Re-imagining Spaces and Places. Spatial Imaginary Methods: The Creative Process and Iconographic Circulation

In the field of architecture training, studies on the perception of shape and spatial conception play a key role, especially for the education aspects focused on acquiring awareness of the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of spaces, as well as on their transformation governed by design creativity. This educational process is extensively based on the use of images, following a dual path of figural elaboration and reception; at the same time, the intensive use of icons acts as an interface in the creation of a spatial imaginary that goes beyond technical-specialist training and reaches the cultural and creative sphere, specific to an era. Therefore, spatial imaginary is rooted in a solid instrumental and geometric-configurational foundation, which shapes buildings and spaces, also resorting to the figurative world and to the creative and cultural sensitivity that the subject draws from society. However, the spatial imaginary of an architecture does not concern solely the construction of the work, since in turn it generates new images and feeds different and transdisciplinary imaginaries. Cultural and physical contexts, such as cities, places or buildings, can be evoked, interpreted or represented in artistic or literary works, thus triggering the possibility of re-imagining space. The article attempts to explore the different levels of spatial imaginary, referencing a case study, and to identify the innovative elements introduced into the iconic-spatial process by recent digital technologies for processing images and their circulation on the web.