From cinematic narrative to architectural space: Unveiling relational spatialities through roles and modes

This article proposes a relational approach to architectural space that moves beyond typological frameworks, focusing on how spaces accommodate life-related relationalities grounded in lived spatial relations. Drawing on new materialist theories, it conceptualizes space as a domain interwoven with bodily, temporal, and affective relations. To articulate these intricate entanglements, an interdisciplinary methodology is employed that facilitates dialogue between cinematographic narratives and architectural spaces. The research is grounded in the specific context of the Büyük Abud Efendi Han, a historic commercial building located in Istanbul’s Eminönü district, an area still central to the city’s economic life. Despite its central location and spatial complexity, the Han remains invisible mainly in dominant architectural and urban narratives. Focusing on the 1986 film Yoksul, filmed entirely within this han, the study employs constructivist grounded theory to investigate how space accommodates multilayered and unexpected life-related relationalities. This process introduces two conceptual tools—Roles and Modes—that reveal the layered, dynamic, and non-fixed nature of spatial relationality. By tracing the intersections between life, narrative, and architectural space, the article contributes to rethinking architecture as a relational and narrative practice.