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Blekinge Institute of Technology

The European Spatial Planning Programme

Master Thesis
Supervisor: Thomas Hellquist

Pieces of Time and Perception of Place

From the view of Genius Loci and Contextualism

Author: Zhao Yiran

Karlskrona, Sweden 2009

Abstract
The thesis discusses how to make a harmonious place with nature, keeping the
spirit of place which we call Genius Loci, and using phenomenological analysis to
understand the meaning of place through its structure. Symbolization and concretion
are also discussed as they are used to transform natural landscape to architecture, and
orientation and identification are used to prove the existence. This thesis also connects
place to mans image with social and cultural aspects, and seeks a way to keep
continuity in history. Therefore a humanistic place should have agreements with
essence of place, human demand, and historic continuity.

Acknowledgements
This thesis owes its existence to the help, support, and inspiration of many people.
First, I want to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor Thomas Hellquist
for his support and help during my research. Also, I would like to thank Jan-Evert
Nilsson who gave me lots of suggestions. And I need to thank Eric Markus who gave
me help during my whole years studying. Finally, I want to thank my friends and my
family who always give me support and inspiration both during my studying and
research.

Introduction
In the few past decades, many cities are losing their characters and getting more
and more ambiguous. As planners began to pay more attention on the categories of
beauty and function, they failed to catch the essence and the humanity of place. Also,
many traditional sites and heritages are destroyed which make cities lose the
continuity and identification.
While people call those as loss of place, I think if we want to avoid the losing and
rebuilding our living places, we should first understand from the concept of
existence. And according to this, we could catch the essence of place which exists
in the locality. Thus, I decided to study the Genius Loci by Norberg-Schulz, although
it has some deficiencies, such as paying too much attention on environment and not
caring enough about functional use and cultural and social influence to character and
identification of place. Norberg-Schulz made lots of great arguments in this book,
about thing, existential space, natural and man-made place and also his
explaining of Genius Loci which applied to Rome, Prague, and Khartoum. After
reading the book, I was benefited a lot from his theory, and got lots of own opinions
and examples. In the 1st chapter, I connect his points to some Chinese tradition
including myth, architecture and theories. I also made understandings and opinions of
my own with examples I mentioned. I spent much time travelling to do the research,
and then I found the corresponding examples to the further understanding of place.
In the 2nd and 3rd chapters, I make some criticisms on Norberg-Schulzs theory.
While we are studying theories, I dont think we should take all the contexts, but have
to think about where is the weak point and try to apply theory to works and cases. As I
did in the 1st chapter, I used Erskines works in Lappland to explain his contextualism
with nature and mans feeling. His works represent the cultural and social contexts as
well as natural environment. And finally, the example of the Ice Hotel gives us the
image of place combined with natural landscape, changes of weather, local society
and culture, and the continuity of history. I think this should be a way for
contemporary planners and architects to understand humanity and harmony of place.

Contents
1. Genius Loci................................................................................................................5
1.1 Place.....................................................................................................................5
1.2 Natural Place and Man-Made Place...................................................................11
1.21 Natural Place................................................................................................11
1.22 Man-Made Place ..........................................................................................16
1.3 The Spirit of Place .............................................................................................23
1.31 The Structure of Place..................................................................................23
1.32 Orientation and Identification ......................................................................28
2. Contextualism ..........................................................................................................32
2.1 Image..................................................................................................................32
2.2 Ralph Erskines Works in Lappland...................................................................34
3. The Loss of Place.....................................................................................................38
3.1 Continuity in History .........................................................................................38
3.2 Ice Hotel.............................................................................................................41
4. Conclusion ...............................................................................................................45
References....................................................................................................................47
Source of Pictures ........................................................................................................48

1. Genius Loci
1.1 Place
When someone wakes up, his first thought usually is: where am I? Because ones
subconscious would first confirm where here is, it shows that people always have a
strong sense of the world around them, such as location, orientation and
environment. When we are standing on unfamiliar land or extensive endless ground
like a prairie, sea or desert, we often feel afraid or nervous. People need to perceive
and prove their self-beings through the contact with things around them. If they fail to
sense them or stay with a single symbol for a long time, they will feel lost. It is not
only loss of orientation, but also a strong feeling of losing themselves, so they will
feel lonely, afraid and nervous.

Things
Ones perception of existence is based on the existence of things. But what are
things? We usually think things are visible objects like ground, tree, river, building,
tower, bridge. But things also include invisible objects like air, time-changing seasons,
day and night. There are also intangible objects like atmosphere, sense, feeling and so
on. Norberg-Schulz (1980: 6) described the phenomena: this is what is given, this
is the content of our existence. But these objects are not things which Im talking
about, only when they have their own characters and are able to present themselves,
they become things, namely, can be given meaning and ability.
In Heideggers essay The Thing he made an example (1971: 172): The jugs
jug-character consists in the poured gift of the pouring out In the water of the
spring dwells the marriage of sky and earth In the gift of water, in the gift of wine,
sky and earth dwell. The gift of the outpouring is what makes the jug a jug... Jugs
essential nature, its presencingis what we call a thing. One thing could be a thing
while it connects to other things and presenting both itselfs and theirs attributes. Why
jugs are different depends mainly on what they are used for, for tea, for wine, for
springs. The wine glasses have different shapes for different drinks, like champagne

tulip, red wine glass, footed glass, sour glass, highball glass, goblet, beer glass. In
ancient China, for different drinks, there were special cups with different materials,
like gold, silver, jade, green jade. One thing combines to others, during the process of
combination, it takes part in some taking place, and the participants of this taking
place have functions to make event and world concreteness. So we can see the
meaning of thing is to concretize and reveal, and the ability of thing is gathering.
Things have their own attributes, only when they are gathering together, the attribute
turns to be character. A glass for wine is called wine glass, the one for beer we call
beer glass, a jug in a natural cave or in a luxurious room has different characters, or,
we can say atmosphere. Same things could have totally different atmospheres when
standing with different partners. By gathering together, they themselves create a
microcosm which has its own character. One thing is given the character by its
microcosm which contains tangible and intangible matters, natural and man-made
objects. Thats what I want to explain about things. It is an integral world, not one
piece, not specific ones. Its the atmosphere around people, and peoples lives.

Place
So what is place? We have already understood what things are, the relationship
between concrete things give a contradictory but close, and unique world. The
world contains many phenomena, and these phenomena create a particular
environment, while Norberg-Schulz (1980: 6) said: some phenomena form an
environment to others A concrete term for environment is place. It is common
usage to say that acts and occurrences take place. When things have characters and
build the environment with phenomena, we call it place. The meaning of
phenomenon is revealed by taking place, any tiny movement or happening make
place to be lively and active, and under these circumstances, place does make sense.
We can also see it from the phrase take place, it means something or some acts
happening; the occurrence would take in certain place, it can not occurred
without place, the same, place is based on these occurrences.
Therefore, place is a totality made up of certain things with their active characters

and special atmospheres. No two such places are the same. Every place has its own
attribute, or we can call it environmental character. The character of place is
presented by characters of the parts, which I explained the atmosphere of things, or
a total phenomenon.

The Elements of Place

Environmental character is created by the relationship between things.
Norberg-Schulz emphasized phenomenology, which he called return to things in his
book Genius Loci to explain place. What factors make up a place? For example,
location, landscape, climate, seasons, day-night, livings, buildings, even human
activities. Generally, we can classify them as natural things and man-made things.
These can be further subdivided as objects, temporal field, spatial field. While
Norberg-Schulz liked to classify them as thing, order and time, in my opinion,
there is an easy way which is to put time into order, so that thing and order
could be two classifications. Thing contains natural things such as landscape,
life-form, man-made things like building, city, human behavior. These all have their
special characters and have certain contact with each other. Order, we can
understand through explaining X axis, Y axis and Z axis. Place is a structured
space with the given character, cardinal points is the main orientation and
identification of one place, we can call it X axis, then, the hosts of heaven-the sun,
the moon and stars, and the change of sky, we call it Y axis. Basically, cardinal
points and hosts of heaven could be collectively called cosmic order, in a few words,
earth and sky. Finally, time, which gives place continuity and variability could be
thought as the variable of cosmic order, so it can be seen as Z axis which makes
space from a plane to be stereoscopic.

Figure 1. X, Y, Z axis

Norberg-Schulz (1980: 32) pointed out: Thing and character are dimensions of
the earth, whereas order and light are determined by the sky. Time, finally, is the
dimension of constancy and change, and makes space and character parts of a living
reality Therefore place exists between earth and sky, and living with time.

Chinese Myth of Pangu

There is an ancient Chinese myth which every Chinese knows: in primitive time the
universe was just like an egg, a man called Pangu was living alone in the egg, after
18000 years, Pangu cleaved the egg so heaven and earth began to separate, masculine
and clear things rose to be sky (egg blue for sky in folklore), while feminine and
turbid things sank to be earth (egg white for earth in folklore). Then Pangu was
growing with sky rising and earth thickening, after another 18000 years, he was so
lonely so when he died, he made his breath become cloud and wind, his voice became
thunder, his left eye turned the sun and the right one turned the moon, four extremities
became four seasons and five parts of his body became five great mountains, blood
turned to river, vessel turned to road, skin became land, hair and beard became stars,
and fine hair became grass and trees, teeth and bone became metal mineral and rock,
semen and marrow turned into pearl and jade, and perspiration turned into rain, the
parasitic bug in his body felt the wind then turned to human: Pangu turned his body
into the beauties of nature. Some folks in China worship Pangu as their ancestor, and
there are many temples for him. We can see that, even in ancient times, humans had a
strong sense of totality as the world they were living. This totality has a clear
symbolic meaning: normal body, sane mind, definite emotions, just like a human
being. And they have a mystic infatuation of structured space and time rhythm.1
This myth is idealist, but it clearly shows the relationship between nature and
humans mind. The title of my thesis, Pieces of Time, is supposed to highlight time
rhythm: the changing of day and night and seasons, continuity in history. Perception
of Place is pointing to structured space: the human image of place with particular
environment and given character.
1

Pangu, [Online], Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/13547.htm?fr=ala0_1

Existential Space
For further comprehension, we have to introduce a concept of existential space,
Norberg-Schulz mentioned in his book Existential Space and Architecture that there
are two important points, perception and symbolization to study how nature
influence man. People need symbols to have spiritual sustenance. Through
concretization, they can put meaning and feeling into their living environment, so
they can get identification and self-affirmation in the universe. Mans sense of
existential foothold is identified with their perception of the space and time around
them. When people have the emotion and awareness of existence to one place,
concretization comes into their minds, thats why in the myth the ancient people
thought the world is an entity. Existence, which is flesh-and-blood, has sedimentierte
geschichte, and therefore has anger, grief, joy and happiness, and a complex of
gathering: every rock and tree and creature gathers the world. Norberg-Schulz thought
concretization can be explained by gathering and things. Also as I have
described, things is given meaning by gathering and what they gather, refers to what
Heidegger said: A thing gathers world.

The existence of place relies on two perceptions: orientation and identification.

In a broad sense, place could be the universe, a country, a city, or a square. Under the
sky, above the earth. In a narrow sense, place is anywhere with a structured space,
maybe a room, a corner, or a slit. Norberg-Schulz used a poem A Winter Evening by
Georg Trakl to explain the poetic imagery of place through language. He pointed that
Trakl used comparison and metaphor of concrete things to imply the structure of place,
and finally built a particular atmosphere of one place. In the poem a sense of space is
given by the word falling which also could be an implied presence of earth and sky,
a sense of time is given by the word more than a few which has an implied presence
of temporal changing. The most important figure is that place should have
concentration and enclosure, whether inside or outside, natural or man-made place.
Norberg-Schulz said concentration and enclosure was the basic property of
man-made places, building is built towards the sky and standing on the ground,

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connects to environment and make things or comprise artifacts to be the internal foci.
While natural places also have this figure of gathering, the space under the heaven
above the earth is an inside of universe, then, there are inner spaces in the forests,
between mountains, and next to rivers. The dimension of space could be seen from
outside-inside or earth-sky (horizontal-vertical). People get a sense of security
through concentration and enclosure, and get a sense of existence by feeling the
character of a place which architecture is used for. In other words, orientation and
identification are humans perceptions of a particular place which make them feel
safe and having existence.

In Marxism, nature is an objective reality which existed prior to man, and is

given independently of mans consciousness. Man is considered to be a biological
being who is part of nature and has a living based on nature. Even mans
consciousness depends on the categories of their understanding of nature, mans life is
a process of getting along with nature in a harmonious atmosphere. There is an old
Chinese saying, earth breeds man. In the book Philosophy of History, Hegel pointed
that natural type of the locality, which is closely related to the type and character of
the people which is born from this soil (Norberg-Schulz, 1980: 168). Thats how
the word motherland comes in, it has functions of source and breed. Hellpach (1965:
192) said: Existential contents have their source in the landscape. When a Roman
first introduced himself to others, he usually would like to begin with: I am a
Roman. Mans character is rooted in his motherlands character and it becomes a
persons most basic attribute which has strong locality and also generality. So we
usually find that people have a strong dependence on their hometown, they are
nostalgic and have a trend to go homewards.
If we return to the first paragraph in this thesis its easy to understand why people
are afraid of getting lost in a place. They lose the orientation and identification
and they cant find the perception of existence. When place is given character which
is familiar and meaningful, people would feel like they were at home. So when you
wake up in the morning, the most soothing feeling would be: I am at home.

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1.2 Natural Place and Man-Made Place

1.21 Natural Place
As Marxism pointes out, nature is an objective reality which exists beyond mans
consciousness, so we can see the word natural as meaning primitive, inherent,
inborn and physical. The essence of nature is substance. So we need to start our
discussion through things. Every natural thing is created by the natural forces,
including human beings. There are different demiurges in tales, like God, Allah in the
Western world, and Supreme Ruler of Heaven in China. The Latin word YHWH
was connected to YHWH in Hebrew in the 16th century, but now contemporary
scholars found that actually it should be directly linked to the same word in Arabic
which means the space between heaven and earth. So we can see that our idea
things, or what we can say natural elements, is created by the marriage between
heaven and earth. Earth usually is seen as a serving bearer while heaven gives orders
and favours, thats why things that are rooted in the earth and grow towards the sky
usually gives a image of life and vitality. They absorb the chthonic force and push
towards the endless sky, just like Pangu heading the heaven, footing on the earth. So
in some regions trees are often seen as the bearer or the guardian, and high mountains
are thought to be great and the focus of one place.

Figure 2. Tree in Luoyang

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Figure 3. The Yellow Mountain

Earth is the dimension of horizontal axis with the character extension, and
heaven is the dimension of vertical axis with the character enclosure. Extension
and enclosure are two basic attributes of place which construct the space. Extension
is mainly presented by the topography. According to Norberg-Schulz (1980: 32),
topography simply means place-description, but it is generally used to denote the
physical configuration of a place. In our context topography primarily means what
geographers call the surface relief. Hilly landscapes can be described as wavelike,
mountain land as dominate, plain as outstretched, valley as narrow, basin as
surrounded and desert as endless. Different topographies determine the basic character
of one place. Then, enclosure further distinguishes characters of the same surface
relieves, like forest and grassland: they are both flatlands, one is enclosed by trees and
the other is enclosed by the hemispherical sky. The characters of heaven and earth
also form different lands and atmospheres: fertile soil creates grasslands and forests
while barren land turns into desert, cloudless sky makes land seem endless and grand
while cloudy days make space finite and seem gloomy.

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The Five Elements

The senses of place such as friendly, romantic, magnificent, mirthless, depressive
are particular and usually depend on the natural elements inside. There is a theory in
China called five elements. The ancient thinkers used five elements to explain the
formation of natural things and the relationship between them. The five elements are
metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Every object has one attribute of them, and these
five elements are mutual generation and restriction which finally links to a closed
circle. The five elements closely connect to feminine and masculine, four seasons,
climate, changing of the sun-moon-stars. Examples include spring attributes to wood,
summer to fire, autumn to metal, and winter to water. It also connects to eight
diagrams (tai chi), as the essence of Tai Chi is heaven and sky and natural things are
all divided into feminine and masculine which we can also see from the French
language, inner and outer, integrate motion and quietness, firm-yielding, they are
mutual generation and restriction. In the same way, metal generates water, water
generates wood, wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal as
well as metal restricts wood, wood restricts earth, earth restricts water, water restricts
fire, fire restricts metal. It shows the complex relationship network between natural
things, and reveals the atmosphere of place.2

Figure 4. The five elements

A mountain made of rock is exclusive, with trees on it would make it more lovely
and lively. When there are dominate trees, it is mysterious and grand, but when the
2

The Five Elements, [Online], Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/4292.htm

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trees are dense and low, it would look pretty and active. Land with grass is refreshing
while land with sand is indomitable; hilly ground with rock is boring while it is
charming with grass and flower; mountains are usually yearning while the volcano is
fearful and sacred. Alexandre Dumas described the mountain Etna as: the enormous
crater is howling, there is paradise overhead, while hell underfoot.

Figure 5. Spring in The Yellow Mountain

Figure 6. Mountain Etna

When you walk in a valley or wasteland, you feel revived when a stream, a lake or
an oasis turns up. There is an old saying, water is the source of life, which explains
why people always settle themselves beside water, why the origin of cities depend on
water, why people live rely on water, and why they use water to defend their
homeland. Rivers have also become the symbols of one city or one country, such as
the Tiber in Rome, the Seine in Paris, the Vltava in Prague, the Rhone and the Saone
in France, the Danube in Germany, the Nile in Egypt, and the Yellow river in China
which is our mother river. Usually cities next to rivers are fertile and comforting such
as the Yangtze River delta in China. Water could be seen as the chthonic force and
source of the natural place. There is legends the Deluge in The West and Yu the
Great Harnesses the Flood in The East which both represent the loss of place.

The Landscape
So far we have seen that topography, order, time, and natural elements make up a

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particular landscape. Norberg-Schulz classifies natural place into four types:

romantic, cosmic, classical and complex landscape.
The main character of romantic landscape is diversity: it depends on natural
elements which are flexible and mysterious and less of order. Norberg-Schulz gave
the example of the Nordic landscape (1980: 42): In general we may characterize the
Nordic world as a romantic world, in the sense that it brings man back to a distant
past, which is experienced emotionally rather than understood as allegory or
history. He also tried to illustrate it using Nordic fairy-tales, such as Giants, Gods,
Elves and Dwarves. The residents of this land are natural elements based. The most
typical of Nordic fairy-tales is Ragnark, it means the world will be eventually
destroyed, and then a new world will be born.3 It somehow shows that the Nordic
people advocate the natural forces, and the world is thought to be ruined in a fire
which is implied by chthonic force, while it also makes soil fertile, lives more vital
which could connect to the birth of the new world in the tale.

Figure 7. The National park in Abisko

The cosmic landscape can be seen as dominated by the universe. It is the one and
only with eternal character, and obeys the unified order.
Classical landscape combines romantic and cosmic landscapes to mans life, its a
human place which has clear natural elements, meaningful order, and harmonious
3

The Nordic Fairy-tale, [Online], Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/10680.htm

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dwelling space.
The most interesting type which Norberg-Schulz gave is complex landscape. It is
paradoxical and merged. An example is the volcano island in Greece which has the
character of peace, movable, extension and isolation. The temples in the valley of
Agrigento, the enclosed space with dominate and eternal architecture gives an elusive
atmosphere, as the Greek writer Pindar called it the most beautiful city of mortals.

Figure 8. Volcano island in Santorini

Figure 9. Temple in Agrigento

1.22 Man-Made Place

From ancient times, there have been lots of tales around gods which represent
natural elements, like Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Demeter in Greek mythology. In
China, the gods are more local. Generally, different places embrace their own
defenders, especially the defender of earth. All these show that man has strong
adoration to natural forces. So while people need to honour their gods, they usually
choose a meaningful place which presents symbols of natural forces, and make the
altar blend into natural surroundings so that their gods would accept it.

Reconciliation
The Longmen Grottoes is located in two opposite mountains with a river flowing in

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between. There are thousands of Buddha statues built inside the mountain, making it
an inconceivable communing for dedicating; it looks like a sacred door so the
emperors began to find capitals there and made the door of palace faced to it, thats
why it is called Longmen which means Dragon Gate.

Figure 10. The Longmen Grottoes

In Delphi, Greeks dedicated the fertile ground to the god of earth, the place with
order and force is dedicated to Apollo who stands on the platform with mountains
around and points to the sky. Athenas temple is inside an enclosure place of trees and
plants, and has a feeling of fertility, wisdom and peace. Norberg-Schulz said (1980:
31): We understand thus how Greek architecture took the meaningful place as its
point of departure. By relating natural and human characters, the Greeks achieved a
reconciliation of man and nature the old symbols of the earth, the omphalos or
navel of the world and bothros of offering cave of the Great Goddess of the earth,
were enclosed within Apollos temple. Thus they were taken over by the new god
and made part of a total vision of nature and man. The departure of getting a
reconciliation of man and nature is how to catch the character of nature and concrete
it to man-made things through a language of symbolic forms.

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Figure 11. Temple of Apollo

Figure 12. Temple of Athena

Figure 13. Image of Delphi

Symbolization
The earliest symbolization was the one representing the force of heaven and earth,
or we can say feminine and masculine, which people consider as the source of life and
existence. In the ancient matriarchal society, man was mostly living in the cave which
could be seen as a symbol of females genital organ and maternity. Things with oval
shapes can often be seen as the symbol of a vagina. There is a version saying that it is
the origin of the shapes of doors and widows in Christ Churches. Stonehenge is

19

dominate and grouped in some concentric circles which might be symbols of male
and female genital organs: the rocks and sands present the natural forces.4 Rock
columns are usually seen as the symbol of masculine elements and natural forces.
Temples constructed with columns try to communicate to the natural force and gods,
while people also consider that roof and floor presents the heaven and earth that the
columns can link them together. Norberg-Schulz stated (1980: 52): In the Egyptian
temples the columns are in fact derived from plant forms, such as palm, papyrus and
lotus. The Egyptian forest of columns represented the land and the sacred plants
which rose out of the fertilized soil to bring protection, permanence and sustenance to
the land and its people. In China, there are many dominate columns which people
use to dedicate to their gods. A similar thing is the tower, which represents
masculinity and force. Dali is famous for three towers, the big one in the middle
and the two are symmetrical standing beside it: the local people think they symbolize
penises. In ancient China, towers were used to suppress evils: man locked evils in the
tower which can imprison them for thousand of years. Sarira (Buddhist relics) are also
kept in tower due to the symbolization of genitals, so that it can complete the circle of
life and get immortality.5 Sigmund Freud thought that anything with long figures
can be expanded, if it has penetrating power and is dynamic, it could be seen as
the symbol of male genital organs, like columns, trees, skyscrapers, towers,
chimneys, mastswhether we agree with him or
not, is open for debate.

Figure 14. The Stonehenge

4

Figure 15. Tree in Hangzhou

The Stonehenge, [Online], Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/65103.htm

The Symbolization of Chinese Culture of Sex, [Online], Available:
http://lz.book.sohu.com/serialize.php?id=2131
5

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Gathering
In the first part of my thesis we have discussed mans perception of existence. One
should live in a harmonious atmosphere with the environment, we call this behavior
dwelling. This concept was advanced by Heidegger, to not only mean living in a
shelter, but also points to a meaningful place where life is taking place.
Norberg-Schulz (1980: 5) thought that existential footholds and dwellings were
synonyms, and that architecture is the existential foothold. If man wants to dwell, it
must be in accordance with environment. So, starting from a natural place, man-made
place also need things, order, time, character, and structured space. Norberg-Schulz
(1980: 17) thought the process of translating these meanings into man-made forms
could be defined as visualization, complementation, and symbolization, and the
way to concrete those meanings is gathering.
Man gathers things to create a microcosmos and build their own world as well as
the real world. We can see it from Pantheon and Colosseum which Norberg-Schulz
(1980: 165) mentioned. In the Pantheon, world is gathered under a symbolic dome
which represents the heaven, and the opening in the center of dome just like the sun
which represents the order and time. The center of the ground rise the vertical axis to
the dome through the opening, also the columns inside which all unify the heaven and
earth to be a complete inner world. The Colosseum is constructed by three types of
columns, and is enclosed by the circle construction while open in the vertical direction
and under the real sky. This connects man to
primeval force and close to the supreme point.

Figure 16. Colosseum

Figure 17. Roof of Pantheon

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The pyramid of Egypt is shaped like genital organ and symbolized as the rays of
lights stabbing upwards the sky which represents the Egyptians adoration of the sun
and their believes of dead world and the after life.6 When you are on the way to the
pyramid, looking through the knuckle line to the West, the pyramid just looks like the
sun rays poured on the earth. The Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae has a
pyramid-shaped door with an axis enter passage, so the dome inside gathers an
interior world as well as the pyramid. We can see that man is building not only his
living world, but is also trying to build a place for the dead world. Whether they are
alive or dead, they need the perception of existence.

Figure 18. Pyramid

Figure 19. The Treasury of Atreus

A man-made place is a building by man through their perception of the objective

reality, and is made up of space structure, time and order which includes the landscape,
natural elements, man-made things, society and culture, or, we can call it natural and
cultural landscape. The most evident character of a man-made place is enclosure and
gathering. From a region, a city, a village, a square, a building, it has the relativity of
interior and exterior. Norberg-Schulz considered that man-made places denote a series
of environmental levels. He divided man-made places into four types, just as he did
with natural places: romantic, cosmic, classical and complex architecture.
The main characteristics of romantic architecture are diversity, locality and
subjectivity. It usually builds a particular atmosphere with free shape and varied row,
6

Pyramids, [Online], Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/3924.htm

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and the atmosphere of place is due to the character of the natural landscape. We also
can see this architecture in Nordic countries, such as the city of Bergen in Norway,
which has low buildings with different shapes and active colors built close to the sea
and lean toward the mountains.

Figure 20. Bergen

On the other hand, cosmic architecture is uniform and with absolute order. It is
abstract and lacks particular atmosphere with unified symbolized form and orderly
row. Usually, the cosmic landscape is constructed by orthogonal axis, and sometimes,
with labyrinths. The characters of these places are often similar and are separated
from characters of local landscapes. In Pompeii, the city is planned by principal and
other axis and linked to main focuses in the construction of regular grid, it was not a
representation of the landscape, but a typical system of Ancient Rome.

Figure 21, 22. Pompeii

23

Classical architecture has articulate order and imageability which is objective and
complex, parts of it have their individual identity and in some extent explain the
general character. Classic architecture is merges into the other buildings and the
natural landscape, which Norberg-Schulz (1980: 73) called democratic freedom.
Complex architecture is an integration of the formers. Architecture in Prague has
this character, as there are many different styles living together, but they are never
irreconcilable.
We can say that man-made place is the concretization of natural place.

Figure 23. Napoli

Figure 24. Prague

1.3 The Spirit of Place

1.31 The Structure of Place
Things gather the world, man gathers settlement, and architecture gathers the
multifarious in-between. Norberg-Schulz (1980: 5) said: A place is a space which
has a distinct character. While we are talking about one place, we often think of the
character of the place first, like a beautiful place, an amazing place, an absorbing
place, an uncomfortable place, a depressive place, a boring place, or a mess place.
Some places give us deep impressions, while some just have vague faces.
Norberg-Schulz thought place is based on the categories of space and character.

24

Space includes the elements of one place, and character can be seen as the atmosphere
in the place. I prefer to divide the parts of place into space, time and order.
They gather together and then create the particular character of place. Space is the
visualization of natural and man-made landscape, order is the absolute cosmic force
with different representation, and time is the dimension of place. Only when it
exists in history, can the meaning of place be realized.
We have already talked about the structure of natural and man-made place, so we
can start from two aspects of space, landscape and settlement. Actually, the two
aspects have similar structure to some extent: they both have a figure-ground
relationship, and mans choose of settlement depend on landscape, according to its
centralization, rhythm and direction.

Interior and Outer

The relative relationship between interior and outer determines the enclosure and
gathering of space, and it also connects to the extent of enclosure and density of
gathering. In ancient times, people liked to settle within the surrounding of river, or
moat, or build a city wall, in most old cities with good preservation, we can see the
shadows of their enclosing walls. The city wall, the lane between buildings, the yard
outside, and the big square, are all domains divided and connected by the
relationship between architecture, and according to the openings. Venturi (1967: 89)
defined architecture as the wall between the inside and the outside. Man usually has
strong feelings about openings and subconsciously imagine them to be symbols of
spatial decomposition, like city gate, door, window, or outer openings to be gaps,
holes, stairs, lanes. The structure of place is mainly due to the relativity of inside and
outside, we can call it spatial levels. In Venice, San Marco could be seen as the
outside of the whole city and it corresponds to the labyrinthine streets which construct
the inside space, while the emergent space in the crossing of lanes turns to be the
inside. Prague also has a complex relationship between inside and outside which
makes people feel comfortable and safe.

25

Boundary
Misty or clear boundaries define enclosures. While Heidegger (1971: 154) said: A
boundary is not that at which something stops but, as the Greeks recognized, the
boundary is that, from which something begins its presencing. It gives the place
centralization, rhythm and direction.

Focus and Axis

Then we find focus and axis. When an enclosure becomes the center, it takes the
function of focus which is a concentration of domain, and usually represents the
natural, cultural or historical character of one place. Axis is used to connect the
totality and domains, the framework of place is built by axis, it makes the construction
of orthogonal or oblique crossing, radiate, labyrinth, network, or grid form. Every
place has important or principal axis. In Napoli, one axis divides the Greek part from
the Roman part. Axis give the place cosmic order and majesty, like the southern
landscape architecture in China is tender with devious paths and cascading space
while the Northern one which we call royal landscape architecture is stately and close
to supreme order by abstract axis and domains. Norberg-Schulz (1980: 150) made a
discussion about the axis urbis of Rome, which has a cardo and decumanus axis, the
Colosseum located in the center on the axis and could gather the world.

Figure 25. The Humble Administrator's Garden

Figure 26. Versailles

So we can see that there is a labyrinth of relationships between enclosure,

expansion, foci, axis, boundary and domain which represent a dialectic relationship.

26

Piazza Capitoline has an enclosed space with star-shaped floor pattern which
represents a strong contrast between centrifugal movement and converging faade. A
similar example is Piazza San Pieter, the space is enclosed with the expansion axis.
These places exist in the contradictory reconciliation which I want to call cosmic
enclosure. Norberg-Schulz (1980: 152) said: It brings us to the center, not only of
the world, but psychologically also of those departures and returns which constitute
our individual existence.

Figure 27. Piazza Capitoline

Figure 28. Piazza San Pieter

Kevin Lynch also made a great work on the structure of place. He pointed out five
elements of place: paths, edges, districts, nodes, landmarks which are similar to what I
mentioned above. Besides, the structure and character of place usually depend on
order and time. Norberg-Schulz thought that the character of place is a function of
time, it changes with seasons, the course of the
day, the sun, the moon, the sky, climate,
especially the light when it also connects to the
cosmic order. Man incorporates light with
architecture, and lives inside to follow time and
order. On another hand, things are given
meanings and Genius Loci can exist and be kept
only within the historical and cultural context.

Figure 29. Bath in Pompeii

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The Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing, which was used for worshipping heaven,
there are two walls which encloses the place and divides it into interior and
outer altars. The main buildings are all standing on the north-south axis, and the
two altars are located in south and north, connected by the axis which is a
bridge linking the two parts, corresponding to what Norberg-Schulz (1980: 18)
has mentioned about the gathering symbolization of bridges. The wall of the
altar in the south is a square while the north one is a circle which represents
heaven and earth. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest has a symbolic structure
of four seasons, twelve months and twelve times (one is two hours in Ancient
China), and the columns inside are built according to astronomical phenomena.
The roof of the main building is sky blue, and the parts of the altar are like
plates. The stairs also use masculine numbers (multiples of nine). The main
purpose of this place is to show the expansion of heaven and its supreme
dominance. The buildings are mostly situated in the east, when one enters from
the main front west door, one feels the void of cosmos and how small man is. 7
So we can see from this example the symbolizations of architecture are implicit
in the structure of particular Chinese culture.

Figure 30. Plan of Temple of Heaven

7

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing, [Online], Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/9993.htm

28

1.32 Orientation and Identification

Genius Loci is a Roman word which means the Spirit of place. The Romans
believed that every independent being has its own genius, they all have genius loci
when they are born, and it will give man, thing, and place lives and meanings,
determine the characters or essences and follow them forever. Trait or character, with
generality and locality exists inside one place. When things are gathering, occurrence
taking place, characters and meanings could be revealed. In the first part we have
talked about mans perception of selfhood, just like we need a map when we are in an
unfamiliar place so that we will not get lost, we need the ability to figure out the
direction, or, know the location of where we are. To grasp the existence of oneself, we
also need to know the environment around us and the relationship between us and the
environment: thats orientation and identification. Depending on how close the
relationship is between man and their living environment, man can get a different
sense of existence by gathering their understandings of environment and making
symbolizations and concretions to create a microcosm or image cosmos. Through
this, man can feel and express their existence in the cosmos.

Dwelling
Now I want to talk about dwelling again. We already know that mans
identification is based on a places identification. Depending on the natural place, man
gathers the settlement, architecture gathers the in-between and concrete the world, and
then man can realize dwelling. In another word, a dwelling is a gathering of natural
meaning and character to a new mode with mans life. Dwelling is not only a provides
safety and comfort by protecting man from natural threats, but also a harmonious and
meaningful connection with nature. Just like Hlderlin said: Full of merit, yet
poetically, man dwells on this earth (Norberg-Schulz, 1980: 23).
Norberg-Schulz discussed the content of dwelling through vernacular architecture
like villages and farmlands, and through urban architecture like cities and towns. He
thought that vernacular architecture is environmental architecture, meaning the local

29

sky and earth. This architecture depends more on the natural environment and
compared to urban architecture, it is more local. Yet, the urban architecture is
considered to be a form language, and it is a gathering of locality and foreign
meanings. How to choose a location and how to settle? This is the basic problem of
dwelling. Man likes to choose a place with a water source, fertile soil, and safe
surroundings. The dwelling form is how the settlement gathers the surrounding
landscape, such as scattered settlements like villages in grassland and mountains. We
can see the houses in Inner Mongolia, and houses in the north Nordic, follow the
natural path, like along a river or ordered in a line in valley between mountains and
are concentrated or are in a longitudinal cluster. Most hill-towns are built like this,
especially in Sicily and Southern Italy. Some cities are divided into two parts, flat
lands and hills which create the space levels, like Florence, Lyon, Budapest and
Prague, and the dominate buildings of the city usually located on the top of the hill.
Also some cities have complex relationship with landscape, as the classical
reconcilement, like Romes seven hills.

Figure 31. Types of dwelling

Figure 32. Relationship between settlement and landscape

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Geomancy
Now I want to introduce a Chinese theory, although now in some places it is
distorted to be a superstitious theory, but in fact, this theory is both extensive and
profound with a deep thought of dwelling and the relationship between mans life and
environment. This is Geomancy.
Geomancy includes heaven, earth, wind, water and landscape. Everything on earth
is made up of these elements including human beings, so, Geomancy could be seen as
the every substance in the earth, or, the macroscopic environment and the microscopic
things which mans life depends on. The ancient Chinese were using wind to represent
space because they thought air was the basic element of space. In the Chinese
dictionary, the word Geomancy is explained to be the geography of residence and
cemetery place, like mountain, direction of landscape. This is only part of the real
meaning of Geomancy, actually, it points to the total environment of dwelling, and
means harmonious dwelling with nature.
The way we observe the sky which corresponds to finding lights, choosing
direction, and facing the sun. We discern the quality which means confirm the quality
of air, water source and soil. We observe the landform, which means choose the
landscape to dwell. To ride on the air means the invisible atmosphere of place.
Measuring the direction, means choosing the direction and position relationship of
nature like mountain, water or valley. To fix the point, means to find the right location
of the settlement. Choosing the time, means combining time and space into the choice
of location. To construct, means to build architecture with attention to spatially
planning the inside, windows, doors, size, height, picking lights, colors, threshold, and
the decoration, and it also includes building walls, bridges, streets, and planting trees.
To follow the ceremony, is the option of having a cultural element, and especially the
funeral. To keep moral which means conforming to the natural regulation, protecting
natural resources, and improving the natural environment, namely, to live with nature
for a long time.8
This theory has eighteen principles of which I will only list the titles: An
8

Geomancy, [Online], Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/4216.htm

31

integrated and holistic system, Being suitable and appropriate to the restriction
and limitation of the site, Ecological restoration, Landscape of architecture,
Bound by mountains and near water, Carry the Yin (feminine) and embrace the
Yang (masculine), Observe the form and examine the configuration, Examine
the geology of the land, Analyze the quality of water, Determine the amount and
the standard, Take advantage of the Sheng Qi (vitality), Suitably located in the
middle and residing in the middle, Aesthetic appreciations, Greening the
environment, Feng Shui (nature) can be transformed and improved, Yin Yang
(feminine and masculine) dialectics to achieve harmony, Being timely and
affectionate, Detection to pollution of physical and chemical.(ibid)
This theory has a serious dialectic system, and has influenced lots of capitals and
cities location in China, and it was also used in some great ancient architectures.

Lets return to the identification of place. The identification is determined by

location, landscape, spatial configuration, and the characterizing articulation, while
the articulation is mainly dependant on the form of the architecture and its parts.
Architecture is the visualization and concretion of place which Norberg-Schulz
thought is making a site to a place, and to uncover the meanings as potentially present
in the given environment. In a few words, Genius Loci means humanistic nature and
nature symbolic architecture, man are dwelling poetically on the earth.

Figure 33. Environmental levels

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2. Contextualism
2.1 Image
In the book Genius Loci, Norberg-Schulz thought that meaning is inherent in the
natural world and is derived from the locality. Although economy, politics and culture
can also use the meaning, it is not created by them. So he put his attention to the
influence of natural environment and landscape, and his points of locality and
character is based on nature and essence. The content of perceptual schemata
should include three aspects: essence, society, and culture. Norberg-Schulz started his
research only from the aspect of essence, or materiality, and this made his argument to
environmental determinism to some extent. Nature is a phenomenon, yet,
behaviour is a process of thought, the essence exists in the nature, while meaning and
character are revealed and realized by mans dwelling.
Actually, when we think of some place, the image is not only the character of the
landscape and its atmosphere, but also its connection to society and culture. Just like
we think about Lappland, we would find its a world of ice and snow, there are great
mountains and lakes, also, we immediately remember the Sami and their reindeers,
their houses and snowmobiles, which are the representations of their culture. And the
culture is created by their dwelling getting with the natural environment, then, finally,
being an existential character of the locality. So we can see that character of one
place is not only determined by the natural environment, but also influenced by the
continuity of culture and society. In the process of man symbolizing nature for
identification, place is also being identified by mans heritage, its not a one-way
influence, but a commutative interaction.
Norberg-Schulz also mentioned that orientation and identification are two
perceptions of place. While perception is part of human consciousness which is
subjective and susceptible, talking only about objective existence definitely is
unilateral. Man is living in the objective world with their subjective consciousness of
the image about the world. People feel their selfhood depends on their perception of
environment, and also, their position in society. Being lost, not only means lost in the

33

environment, but also lost in the human world, and it connects to the culture, human
needs, and communication. So while Norberg-Schulz paid attention on essence, we
also need the functional and emotional use.

Thus, Kevin Lynch had a good starting point of his research in his book The image
of the city. He discussed the structure and quality of cities through the mental image
of people, especially the legibility of cities. His research really put man into the
environment of life and paid more attention to society and culture by studying three
American cities, Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles. Also, He mentioned about how
an image is built, and the coherence of the image. He noticed the diversity in mans
subjective image, and he found that people with different ages, classes, identities and
various situations have different images of their surroundings. Like pedestrian and
driver, the rich and the middle class, children and adults. He uses different visual
angles to see the city.
Then, he discussed about meaning. While Norberg-Schulz thought that meaning is
inherent, Lynch thought meaning is according to the observer, it should give meaning
to the observer, and that meaning is a relationship, but different from the one of
spatial or pattern. Then he talked about the imageability (1960: 10), which could also
be linked to visibility and legibility. From the experiments and observations, we found
that image can be developed by experiences and the communications between
observer and observed, its a two-way process (1960: 11).
Im not going to discuss about Kevin Lynchs argument here, but to emphasize the
images and feelings which place brings to people through its structure (the elements),
and not only through its structure, but also from the cultural and social context of the
place. Contextualism is based on the physical space and the character of human.
When space is given the contextual meaning of culture and history which is taken
from the natural and man-made environment, the space could become place.
The image of Napoli is old and beautiful, but when you ask some Italians about
Napoli, they usually say: Oh, Napoli! Thats a dirty and chaotic city! But also happy
and full of life! Here we can see how mans life influences the character of the city in

34

peoples mind, or, in the image. The traffic in Napoli is very bad even compared to the
other cities in Italy, along with the order and the public security. While, the city is a
place for youngsters and people, it is full of energy, life is colorful and full of diverse
activities, and the picture scroll of city lives is opened in every corner of this place.

2.2 Ralph Erskines Works in Lappland

According to the contents above, I think a good planner should integrate the
material space and cultural environment, catch the natural and social character, pay
attention on both spiritual and functional approach, meet the demands and wishes of
people.
Ralph Erskine is a great architect and planner who pays attention to both natural
environment and cultural context, and connects them in his works. He loved nature
and outdoor activities in Sweden, he made his house a castle for him, and his
workplace is a typical work of him (Egelius, 1990: 60). He adapts his life to his
work. Erskines famous works are mostly in Sweden and England, where his working
place and his homeland were. In his work, usually, he has an original style of
architecture which combines the Swedish and British way together, and he likes to
bring a new regionalism to a place which mirror the spirit of traditional culture and
time. He usually cares about the whole situation of one place, nature, landscape,
climate, light and society, culture, and mans activities. While he was working on
some projects, hed like to use functional analyses and traditional methods of
construction, and also his unique regionalism (Egelius, 1990: 13).

Erskine did lots of researches about Arctic architecture, especially in Lappland. The
most important feature of Lappland is the climate, and dwellings have difficultly to
get along with the extreme weather which has much rain and 24 hours sunshine in
summer while the winter has seven month snow and strong north winds with little
sunlight. So Erskine learned about the way of the Eskimo people and Lapp peoples
surviving under these climatic conditions, and even the bears living. He already had

35

connected his work to the natural environment and the cultural character, and he tries
to find the way out through the traditional culture of local society. In the book Ralph
Erskine, Architect, Mats Egelius (1990: 68) pointed out Erskines five respects to
climate, orientation, form, structure, material, and the parts of a building. These
aspects are according to the providing people comfort from natural threats, use of
resources, respect for order, and symbolized architecture for identification. As Erskine
likes to use a singe roof to gather many functions, he thinks it will give a feeling of
community, of belonging, in an isolated part of the world. This thought is similar to
the sense of belonging and identification which Norberg-Schulz mentioned. While
Norberg-Schulz explained this perception through the environmental aspect, Erskine
used the social visual angle.

Figure 34. An ecological arctic town

The Borgafjll Hotel

The Tourist hotel in Borgafjll is one of Erskines famous works, which has a great
symbolization of the local landscape and environment. The roof is a ski slope, and the
bottom of the hotel is underground. In the winter, world is full of ice and snow, and
there are mountains just behind the hotel which looks similar in shape. When the roof
is covered by snow, it looks like a ski field which is merited located in this land

36

(Egelius, 1990: 13); and because of the underground construction, the hotel merges
into the landscape which have the empathy to the environment. Its not only living in
the nature, but also living in the changing of time, in the summer, until the roof was
rebuilt, it looks like two large raised masses of turf (Egelius, 1990: 14). The building
represents the locality from the topography and seasons activities with the roof of fell
crests and its merge with the earth.

Figure 35.Hotel in the winter

Figure 36. Hotel in the summer

Inside the building, Erskine considers the feeling and image of people, when there
is a building in the natural landscape, it has an image and function of shelter, just
like the houses in the desert which Norberg-Schulz mentioned, it needs safe and warm
atmosphere for people. So Erskine uses wood to decorate like sawn wood for walls,
stained in muted colors. He also gives clear, well structured levels of rooms, each

37

room on three levels (Egelius, 1990: 16), the human design of the corridor also meet
guests interests. So the Borgafjll Hotel can be seen as a quite great example of
integration with nature, and also mans feeling.

Figure 37. Common room inside

Figure 38. Length section

The Ortdrivaren in Kiruna

In the mining town Kiruna, Erskine made a project in the new center, on his own
initiative. He built a part of the center called Ortdrivaren with a high density and
central location of functional use. The construction of this area well shows Erskines
respect to particular climate and resources, and his care about people. He used density
to reduce the cost of energy, and only allowed little spaces between buildings which
can reduce cost of snow clearing and services. While Egelius (1990: 74) calls the
buildings a most unSwedish sight, the roofs of these buildings are higher in the
south to catch warmth and lower in the north to avoid shadows. Another feature is the
rounded corners which are for reducing the cooling effects.

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Figure 39. Ortdrivaren

We can see that meaning is realized from the character of one place, but sometimes,
not from the symbolization and concretion of natural environment, but from the
functional adaption to it. Erskines works in Lappland both presents Genius Loci and
Contextualism in various aspects of natural landscape and cultural context, subjective
and objective, spiritual and functional. He is trying to build a human place.

3. The Loss of Place

3.1 Continuity in History
The concept of context is the connection between the preceding and the
following. A more extensive meaning is the relationship between one thing and other
things in the categories of space and time. As we know, anything in the world that
exists is given meaning in history, nature is a phenomenon of time, order is following
the time, and character is changed with time changing.

Historic Context
The historic context is a track of a citys form, change and evolution. Its the
symbol of a citys life with long history, cultural deposit and circle of life. A city is
just like a human being who has a family genetic character, and is influenced by

39

environmental affects and own experiences, thus the personalities are formed, and
passed on to the next generations. Just like the nodes of mans life, historic context is
series connected by the old buildings, streets, cultural relics and historic sites which
represent different periods of the city. A city is not a mutation, but a slow transition.
Norberg-Schulz described this as stabilitas loci. Thus, historic context is not a
hard-shelled protection or enclosed repeation, but has new meanings added to through
the continuity.
Keeping the continuity of meaning, which Norberg-Schulz described as keeping the
identification, is a point for keeping historic continuity. First, we should pay attention
to various city elements, not only the important historic nodes. In the process of
heritage conservation, people mostly like to put their energy on the important
architecture and the famous sites, whatever it is, manifesting it in the future condition,
even it is a broken wall or an incomplete scar. Its a good starting point and the most
important process of keeping continuity. Nonetheless, we should consider some other
elements which construct the character of the city, like Norberg-Schulz mentioned the
primary structural properties (the type of settlement and way of building) and
characteristic motifs. For example, the heritage conservation in Beijing usually paid
attention to how to conserve things with a larger scale, bigger influence and important
contrail of history, but ignored the smaller and more obscure heritages, and cultural
elements.
Secondly, the continuity does not mean a keep-stake, it should have new lives and
meanings to come into. If it only holds a glorious line in history without given new
meaning within the new historic environment, it is just a fossilized husk and will lose
its meaning more and more which could be seen as natural decay. So we need to
transform the angle in our mind and look at the environment of heritage, putting new
lives into it and give it a new connotation. It is also important to merge new and old
architecture and spaces in the existing civic mechanism.
The Hutong in Beijing is a local character of culture, but now it has already lost its
meaning to some extent. The Hutongs real meaning was revealed by man life in it,
its a residential area. But now, it becomes a site where few people are living in the

40

real Hutong of Beijing. Yet, we can see a different example in Napoli, the lanes
which has similar meaning as Hutong still exist in mans life, and local people are still
living there, so the place is given new meaning and good historic and cultural
continuity. Also, in the underground city of Napoli, people just spend their daily
lives above the great sites. Above the ancient theater, a woman who lives there has a
window in the wall of the theatre which makes the great architecture become her
window picture. The guide said: She is living with one of the most ancient piece of
rock!

Figure 40. Lane in Napoli

Figure 41. Window in the underground theatre

There are many architects seeking the way to keep the historical symbols and
fragment recollection during the process of city development. From the book Finding
Lost Space written by Roger Trancik (1986: 118), we found that TAU Group
expresses their reminiscent mood to traditional cities, and are trying to find the
renaissance of lost city. They pay attention to developing neoclassicism through using
commemorative architecture to be the connection between the parts of city. We can
understand that it is a path of continuity in history, through the historical nodes. In the
process of design, TAU Group is trying to imitate a process of citys development to

41

make a meaningful place. They make contrasts and breaks between architecture and
spaces, so that a fragment could be created which represents the piece of time. They
believe that a city is a theatre of memory.
We can see that place is a process, a living process which is open and active, with
continuity in history and culture. In the process of time changing, the meaning of
place is added and becomes more and more abundant. Like Kevin Lynch described in
his book What time is this place (1972: 99), as well as everyplace should continue the
near past, it should also extend to the near future space and time is a framework
which we arrange ourselves to go through, we are living in the place of time.

3.2 Ice Hotel

When I went to the Ice Hotel this winter, I was surprised by its particular character
and harmony with nature. When I went inside, the human design is amazing.
According to the points I argued in the three previous chapters of my thesis, Id like to
discuss the Ice Hotel through three aspects: nature, human, and continuity.

Nature
From around October to the following April every year, the Ice Hotel is built and
stands according to the climate. And after that period, snow and ice thaw, and the
hotel is gone. The ice is taken from the nearby Torne River which is clean and
beautiful. The strong link to the local nature gives the hotel a basic character and
image, but still, hasnt been given clear meanings.
Now Ice bars are all over the world, in Stockholm, London, Milano, Tokyo, and
also Shanghai. Most of them also use ice from the river Torne which becomes the
symbol of ice bar. So when people thinking of the ice bar, they all first remember the
one in the Ice Hotel of Lappland. The locality now is not only in the nearby Ice Hotel,
but also spread worldwide with a clear identification.
The hotel is built as a symbolization of natural environment, from the root (source)
which builds the basic attribution, and also from the structure. The whole hotel is built

42

as a ranch house with a large area. The roof is flat, and when it covered by snow, it
looks as real as the snow ground at its foot. The hotel is all white and then merged
into the landscape. Inside, the design for rooms also have concretion of natural
elements, like trees, mushrooms, thunder. One room has a skywall of the moon and
stars as a symbolization of night. Sometimes, I wonder, is it a symbolized architecture
or a natural thing? Is it a concretion of nature or an abstract of architecture?

Figure 42. Ice Hotel

Figure 43. The Big Tree Room

Figure 44. Night Room

Human
The Ice Hotel also has functional use for people. It is constructed not just for site,
exhibition, or planning work, but, for a hotel. Thats the reason why Ice Hotel gives

43

such a humanistic place. Its not a one-way embodiment of nature, but a two-way
perception between man and nature. Here, we also can find that functionalism is the
wrong way, yet, to discuss spiritual and sensorial aspects separated from functional
use is not rational either. This is because function meets peoples demand so that it
gives the place vitality and life. The Ice Hotel is given character and identification
through its integration with nature, but it is given a meaning which helps people to
have good dreams.
So some designs also follow the functional use, like the symbolic room of night I
mentioned above and some dreamlike rooms such as mushroom and high tree in the
fairy tales, sleeping in the spaceship or standing in Eden in peoples dream. The
designs also have symbolizations of the Lapp society and their culture, like the
reindeer, the particular workplace of producing ice wineglass, and some rooms also
have the concretion of Nordic myth, like a room called Queen of snow with
beautiful ice pillars around the bed.
Besides the Hotel, there is an Ice Church, with columns which symbolize the
reindeers antler which is one of the Samis cultural characters. On the weekends,
there usually are many weddings among both local people and tourists, it also
becomes a social habit of local people and the attraction of visiting Ice hotel. So we
can see that only when nature, culture and society integrate together, can the
locality and identity be created.

Figure 45. Eden Room

Figure 46. Queen of Snow Room

44

Figure 47. Ice Church

Figure 48. Inside of Ice Church

Continuity
The Ice Hotel is rebuilt every year, with a respect to the climate cycle. It has a
rhythm of seasons, which presents the roll of time and rhythm of nature. Also, it gives
a feeling of constant continuity year by year, following the circle of life. This is a
symbol of order, like day and night, four seasons and changing of climate, so the hotel
builds the order itself and makes a microcosm.
With the rebuilding, the design of the Ice Hotel is never the same: the designers get
their inspiration from the world outside which is changeable and continuous every
time. Thus the design also takes the concretion of the continual culture and tradition.
Therefore, the hotel is not living still in the history but with a strong continuity of
culture.
The Ice Hotel will become an important part of local peoples life which is turning
to be a social element. While some couples get married in the Ice Church, it also
becomes a symbol of a new life as the marriage brings the continuity from generation
to generation.

45

4. Conclusion
In my thesis, I discussed a lot about Genius Loci by Norberg-Schulz, which is the
basis theory of my studying. Firstly, I started my thesis from mans fundamental
perception of identification through some phenomenon, and then discussed about the
existence with the concept of things which surround us. Mans perception of place
is based on his understanding of the environment. So I used a Chinese Myth Pangu
to explain the relationship of people with the cosmos, or, the material world.
Norberg-Schulzs point of existential space has a connection to architecture which
could be seen as the foothold of existence. And mans identification is based on the
identification of local environment.
According to Norberg-Schulz, place could be divided into two types, natural place
and man-made place. Here I used a Chinese theory to explain the five elements in
natural world, and their mutual generation and restriction relationship. The character
of natural place mainly depends on the landscape which is made up of as well as
topography, order, time, and natural elements. Norberg-Schulz divided it into
romantic, cosmic, classical and complex landscape. Man-made place, as I considered,
is a concretion of natural place. Symbolization and concretion of local character
through architecture and structure of place can bring people orientation and
identification of existence. They are trying to build a microcosm as well as the real
world, and it is related to both the nature and cultural landscapes. The main character
of man-made place is enclosure and gathering. Things gathering the world, man
gathering settlement, and architecture gathering the multifarious in-between.
Then I discussed about Genius Loci, with both generality and locality. I made a
division of the elements of place with space, time and order, which is a little
different from what Norberg-Schulz did. The character is brought by these elements
with mans dwelling in man-made space which is a two-way interaction. The structure
of place could be seen as enclosure, expansion, foci, axis, boundary and domain while
Kevin Lynch pointed them to five elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes and
landmarks. Next I explained Norberg-Schulzs argument about dwelling and made

46

some examples. In China there is also a great theory about how to dwell well with the
natural environment which I have introduced in my thesis to get a further
understanding.
In the 2 nd chapter, I started with criticism to Norberg-Schulzs argument. His
little attention on humans aspects and influence to nature made his theory trend
to environmental determinism, while Kevin Lynch used mans subjective mental
image of the city to start his research which avoids this. Through Ralph Erskine,
who is a humanistic architect, both cares about nature and mans feelings and
demands, we found that society and cultural context also determined the spirit
of place. Finally, in the last chapter, I paid attention to the continuity of history.
To some extent, its not only about history, but also about continuity of culture
and society. The example of Ice Hotel is not very satisfactory, but still can
somehow reflect the three aspects with the perception of place and continuity in
time.
In my thesis, I aim to find a rational way to integrate nature, human and
continuity where man can lives harmoniously, humanly and poetically.

47

References:
Written Resources
Egelius, M, 1990, Ralph Erskine, Architect, Byggfrlaget, Sweden
Heidegger, M, 1971, Poetry, Language, Thought, Albert Hofstadter, New York
Hellpach, W, 1965, Geopsyche, Stuttgart
Lynch, K, 1960, The Image of The City, The MIT Press, London
Lynch, K, 1972, What Time Is This Place? The MIT Press, London
Norberg-Schulz, C, 1980, Genius Loci: Towards
Architecture, Academy Editions, London

Phenomenology

of

Trancik, R, 1986, Finding Lost Space-Theories of Urban Design, John Wiley

&Sons, Inc, America
Venturi, R, 1967, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, New York

Electronic Resource
Admin, 2007, New Though of City Space Planning, [Online],
Available: http://des.sootuu.com/200711/20071130143847.html
Dalin Liu, The Symbolization of Chinese Culture of Sex, [Online],
Available: http://lz.book.sohu.com/serialize.php?id=2131
Geomancy, [Online],
Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/4216.htm
Luoye, 2007, Eclecticism and Contextualism, [Online],
Available:
http://hi.baidu.com/luoye_84/blog/item/5396d6345a059d4d251f14f9.html
Pangu, [Online],
Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/13547.htm?fr=ala0_1
Pyramids, [Online],
Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/3924.htm
The Five Elements, [Online],

48

Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/4292.htm
The Nordic Fairy-tale, [Online],
Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/10680.htm
The Stonehenge, [Online],
Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/65103.htm
The Temple of Heaven in Beijing, [Online],
Available: http://baike.baidu.com/view/9993.htm
Tingfeng Liu, 2008, Contextualism of History, [Online],
Available: http://bbs.chla.com.cn/space/viewspacepost.aspx?postid=1013

Source of pictures:
Figures 1, 31, 32, 33: Illustrated by author
Figures 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,
27, 28, 29, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48: Pictures taken by author
Figure 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39: Egelius, M, 1990, Ralph Erskine, Architect,
Byggfrlaget, Sweden
Figure 4: The Five Elements, <http://baike.baidu.com/view/4292.htm>
Figure
30:
The
Temple
of
<http://baike.baidu.com/view/9993.htm>

Heaven

Figure 18: Pyramids, <http://baike.baidu.com/view/3924.htm>

in

Beijing,