A Language of Measure & Our Perception of Space
As Juhani Pallasmaa writes in The Eyes of the Skin, “the most archaic origin of architectural space is in the cavity of the mouth, through which the infant first experiences the world.”
Our experience of the world is fundamentally shaped by how we perceive space, which is essentially our three-dimensional reality. The methods we use to measure and understand space influence our experiences by shaping and sometimes limiting the primary senses through which we interact with our surroundings. Consequently, people perceive space—and, by extension, the world around them—in diverse ways depending on their primary sensory apparatus, leading them to inhabit significantly different sensory worlds.
Proxemics is the term that Edward T. Hall coined for the study of the ways humans utilize and perceive the space around them. In the opening paragraph of his book The Hidden Dimension, Hall discusses the nature of language and how studying languages different than one’s own is difficult, as language acts as a kind of thought barrier:
“It was necessary for the linguistic scientist to consciously avoid the trap of projecting the hidden rules of his own language onto the language being studied.”
Language itself was then discovered to not just be a way to externalize thought, but was rather a program that was restructuring the way people conceived of the world around them.
“Like the computer, man’s mind will register and structure external reality only in accordance with the program.”
What Hall is interested in, in this vein, are the ways in which different cultures not just speak different languages and thus have different thought constructions, but also how different cultures—as a result of their proxemic differences—develop siloed sensory screens through which they perceive and construct the world. This is interesting to consider, as the perception of space is a perception of separation. As discussed in On Understanding the Void through Dividing by Zero, in order to measure space, one requires a reference point. Infinity itself is not really a number but a spatial concept. Space naturally requires division in order to be perceived. Without division, there would be no magnitude of anything, but infinitely everything. You could think of the literal definition of infinity as “without limits”: we require limitations in order to measure space. For example, “units” is a set of defined measurements that we use to measure other defined things. These units are ultimately reference points of measuring space around us, but these units in turn act as a kind of barrier.
Similar to how Hall thought of language as a barrier for thought, the units we define—which subsequently define the space around us—construct a barrier which structures your perception of the world around you and ultimately your physical place within it. If you think about the connection of Space and Time as being a singular “thing”, then systems of measure could also change the way you perceive time itself. Maybe that topic will be for another article…
Now, back to space. There are three fairly simple but interesting reference points humans have historically used to measure, and then construct, the space around them:
The seed
The human body
The cosmos
This is quite fascinating to consider, as you have reference points ranging the scales of the below, middle, and the above. At the beginning, we have the seed—the ultimate microcosm.
The Seed
Seeds have historically been used as ancient systems of measure, as they are on average very uniform in size. They have also served, at times, as reference points for other reference points, which we will discuss further later.
In the context of ancient units of measurement, the Sulba Sutras is a text from India which explained systems of measurement and geometry to blend practical needs of defining systems of measure with spiritual significance. Shulba Sutras (शुल्बसूत्राणि) is derived from the word Shulba which means a 'cord', 'a rope' or 'a string', and Sutra, which refers to a ‘short rule’. The term Sulbas Sutras, among being considered as the ‘book of geometry’, also concerns the construction of sacrificial fire-alters which involve building with a fixed number of bricks in a systematic way of various layers. These constructions are called ‘citis’. The citis consist of 5 layers of brick, each containing 200 bricks.
LEFT: The Syena citi: lavers 1. 3, and 5 | RIGHT: The Syena citi: lavers 2 and 4
The texts themselves discuss a variety of units of measurement, which were used not only for constructing the fire-altars with precise geometry, but also for ensuring the correctness of rituals through exact spatial configurations. The seed has evidence of being connected within these texts, as the Angula (literally "finger"), was a common unit of length, which was also broken down further as being defined as “34 sesame seeds”. The precise dimensions and proportions required for altar constructions necessitated a detailed understanding of these units, as the efficacy of the rituals was believed to be contingent upon the meticulous adherence to these prescribed measurements.
The fire-altars, central to the Vedic rituals, have shaped much of our understanding of ancient civilization's relationship with the divine and the cosmos. These altars were not merely structures of worship but embodiments of the universe's geometry. By understanding geometry, you were thought to then align yourself with the heavens above. The construction of these altars required precise mathematical knowledge, suggesting that the ancients believed an understanding of space and geometry would then lead to a stronger connection between the earthly and the celestial—the material and the spiritual. Space itself, and ultimately how it is measured and constructed through these altars served as a sacred tool to bridge the human and the divine, encoding esoteric wisdom within the very fabric of their constructions. Each altar, with its specific dimensions and orientations, was a microcosm of the universe: a tangible representation of cosmic order and harmony.
Interestingly, the use of seeds as units of measurement in this context is emblematic of how seeds are really a microcosmic embodiment of the universe's inherent order and symmetry. Seeds, in their essence, encapsulate the cycle of life. Each seed is a minuscule yet complete representation of the universal life force, being a physical manifestation of the potential for growth and regeneration. Their averageness, uniformity and tangible smallness make them perfect symbols of the cosmic order, and thus through this lens we can understand how ancient architects could have materialized this celestial harmony by literally using the seed to build sacred structures, and thus bringing the below (seed) and the above (cosmos) into a human scale construction. This practice of measuring with seeds is a philosophical reflection in itself. Just as seeds hold the promise of life and continuity, the constructed altar, measured and aligned with such precision, becomes a mirror of both the below and the above; a material echo of the universe's vast, orderly, and interconnected nature where human beings are in the central position.
2. The Human Body
According to Aristotle the hand is ‘the tool of tools’. The hands are the primary symbols of touch and gesture. According to Cooper Quintilian, "the hands may almost be said to speak. Do we not use them to demand, promise, summon, dismiss, threaten, supplicate, express aversion or fear, question or deny? Do we not use them to
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