Space And The Machine

Space is the machine Bill Hillier

 Since The social logic of space was published in 1984, Bill Hillier and his colleagues at University College London have been conducting research on how space features in the form and functioning of buildings and cities. A key outcome is the concept of ‘spatial configuration’ — meaning relations which take account of other relations in a complex. Newtechniques have been developed and applied to a wide range of architectural and urban problems. The aim of this book is to assemble some of this work and show how it leads the way to a new type of theory of architecture: an ‘analytic’ theory in which understanding and design advance together. The success of configurational ideas in bringing to light the spatial logic of buildings and citiessuggests that it might be possible to extend these ideas to other areas of the human sciences where problems of configuration and pattern are critical.

Space is the machine Bill Hillier

A configurational theory of architecture

‘ house is a machine for living in…’ A Le Corbusier (1923) ‘ ut I thought that all that functional stuff B had been refuted. Buildings aren’tmachines.’ Student ‘ ou haven’t understood. The building isn’t the Y machine. Space is the machine.’ Nick Dalton, Computer Programmer at University College London (1994)

Hardback and paperback editions first published in the United Kingdom in 1996 and 1999, respectively, by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. This electronic edition published in 2007 by: Space Syntax 4 Huguenot Place,Heneage Street London E1 5LN United Kingdom www.spacesyntax.com Copyright © Bill Hillier 2004, 2007 ISBN 978-0-9556224-0-3 Layout and design by Christian Altmann Set in Haas Unica

Contents

Part one Chapter one Chapter two Chapter three Part two Chapter four Chapter five Chapter six Chapter seven Part three Chapter eight Chapter nine Part four Chapter ten Chapter elevenPreface to the e-edition Acknowlegdements Introduction Theoretical preliminaries What architecture adds to building The need for an analytic theory of architecture Non-discursive technique Non-discursive regularities Cities as movment economies Can architecture cause social malaise? Time as an aspect of space Visible colleges The laws of the field Is architecture an arscombinatoria? The fundamental city Theoretical syntheses Space is the machine The reasoning art Index

v xii 1

10 39 65

111 138 171 190

216 262

288 314 344

Contents

Space is the machine | Bill Hillier

Space Syntax

v

Preface to the e-edition

Space is the Machine was first published in 1996 by Cambridge University Press. The book built on the theory of societyand space set out in The Social Logic of Space (Cambridge University Press 1984), to outline a configurational theory of architecture and urbanism. Unfortunately, although The Social Logic of Space is still in print after 23 years, when the initial print-run of Space is the Machine was exhausted, the number of colour plates forbad the use of the cheap reprinting technology that would havemade a succession of reprints economically viable. So, although the book was selling well at the time, it fell out of print. As demand for the book has continued, for several years copies of the book have either been impossible to find or prohibitively expensive. I am now immensely pleased that Space Syntax Limited, with support from University College London (UCL), have decided to rectify thissituation by creating a new e-edition of the book and making it available for free on the web. I am particularly grateful to Tim Stonor for the initial decision to fund the project, to Tim, Chris Stutz and Shinichi Iida for organizing and managing the project and acting as effective editors of the new edition, and to Laura Vaughan and Suzanne Tonkin of UCL for their encouragement...