TYPE & TYPOLOGY BY LEON KRIER

"--A Typology represents the classification of buildings

according to their type.
--The Type is the organizational scheme of a building in
plan and section.
--A Type evolves until it reaches its rational, logical and
most simple form.
--The degree of complexity of a traditional type
corresponds to the degree of complexity of its functions.
--The typological complexity is not a purpose in itself but
it is a non-ambiguous expression of a functional hierarchy.

School in S. Quentin en Yvelines, France (1977-1979) by Leon Krier

-It is mostly composed of simple spaces and volumes.
--The plastical quality of the external volumes is the logical and clearly articulated expression of the
interior volumes.
--Either symmetrical or asymmetrical, or mono or poly-symmetrical, a composition is always justified
and legitimized at a typo-logic level, so to avoid any arbitrary uniformity or complexity, regularity or
irregularity.
PRINCIPLE - The principle behind Krier’s writings has been to explain the rational foundations of
architecture and the city, stating that “In the language of symbols, there can exist no
misunderstanding”. That is to say, for Krier, buildings have a rational order and typology: a house, a
palace, a temple, a campanile, a church; but also a roof, a column, a window, etc., what he terms
“nameable objects”. As projects get bigger, he goes on to argue, the buildings should not get bigger,
but divide up; thus, for instance, in his unrealised scheme for a school in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
(1978), France, the school became a “city in miniature”. In searching for such a typological
architecture, Krier’s work has been termed “an architecture without a style”. However, it has also
been pointed out that the appearance of his architecture is very much like Roman architecture, which
he then places in all his projects, be it central London, Stockholm, Tenerife or Florida.

REFER pptt and files on Leon krier

CONCEPT OF GENIUS LOCI – SCHULZ

Each city has a unique ‘spirit of place,’ or a distinctive atmosphere, that goes beyond the built
environment. This urban context reflects how a city functions in ‘real time’ as people move
through time and space. Viewed through this lens, the architecture and physical infrastructure
of a city give way to the rhythms of the passing of the day and transition of the seasons. This
provides the ‘temporal spectacles’ that define a city.

This context of a city is more formally known as ‘genius loci,’ or the genetic footprint of a
place. Latin for ‘the genius of the place,’ this phrase refers to classical Roman concept of the
protective spirit of a place. In contemporary usage, genius loci usually refers to a location’s
distinctive atmosphere, or the afore-mentioned ‘spirit of place,’ rather than a guardian spirit.

The concept of genius loci falls within the philosophical branch of ‘architectural
phenomenology.’ This field of architectural discourse is most notably explored by the theorist
Christian Norberg-Schulz in his book, Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of
Architecture.
Norberg-Schulz and Genius Loci

1. The Norwegian architect and phenomenologist Christian Norberg-Schulz is a key

theorist in elucidating the concept of genius loci, which he explores in several works
spanning three decades.
2. In his 1963 thesis, his original intention was to investigate the psychology of
architecture (Norberg-Schulz, 1963).
3. Norberg-Schulz (1980) explores the character of places on the ground and their
meanings for people, Norberg-Schulz uses a concept of townscape (although not as
Cullen defined it) to denote skyline or image.
4. He sees the skyline of the town and the horizontally expanded silhouette of the urban
buildings as keys to the image of a place.
5. He promotes the traditional form of towns and buildings, which he sees as the basis
for bringing about a deeper symbolic understanding of places (Norberg-Schulz, 1985,
pp. 33–35, 48).
6. The concept of genius loci is described as representing the sense people have of a
place, understood as the sum of all physical as well as symbolic values in nature and
the human environment.

Concept – “genius loci”

In Norberg-Schulz’s description of the genius loci, as well as in his own use of the concept,
four thematic levels can be recognized: the topography of the earth’s surface; the
cosmological light conditions and the sky as natural conditions; buildings; symbolic and
existential meanings in the cultural landscape.
1. The natural conditions of a place are understood as being based on features in the
topographical landscape, including a cosmological and temporal perspective that includes
continual changes of light and vegetation in the annual cycle. These characteristic rhythmic
fluctuations contrast with the stability of physical form. This is the genius loci as a place in
nature that we have to interpret when we are changing our built environment (Norberg-
Schulz, 1980, pp. 25–32).
2. Norberg-Schulz gives a special place in this conception of the genius loci to natural
conditions, distinguishing three basic landscape characters: romantic, cosmic and classical
(Norberg-Schulz, 1980; 1985, p. 48). These are also understandable as ideal types.
3. Both buildings and the symbolic meaning of a settlement are important for the genius loci
concept as expressions of society’s cultural interpretation of place. Norberg-Schulz’s analyses
range from visual impressions to the lived or experienced realm.
4. His four methodological stages—‘image’, ‘space’, ‘character’ and ‘genius loci’—illustrate
people’s experience of the physical environment. His aim, however, is to achieve the
atmosphere, light conditions and sense-related experiences of the genius loci.
5. Nature, he feels, is the basis for people’s interpretation and it is in relation to nature that
places and objects take on meaning. He discusses the way in which morphological and cosmic
connections are given physical expression in society’s dwelling and living. He seeks meaning
and symbolic function by understanding the systematic pattern of the settlement. In summary,
Norberg-Schulz conceives of people’s life world as a basis for orientation and identity
(Norberg-Schulz, 1980, p. 203; 1985, pp. 15–25).
PHENOMENOLOGY

The potential of philosophy as having a role in architecture is an issue which is often ignored in
contemporary architectural design; overlooked due to other seemingly more pressing concerns. But
the role that philosophy can play could lead to the design of powerful and intriguing spaces, and at the
very least be a stimulant for intellectualism in public spaces.

ORIGIN - More specifically the studies of phenomenology, a major stream of philosophy founded by
Edmund Husserl in the early twentieth century, could possibly influence and direct architectural
design through its meticulous investigations into ideas of sensation, memory, the unconscious and
perception. French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty will be the key theorist used in this
study, as his enquiries into the relationship between the body and space, and the effects that sensations
have on the experience of space, relate most closely to the realm of architecture. Through the
additional aid of architectural writings by Steven Holl and Juhani Pallasmaa, this analysis aims to
investigate how phenomenology provides a framework for city spaces and architecture within which
bodily experiences of the city can be theorised.

ESSENCE - To further intensify this exploration of how philosophy and architecture have the
possibility of possessing a dialectical relationship, we shall observe the effects that phenomenology
has on architecture in the city and city spaces in particular. As the individual walks through the city,
they are met with a wide array of sights, sounds, textures, smells and even tastes. Different spaces of
the city evoke different past memories; sometimes they are just fleeting ones and other times they are
more sustained. Each person’s experience of the city differs to the next person’s, as we all come from
different backgrounds, cultures, social classes, walks of life. Hence our perceptions of the city are
continually changing, and indeed shape our experience of the city.

INTENTIONALITY - Things and experienced events are described and dissected through their
intentionalities. The term ‘intentionality’ should be discussed further here. There are different modes
of intentionality, which are dictated by images, words, symbols, judgements, perception, memory, the
unconscious (imagination and nostalgia) and sensations.

PHENOMENOLOGICAL REDUCTION - A critical element which distinguishes the

phenomenological attitude from others is that we must observe an object or thing in isolation, as
separate from the world, and as well as that we must also separate ourselves from the object in
question. This distancing is referred to as the ‘phenomenological reduction’.

 The phenomenology of the city consists of all those things that in general are not immediately
seen, remaining hidden within a setting, covered by either “noisy” and unauthentic
appearances or phenomena of another nature (natural as well as scientific).
 Our urban objects emerge from the nature, from the territory, from the city as well as the
world, or in other words from the most fascinating settings that are vital conditions of
existence but also highly complex.
 When we consider the “ex-istence” of the city, there is a definition phenomenon followed by
a transcending of the various limits (physical, rational and of poor relationships of the
individuals) that occurs in architecture, starting from the living to the house to then go
towards new settings where the horizon of the relationship with the future can emerge and be
constituted.
 On the basis of studies, these creation orders have a sense, we could even say that the city
realises its reason for being according to the way of being, according to the 10 different
senses, with the following themes:
Domesticity
Naturalness
Centrality
Insularity
Initiality
Topicity
Coexistentiality
Time-deepness
Landscapeness
Representativeness
Even within urban phenomenology, it is the original experience (originating) of the city,
perceived by a building through architecture.

MODES - The final four modes will be the ones of utmost concern to us from an architectural point of
view. In a phenomenological description, these particular elements as embodied in an object or thing
in question give us a presupposed appearance of this object.
Robert Sokolowski provides a very clear, succinct method of how these modes are revealed, through
the application and use of three formal structures in phenomenology.

STRUCTURES IN PHENOMENOLOGY -These are the structure of parts and wholes, the structure
of identity in a manifold, and the structure of presence and absence. The first two structures have been
explored extensively by past philosophers such as Aristotle (parts and wholes) and Plato (identity in a
manifold), but it is Husserl who theorised the original ideas of presence and absence in his studies of
phenomenology.
1. Structure of parts & wholes - In the structure of parts and wholes, a whole is conceived as
consisting of two parts, these being pieces and moments. The former are independent parts which can
exist separately from the whole, and when separated, become wholes in themselves (for example
leaves of a tree). Moments on the other hand, are non-independent parts which cannot exist separately
from the whole, cannot be detached from the whole and will never be wholes in themselves (for
example a sensation, a colour).
In relation to phenomenology and its ideas of consciousness and intentionality, “the mind is a moment
to the world and the things in it; the mind is essentially correlated with its objects. The mind is
essentially intentional.” The mind cannot be thought of as a whole; it merely belongs in a whole. In
phenomenology, we often distinguish (as opposed to separate) various moments which form a given
whole, and these include the above mentioned sensations, constituents of memory and imaginations,
and elemental details leading up to a total perception of a thing.
2. Structure of Identity - In the structure of identity in a manifold, we view ‘identity’ as a
manifestation of different expressions of certain parts of an object. For example, the identity of an
experienced event is perceived and intended by different people. However, although an object’s
identity can be expressed through a myriad of manifolds, these expressions or even the culmination of
these expressions must not be confused with the object’s actual identity, which “is beyond the
dimension of appearances. The different sensations one experiences in an event, for example, is seen
as the manifold of expressions used to describe such a given event, but these sensations are not the
event itself.
3. Structure of Presences & Absences - In the structure of presences and absences, we are concerned
with looking at their direct correlations of ‘filled intentions’ and ‘empty intentions’ respectively. Put
quite simply, An empty intention is an intention that targets something that is not there, something
absent, something not present to the one who intends. A filled intention is one that targets something
that is there, in its bodily presence, before the one who intends.
One of the key roles of phenomenology is to investigate the relationships between filled intentions
and empty intentions, realising that it is essential for an object or event to be intended by both. This
relates especially to memory, nostalgia and imagination; in all three cognitive processes we are
concerned with empty intentions.
QUERIES - a preliminary understanding of how a phenomenological description of city spaces and
architecture can be performed is to be understood. We are interested in how we perceive city space
and whether these are through its presences and/or absences. What are the sensations, the moments,
which make up the whole of the city space? How do sensations and memory make up the identity
manifold of a particular city space? How does an individual self’s imagination or feelings of
nostalgia, their empty intentions, add to the city space’s identity?

The relationship between bodies and cities is a complex one, which relies on a number of factors
including the type of body (ethnic, racial, class, sexual), the type of city (economic, geographic,
political) and its inherent complications (varying degrees of intrication, specification, interpolation
and inscription). All these elements contribute to a city’s unique identity.

Who is doing the experiencing in city spaces?

Michel de Certeau’s text Walking in the City suggests that there are two different types of people who
experience the city: the ‘voyeurs’, which refers to those situated in an elevated perspective and is
offered a distanced view of the streets and city life; and the ‘walkers’, who live down below in the
city streets and whose relationships with each other and the spaces surrounding them intertwine with
each other and create an urban fabric. Although these two ‘categories’ of contemporary urban society
are in contrast with each other, they nonetheless possess the same function in that they interact with
the city space in their own individual ways. Both these ‘bodies’ relate to the perceived ‘world’

Experiencing the city

Following on from the discussion of the implications of referring to tourists as John Urry’s essay City
Life and the Senses further distinguishes one from the other by explaining that the predominant
differentiation is the tourist’s general ignorance of the senses other than vision. The tourist is regarded
as superficially interested in only using the one sense to experience the world whilst travelling, and
sitting comfortably in their tourist buses, the glass-paned windows act as a physical and metaphorical
barrier between those inside and the smells, the noises, the touches of the city; the real experience of
the city. Urry suggests that vision is the most superficial of all senses in our contemporary society38
as it obstructs our opportunity to have a real, complete experience which utilises our other senses.
After all, from a phenomenological perspective, all the senses are required to help us define a spatial
experience. “A city is never seen as a totality, but as an aggregate of experiences, animated by
use, by overlapping perspectives, changing, light, sounds, and smells.

A number of other factors also have the ability to alter our perception of city spaces. For example, a
phenomenological comparison of architecture and the city as viewed during the day and as viewed at
night will reveal a stark contrast in descriptions. The experience of the city at night is shaped almost
exclusively by light (city lights and moonlight), shadows and colour. We also need to deal with the
architecture of sound, as city spaces are “shaped by resonant sounds, vibrations of materials and
textures.” These sounds not only help to give us a perception of bodily dimensions in relation to the
wider city, but they help us to understand spatial qualities. The particular materiality of a city space
also aides in informing us of the particular way such a space should be perceived, and has the power
to evoke certain tactile senses and aromas. The smell and touch of such natural materials as stone or
wood, for example, will produce personal reactions in each body when experiencing these
architectural details.

EXAMPLE - To provide a real-life exemplar of how these elements combine to form a

complete phenomenological account of a city, Norberg-Schulz provides a case
study of the city of Prague, describing it from a personal point of view and
articulating the city’s image, space, character and genius loci. In relation to the
city’s image, the writer talks about the preliminary senses one experiences as
they first visit the city; the visual traits such as vertical movement, inside/outside
relationships, history of the urban space; local character of the city, contrasts and
similarities between various city spaces, juxtaposition; and the effect of light on
the spaces, and what atmosphere this creates.

The space of Prague is discussed through the geographical location of the city, and
its inherent meaning; the boundary of the city, and its natural boundaries; the spatial
structure of the actual city, its forms and geometries; and its centres and paths, town
centres and streets. In describing the city’s character, we are told of the natural
elements of surrounding landscape; the juxtaposition and relationships of various
counterparts in the city, and how they add to the city’s character; and how the
site, local identity and history and the local inhabitants add to the character of the
site. And finally, he discusses the genius loci of Prague through his personal
connections with the city, through the emotional feelings and sensations he gains
as he walks through and experiences the city.