Tom

A very interesting commentary and the type of introduction that would be
valuable to any beginning student of SS.

It reflects many of the latent concepts that underpin Gillian Livesey's
theoretical work on the complexity of egress capability and her thesis on
indices of open space complexity.

Tony Donegan

Dr HA Donegan
Reader (Mathematics Division)
School of Computing and Mathematics
University of Ulster
Jordanstown
BT37 0QB

Tel: 028 90 366589 or 90 366841
----- Original Message -----
From: "tom lists" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 1:40 AM
Subject: Re: Spatial Configuration


>I wonder if this is entirely clear?
>
> As an architect I tend to look at buildings as
> objects, perhaps a whole lot of objects put together.
> I also think about a room, a garden, a street etc,
> which of course are all spaces.   Configuration means
> the way these spaces fit together.
>
> So the configuration of space raises questions like -
> From this street, how many other streets are directly
> connected?  How many can I get to by going through
> only one other?  This lets you see whether one street
> is better connected to everywhere else than another -
> on average - which means it will be busier.
>
> You might also ask - is this room central to the
> building, in that it I can get to get to all the other
> rooms more quickly than from anywhere else? (not the
> same as being in the physical centre of the building).
> How many rooms do I have to go through to get to out
> of the building? (how isolated is it?)  How many
> different routes are there?
>
> You can see that this is useful to find the best place
> for a central admin room in a building, or a shop that
> needs to be close to as many customers as possible.
>
> This becomes complicated when you start to think that
> streets and rooms are not all the same.  Some streets
> go on for miles, or weave about so that it might be
> more realistic to see them as a series of streets.
> Rooms seem simple, until you get to somewhere
> complicated like a railway terminus or a department
> store.  There may be plenty of open space, but not
> exactly a clear-cut room.
>
> Space Syntax get round this by dividing up complicated
> places into roughly rectangular pieces, each of which
> is an undivided space, but might not be clearly walled
> off from its neighbours.
>
> And for the connections between spaces, it counts only
> whether you can see one space from another.  This is
> found by drawing straight lines between spaces - the
> longest that can be drawn without hitting an
> obstruction.
>
> This allows you to look at a space like a street or
> room in terms of the way it connects to others, but to
> look in a general way, not the specific streets,
> gardens, etc it opens onto.  The lesson of Space
> Syntax is that any place is, in part, given its
> character by the way it connects to the system of
> spaces around it.
>
> Is your courtyard a busy through-route?  Is it
> isolated and unobserved?  Is it likely to be important
> to the daily lives of those in the buildings around
> it, or will it be bypassed?  The answers aren't always
> obvious, which is why so many go unused, unloved, and
> eventually abused.
>
> I think it is important.  I don't think it is very
> easy to understand, and I wish someone could find a
> way of making it easier.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Regards,
>
> Tom Dine
>
>>-----Original Message-----
> --- Professor Bill Hillier <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>> no ! configuration is at least the relation between
>> two objects as
>> affected by a third, and at most the relation
>> between n objects as
>> affected by n others. The point of Alan's diagram is
>> that the
>> relation between two primary elements, b and c,
>> remain the same, but
>> 'with respect to a third' they are different - in
>> this case going
>> from symmetrical (a is to be as b is to a, as in the
>> concept of
>> 'neighbour') to asymmetrical - so a fundamental
>> change 'with respect
>> to the third'.
>>
>> The key configurational concept is generalised from
>> this: 'universal
>> distance', meaning the distance from each point,
>> element or node to
>> all others, and defining distance in different ways:
>> topologically,
>> geometrically, metrically and so on.
>>
>> This is set out most clearly in 'Space is the
>> Machine' pp 96 et seq. - Bill
>> >
>> >Thanks for that, so can we say that 'spatial' is
>> the study of space
>> >and 'configuration' is the relation between two
>> objects and the
>> >effects they have on each other?
>> >
>> >Sheran
>>
>> >From: "Alan Penn" <[log in to unmask]>
>> >To: <[log in to unmask]>,
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> >Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 19:23:27 +0100
>> >Subject: RE: Spatial Configuration
>> >
>> >Sheran,
>> >
>> >We tend to do it with pictures.
>> >
>> >The picture to imagine is:
>> >
>> >c
>> >|
>> >b         b - c
>> >|          \ /
>> >a           a
>> >
>> >Thus the relations of a to c differ depending on
>> whether they are only via b
>> >or also direct.
>> >
>> >The key thing is to consider the relation between
>> any two spaces as that
>> >depends on their relations to (at least) a third
>> space, and at most all
>> >other spaces in some system.
>> >
>> >Configurations of space are systems where local
>> relations are modified by
>> >the rest of the system. When we speak of
>> configuration it really means
>> >taking account of whole or larger parts of the
>> pattern...
>> >
>> >This is probably as clear as mud, we use more
>> pictures to make the point...
>> >
>> >Alan Penn
>> >Professor of Architectural and Urban Computing
>> >The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies
>> >University College London
>> >Gower Street
>> >London WC1E 6BT
>> >+44 (0)20 7679 5919
>> >[log in to unmask]
>> >www.vr.ucl.ac.uk
>> >www.spacesyntax.org
>> >
>> >
>> >>  -----Original Message-----
>> >>  From: [log in to unmask]
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>> >>  Behalf Of Sheran Forbes
>> >>  Sent: 25 October 2004 12:15
>> >>  To: [log in to unmask]
>> >>  Subject: Spatial Configuration
>> >>
>> >>  Hi there,
>> >>
>> >>  Can anyone explain to non-professionals! what
>> spatial configuration is? I
>> >>  have plenty of material on this subject but most
>> of it is far too heavy
>> >>  going for me.
>> >>
>> >>  Lets say 'Space Syntax' were giving an
>> exhibition on what they do to non-
>> >>  professionals, how would one introduce 'Spatial
>> Configuration' and 'Space
>> >>  Syntax'
>> >>
>> >>  Thanks
>> >>  Sheran
>
>
>
>
>
>
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