PLAN AND CULTURE As Louis Kahn’s thesis of “served” and “servant” spaces suggests, plan
configurations can also reflect social and cultural hierarchies. We look briefly
at two other examples of recognizable plan typologies with embedded social
or cultural structures driving their design: the courtyard house and the church.
Courtyard houses
Many cultures around the world hold some form of vernacular courtyard
house typology—historic Islamic, Italian, English, Incan, Greek, Roman
civilizations, to name a few. The “siheyuan” was a residential structure type
found throughout Beijing and many regions in China.
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In siheyuan, the Confucian principles of social and family hierarchy were
expressed in the arrangement of spaces within the housing compound, and
their relationship to the sequence of entry, sunlight, and view to the courtyard.
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Image and plan analysis of traditional Chinese courtyard house
As shown in the diagram above, the most important rooms were located along
the central axis, receiving the most light and overlooking the different
courtyards—the main guest-receiving hall at the center in front of the main
public courtyard, and the master bedroom to the rear facing the private
courtyard. The rooms along the sides of the courtyard, off-axis, smaller, and
with less light, were delegated to lower members of the household. The front
courtyard block, closest to the public street and receiving little to no direct
light, housed the servants and utility spaces.
This hierarchy influenced the configuration of many vernacular courtyard
residences throughout China, including the imperial palace design of the
Forbidden City in Beijing.
Western Ecclesiastical Architecture
Another very commonly known plan typology would be that of the Christian
church—the Latin or Greek cross plans. Early church buildings were actually
inspired by Roman basilicas, which were public buildings used as meeting
places, markets and even to hold court. The central meeting space called the
nave was flanked by side aisles housing market stalls. At either end were
small apses, often semi-circular in nature, that housed court chambers and
legislative meetings.
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Diagram of the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine in the Roman Forum, 1st Century AD
As churches developed, the nave became not just a central common meeting
space but directional, syncopating the formal movement of religious
processions towards one principal end, which was the location of the altar.
That principal end grew in significance and size, and sometimes were
extended into two arms perpendicular to the nave that flanked either side of
the altar space, called the transept.
This T-shaped cross configuration continued to dominate church plan-making
for many centuries and through many architectural styles.
Plan of the Florence Cathedral “Santa Maria del Fiore”
In both examples of the courtyard and the church, it is clear how the cultural
and spatial practices of their times influenced the making of the plan.
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