Speakers:
David Hutama, Ary Indra, Renato Rizzi
The notion of the void is always ambiguous. It is often associated with passivity and negativity; unused and wasted space. Yet, throughout the history of architecture, we find void is employed as a design strategy to create an effect of grandeur and spatial quality. In this sense, void operates in quite the opposite manner. It functions as an active space; staging a node and a hub in architectural programming. The void is not just a passive empty space but a subversive spatial agency that disrupts movements and events in a particular space and time.
Thus, void as an architectural spatial element, obviously, is not unique and specific to a certain kind of architecture. However, how the void is employed as a design strategy is different from one architecture to another. Different building cultures and contexts might comprehend and utilize void using different lenses, which consequently produce a different character of space and architecture.
