ARCHITECTURAL SPACE AND THE
TREASURY BUILDING

When we use the word "space," we often use it to mean many different things. Sometimes we're referring to outer space, or perhaps sometimes to blank space upon a piece of paper. When we try to define architectural space, however, there are many additional factors to be taken into account. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary offers the following definitions of space:

• a period of time; also: its duration.
• a limited extent in one, two, or three dimensions: distance, area, volume.
• a boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction.
• the opportunity to assert or experience one's identity or needs freely.

This photograph of the east front of the Treasury Building illustrates how you could think of a shape -- a cube for instance -- as a volumetric solid that displaces space.

These definitions help when we think about space in an architectural sense. In a way, architectural space could be a period of time; as we move through the spaces in a building, we experience them across a span of time. Additionally, architectural space is undeniably a volume contained and shaped by the physical construction of a building. It is when, however, we think of architectural space in these terms, and also take into account the second two definitions, that we arrive at the most convincing definition of architectural space. Architectural space is a volume contained by the structure of a building in which objects exist, humans live, and events happen over a course of time. The events, objects, and, most importantly, human needs and desires, give shape and purpose to architectural space. In other words, space in a building is the stage-set upon which our lives take place.

This 1914 photograph of the Comptroller of the Currency's anteroom, on the third floor of the west wing, illustrates a second way that you could think of a cube, as a container of space.

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