Body - space tension: Mapping / decoding bodily experience with space syntax

Body, as a whole of senses, can be defined as a receptor due to its inherent features as perceiving, experiencing and having potentials of behavior. At the same time, body generates and transforms a new type of space within the space it exists. Besides, space is not positioned as a passive element either; it is the equal and active partner of the body that can shrink and expand with bodily effects. Therefore, body and the space in relation cannot be thought separately. They identify each other over and over again. The living body is inevitably garbled with the environment it lives, and it creates its own space. The „tension‟ between body and space appears as the leading actor of their interrelation. This research is based on an experimental case study that aimed to discover the body-space tension by using syntactic analyzes, which was prepared for an undergraduate course entitled “Architectural Morphology” in Istanbul Technical University, 2017. It differs from the idea that regards space only as a physical shell and aspires to analyze the space that the body identifies and experiences with the senses, by using both cognitive and analytical methods. ITU Faculty of Architecture, Taşkışla Building, was chosen as the field of study. Within this context, the principal questions were the following: What is the possible movement pattern of Taşkışla? / How can this pattern vary with the bodily experience? / What is the meaning of this variation for body-space tension? / How does Space Syntax contribute to analyzing this tension, as a scientific method? / How does bodily experience, cognitive maps and space syntax contribute to each other? As a first step to study, to discover how bodies restructure the space, a performative experience in Taşkışla was recorded. The movements and traces of the performers‟ bodies were conceptualized as a new type of space which the body created by changing the routine use of their bodies, changing the everyday movement pattern and thinking their bodies as a receptor. Performers investigated the space by their bodies throughout a particular route in the building. The process is followed by externalizing the narratives of the performances as cognitive maps. To be able to search body-space tension, interpreted cognitive maps were compared with the analysis of routine movement by using syntactic tools. Having scientific and visual data on both cases, the properties of the space which are considered as invisible or non-discursive were made debatable. Different results from two separate cases on the same space showed us the substantial effect of body-space interaction. As a result of this study, indicating the dynamic relationship between body and space, it is understood the importance of layering the analysis for perceiving and conceptualizing the space. This multi-layered analyzing process can enhance the bodily way of knowing and syntactic methods, mutually. This research system that provides varied viewpoints can open up new horizons to think on a space.