Time in Built Spaces

A special issue of Architecture (ISSN 2673-8945).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 8227

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Architecture, University of Hawai’i Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Interests: time in built space; Japanese architecture; naturally animated indoor environments; the migration of forms across cultures

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Guest Editor
School of Nursing, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA
Interests: psychology of religion; spirituality; mysticism

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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
Interests: social interaction; sensors and phenomena in design; superilles; urban design; fine-grained urbanism

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Guest Editor
College of Architecture and Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
Interests: nanotechnology; emergent materials; biodiversity conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The fact that the word “time” is used more than seven times as often as “space” in everyday English provides an indication of their relative significance in our lives. In the design of built environments, however, this relationship is typically reversed, with considerations of space generally dominating.

Recollections of the past, interactions with the present, and anticipations of the future are central to supporting a range of key human needs, including identity, presence, and hope. This Special Issue of Architecture will examine the various ways in which the past, present, and future have been and can be integrated into the built spaces where we now spend the majority of our lives.

Contributors must consider how built environments relate to conservation, mindfulness, or sustainability, our personal relationship to time as a finite and diminishing resource, how we conceive of and measure time in terms of space, or major illnesses that affect our relationship to the past, present, and future, such as memory loss, attention deficit, and depression.

Prof. Dr. Kevin Nute
Dr. Zhuo Job Chen
Prof. Philip Speranza
Prof. Martina Decker
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • time
  • space
  • past
  • present
  • future
  • recollection
  • interaction
  • anticipation

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 438 KiB  
Editorial
Space and Time
by Kevin Nute
Architecture 2023, 3(4), 593-595; https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture3040032 - 28 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1160
Abstract
In 1972, the urban designer Kevin Lynch concluded the book What Time Is This Place [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Time in Built Spaces)
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Research

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18 pages, 24206 KiB  
Article
From What Times Is This Place? Form as a Chronotope in the Architecture of Enric Miralles
by Alberto Álvarez-Agea
Architecture 2024, 4(3), 745-762; https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture4030039 - 19 Sep 2024
Viewed by 386
Abstract
In 1994, Enric Miralles published From what time is this place?, a brief text where the relationship between space and time is claimed through the form of the Igualada Cemetery Park and different conditions of time are considered. The title is presumably written [...] Read more.
In 1994, Enric Miralles published From what time is this place?, a brief text where the relationship between space and time is claimed through the form of the Igualada Cemetery Park and different conditions of time are considered. The title is presumably written after the book by Kevin Lynch What time is this place?, where the human sense of time and the relationship between the innate consciousness of time and place and the objective time of the world are addressed. Related to this concept arises the notion of the chronotope—from kronos, time, and topos, place; literally timeplace, defined by Mikhail Bakhtin as the intrinsic connectedness of spatial and temporal relationships assimilated in the artistic form. Approaching Miralles’ own words, this text examines the condition of architectural form as a chronotope in the Igualada Cemetery Park and in three of his projects to analyze, firstly, the strategies used and, secondly, the consequences of the connection of space and time in the form and in space and time themselves: the spatialization of time, temporalization of space, and temporalization of time. As a result, some reflections contribute to the contemporary debate on form in architecture as a spatiotemporal discipline: a chronotopic architecture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Time in Built Spaces)
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30 pages, 6871 KiB  
Article
Therapeutic Architecture and Temporality: Evidence-Based Design for Long-Stay Facilities for Individuals with Severe Intellectual Disabilities and Challenging Behaviour
by Tanja C. Vollmer, Gemma Koppen, Claudia Iovița and Lara Schießl
Architecture 2024, 4(3), 541-570; https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture4030029 - 1 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1260
Abstract
Since individuals with severe and profound Intellectual Disabilities (IDs) have no concept of time, it is difficult for them to autonomously maintain daily structures. Those affected are dependent throughout their lives on external care structures. Even though research suggests that individuals with IDs [...] Read more.
Since individuals with severe and profound Intellectual Disabilities (IDs) have no concept of time, it is difficult for them to autonomously maintain daily structures. Those affected are dependent throughout their lives on external care structures. Even though research suggests that individuals with IDs should live in smaller facilities, individuals with higher support needs are more likely to be placed in large institutions and clustered group homes. The aim of this study was to define design criteria and test their applicability to a residential building design whose architecture enables individuals with IDs to develop autonomy through spatially experienced temporality. Qualitative data was collected in a mixed method evidence-based design approach: systematic behavioural observations, structured interviews, focus groups, and the UV-index method. Four design criteria could be described that contribute to an autonomy-promoting temporality: (a) spatial sequencing and repetition, (b) privacy-related variation of spatial dimensions, (c) spatial orchestration of daylight, and (d) constant emotional proximity to the caregiver. The hypothesis of using architecture to promote temporality in clients with IDs and Challenging Behaviour (CB) has proven to be potentially effective in designing a therapeutic environment. Our findings provide valuable data on how long-stay facilities should be designed in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Time in Built Spaces)
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31 pages, 8021 KiB  
Article
(De)Linking with the Past through Memorials
by Tamara Zaninović, Nerma Omićević and Bojana Bojanić Obad Šćitaroci
Architecture 2023, 3(4), 627-657; https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture3040034 - 9 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2798
Abstract
Numerous examples of urban, architectural, and landscape projects indicate global and continuous interest in memorial design without a comparative study of their contextual similarities and differences. There is no clear terminological and conceptual framework of how memorials are designed nor if they are [...] Read more.
Numerous examples of urban, architectural, and landscape projects indicate global and continuous interest in memorial design without a comparative study of their contextual similarities and differences. There is no clear terminological and conceptual framework of how memorials are designed nor if they are perceived as diverse types of public places. This research combines multiple results of extensive and on-going research on memorials as places for people to reconnect with past events, circumstances, or persons, with the aim of building a theoretical and conceptual framework within the domain of architectural and urban design. The main question is how the design of memorials achieves remembrance as well as healing of both places and communities through conciliation, mediation, forgetting, learning, and planning new concepts for future urban development. The term (de)linking with the past is proposed for describing the importance of achieving these various memorial functions. The resulting dualistic conceptual framework of memorials includes eleven design principles based on models and methods of spatial interventions which can enable communities to move forward from traumatic events and negative emotions towards building a basis for a better future by learning from the past. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Time in Built Spaces)
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Other

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10 pages, 6405 KiB  
Opinion
The Architecture of Expectation
by Kevin Nute
Architecture 2023, 3(4), 671-680; https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture3040036 - 3 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1223
Abstract
Humans have been described as a “forward-looking” species in more than simply physiological terms. We are, it seems, unusually concerned with the future. This essay explores how built environments can be designed to evoke positive anticipation of future events. It suggests that there [...] Read more.
Humans have been described as a “forward-looking” species in more than simply physiological terms. We are, it seems, unusually concerned with the future. This essay explores how built environments can be designed to evoke positive anticipation of future events. It suggests that there are three primary means of achieving this: (1) the visible display of valued resources, (2) signs of readiness, and (3) views that encourage mental exploration. It is observed that while resources tend to elicit hope of their future use, readiness and visual prospects seem to evoke a more general sense of optimism. Given the large proportion of our lives that most of us now spend in buildings, it is suggested that these design strategies might be helpful in maintaining and improving occupant morale in the indoor spaces where we live and work, and even more so for those who, for one reason or another, are unable to venture out. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Time in Built Spaces)
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