gradual demarcation
of public and private spaces. Additional signage tasks –
which will be briefly discussed below - can be derived from these
supplementary meanings.
The staging of movement in space is an architecture theme
that architectural theory has comparatively little to say about.
Although discussions of measurement, quantity and proportion or
column alignment fill books, the words on the subject of access
and movement are obviously missing. However, at least the ritual
movement in space is a core architectural theme. The labyrinth is
also often traced back to these origins. Round dances performed
as labyrinthine, winding movements around a center can be found
in many cultures. If one follows Jan Pieper’s interpretation in his
seminal work “Labyrinthische in der Architektur” (The Labyrinthine
Aspects of Architecture), labyrinths are not a metaphor for a single
building. They are metaphors for the city itself. Labyrinths can be
seen as a trace of the celebratory procession and marches found
in many cultures, ranging from medieval parades to city rituals in
southern India. Dance – certainly the most un-functional means
of human locomotion – becomes the origin of architectural space
composition. The repertoire of measures architecture has to support
this staging of movement extends far beyond the purely visual
aspect. The physical exertion connected to walking up a more or
less steep flight of stairs or ramp is just as much a part of this as
the acoustic effect of steps on varying floor surfaces and their
echo in space. Even air movement and air moisture can play a role.
Orientation and disorientation are no longer assessment
terms. In this context they are different means of achieving certain
effects. Moments of uncertainty challenge visitors to actively find
their way, and the shortest path isn’t necessarily always the best.
Even the question of whether it is a quality for the entrance to a
building to be recognizable from a distance leads to contradictory
answers. Louis Kahn purposely set the entrances to his building so
they would remain unnoticed at first glance; they often had to be
found in a row of seemingly identical openings. That makes the experience
of finding a space with impressive vertical rise behind an
inconspicuous entrance even greater. The initial sense of insecurity
caused by disorientation is a conscious preparation of this effect.
On the other hand Le Corbusier gave the greatest importance to an
almost cinematographic staging of pathway sequences that take
visitors from one spatial sensation to the next without having to
pause and actively find their way.
The demarcation of public and private spheres with the
design of an access way system is similar. There aren’t really any
absolute rules here either; the amount of cultural influences in the
hierarchy of privacy is too great. But all cultures have thresholds
in common as one of the most striking architectural elements.
Thresholds create a complex system of public, semi-private and
private zones with many nuances between these basic categories.
A threshold is always a special place with manifold connotations.
It separates and unites at the same time, it is a place for welcome
and farewell ceremonies, both an opening and barrier. This fault
that goes through the world is captured clearly in Georg Trakl’s
poem “Ein Winterabend” (A Winter Evening): “Pain hardens the
threshold,” reads the line Trakl uses to express the need for separation
as a reason for sadness.
The breadth of tasks that face integrally conceived signage
has been sketched. But what about the available means? For the
sake of simplicity let us assume that signage is basically reduced
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