Cube 2 - Hypercube. The reconstruction of spatial meaning: the redefinition of the "architectural elements" and the primary structures of "embodied experience"

Abstract

This article, drawing on the synthesis of spatial sense through cinematic representation in the movie Cube 2: Hypercube, examines the ways through which the reconstruction of spatial meaning can be enriched with bodily parameters. The construction of an inclusive and synchronic bodily sense of space, actively collecting stimuli and forming abstract structures of embodied experience, is attempted in order to organize the spatial perception and under-standing into a coherent whole. The use of "image – schemata" as defined and analyzed by Mark Johnson (The Body in the Mind, 1987) constitute the methodological tool for data processing. The metaphorical extensions and the imaginative elaborations of abstract embodied structures is stressed in order to highlight the ways they contribute to the formation of meaning. It is proved that the interaction between embodied experience and spatial elements is capable of enriching the conception and meaning of space as it unfolds ways that architectural elements can be destabilized and redefined. This approach aims at the reactivation of a conscious body during the process of spatial analysis and design.