Figure 2.9

Figure 2.9

Saya Park by Alvaro Siza and Carlos Castanheira, 2018.

Void

Void - The architecture desires volume. It desires to be the creation of space over the creation of the partition. It rejects facadism.

Extrovert Architecture often disregards space. It focuses on the way spaces are outlined and divided. As space is often associated as void, or emptiness, an Extrovert Architecture focuses on the production of boundaries. The partitions and the facades become dominant in the architecture, and therefore become the defining factor that monumentalizes the building. This is evidently clear in the architecture of Frank Gehry and Jakob + MacFarlane, as many of their most notable works clearly demonstrate how void space has been objectified through the façade. The spaces of their projects only exist as products of the partition, and the envelope, and become excuses for public displays of architectural talent. Unfortunately, the likeliness of this architectural talent has enabled these buildings to disguise spatial quality behind the uniqueness or attractiveness of a partition. The extrovert ideal has caused architecture to lose touch with the practice of creating space. Buildings are being designed through walls rather than through spaces defined by experience and occupancy. Though an Extrovert Architecture may produce a ‘brilliant’ space, its focus is not on how the space is occupied, but rather how it becomes the attention of the architecture. Introvert Architecture does the opposite. It desires to create space, focusing on scale, function, emotion, and levels of intimacy. It uses architecture to produce a spatial environment for its occupants, and therefore, the way the spaces are divided and bounded are products of the void.

The Chichu Art Museum by Tadao Ando is a prime example of the power that space has in architecture. The project consists of a series of void spaces that create a curatorial experience of the overall gallery. The architecture does very little to distract from the presence of the void, using them to evoke emotion and reaction in its visitors. Additionally, the materiality, the distinction of openings for movement, and the positioning of light and shadow, are fundamental tools used by the architecture throughout the building to empower the voids. There is a purity in the way the building becomes a backdrop for both the voids and the interior spaces. Though some of the voids are grandiose in scale and emotion, not one void begins to define