TOPOGRAPHY OF THE NIGHT

ABOUT THE ARCHITECTURE IN NIGHT DREAMS

MAXIME VANCOILLIE
KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture, Belgium
e-mail: maxime.vancoillie@kuleuven.be

ABSTRACT Since 2020 I have been developing the project Topography of the night - about the
architecture in night dreams. The project searches for residents of (temporarily) inhabited landscapes and their
night dreams. By means of a collection, description and modeling a series of nocturnal dream places,
fundamental principles of nightly architecture are unraveled. An architecture constructed from time layers
(memory, imagination) and physical and emotional experiences. Searching for universal ‘inner’ archetypes and
spatial cultural differences. The night dream as a medium to capture and depict the perception and experience of
our built environment.

The night dream is a subconscious force that crystallizes our most distant spatial memories; every memory is
surrounded by spaces around. We are unable to relive exact durations, but there seems to be a total
spatial experience of the moment being stored, appearing in our night dreams. By using anthropological tools
such as in-depth interviews through dream logs and architectural tools such as reflective images and models on
different scales (scale models, 1:1 models) the project performs a topoanalysis.

By zooming in on some of the collected dreams, insights are revealed about spatial typologies and
archetypes, metaphorical spaces, heterotopias and heterochronies, spaces of resistance, fear and desire,
the parental house, hidden, disappeared, forgotten or made up places.

INTRODUCTION

The starting point of this paper is the importance of
‘lived experiences’ in the analysis of space: the basis of
architectural phenomenology.
The phenomenologist Otto Friedrich Bollnow uses
the term ‘human space’ to reveal that space not only
exists in the physical world, but also has psychological,
non-physical dimensions. He states that human
dwelling, is a kind of rhythm between polar contrasts,
two opposite experiences: that of defined physical
space and undefined, non- physical space, which is the
psychological domain (Bollnow, 2011).
The space we dwell in, is always a hybrid system.
Everywhere we are surrounded by spaces, and those
real spaces have a direct physical influence on us
(figure 1: black arrows). On the other hand, we have
the projections from one’s own frame of reference onto
that environment (the environment evokes something,
it provokes, touches or appeals to us). They appeal to
our own collection of spaces to which many meanings
are attached; like memories of meaningful events,
associations, ... it also enables us to project our own
meanings onto the environment that surrounds us
(figure 1: purple dotted lines).

The embodied experience of architecture as described In La poétique de l’espace (1958) Bachelard points out
in the phenomenological studies of e.g. Bollnow and the special importance that the space of the daydream
Norberg-Schulz (1974) make it clear that space is more occupies in this collection. The daydream is a
than a physical manifestation, more than the human recollection of moments of confined, simple, shut-in
beings we encounter, their performance, the form of space, it are experiences of hearthwarming, comforting
the space, the objects, moveable or (semi-fixed) it space. He uses topoanalysis as a systematic
contains, … In fact, it consists of different spaces. psychological study of the sites of our intimate lives.
For investigation of this kind, daydreams are useful.
Everyone has a unique collection of spaces. From birth
to death, each person crosses different spaces.
This e.g. is illustrated in Georges Perec’s Espèces
d’espace (1974): These are real spaces, the spaces that
surround us every day, the ones we remember or
imagine, but also virtual spaces we can access via
screens, the internet, etc. It also includes mental spaces
like descriptions that you have read or heard, for
example. This collection of spaces is unique to
everyone.
 the ‘field of meanings’ is constructed from
meanings we attach to our collection of
spaces. The meanings come based on
previous experience, memories,
associations, imagination.

influence of the outside world on the individual

projections from the inner world to the environment

Figure 1. Hybrid system of spaces (Maxime Vancoillie)

In this research, I want to go a step further, and include Since 2020 I have been developing the project
not only the daydream in the topoanalysis, but also the Topography of the night - about the architecture in
night dream. Night dreams take us further away from night dreams. The project searches for residents of
our intimate lives and identifiable memories. (temporarily) inhabited landscapes and their night
“These retreats have the value of a shell. And when we dreams. By means of a collection, description and
reach the very end of the labyrinths of sleep, when we modeling a series of nocturnal dream places,
attain to the regions of deep slumber, we may fundamental principles of nightly architecture are
perhaps experience a type of repose that is pre-human; unraveled. An architecture constructed from time layers
pre-human, in this case, approaching the immemorial.” (memory, imagination) and physical and emotional
(Bachelard, 1958, p.10) This makes the night dream experiences. The night dream as a medium to capture
relevant and useable for research on e.g. spatial and depict the perception and experience of our built
archetypes. environment, a tool to search for universal ‘inner’
archetypes and spatial cultural differences.
The nightdream is a complex system of influences and
projections. The influences and meanings of the
daytime are reflected in the night. The embodied
experience, memories and imagination are the
foundations or the building blocks of the architecture
that appears in our dreams. The night dream is also a
defined universe with a beginning (falling asleep) and
ending (awakening), I use this area to explore the
embodied experience and perception of our
environment. The night dream is a subconscious force
that crystallizes our most distant spatial memories.
We are unable to relive exact durations, but there
seems to be a total spatial experience of the moment
being stored, appearing in our night dreams.
TOOLS & METHODS
By using different tools and methods it is possible to
unravel the principles of this nightly architecture:
WALKING LANDSCAPES AND
INTERVIEWING RESIDENTS
I started my research by walking through an inhabited
landscape. In 2020 I chose the landscape of the nebular
city, a characteristic landscape between city and
countryside in Flanders, where the city is constantly
expanding and the countryside is urbanized. It is
characterized by, among other things, ribbon
development, large-scale retail warehouses and almost
no qualitatively public spaces. I walked the national
road N9 in Belgium, between Brussels and Ostend,
which is a cross section of this nebular city. (figure 2a.)
COLLECTIVE INSIGHTS THROUGH A
SPATIAL DREAMING MATRIX
The spatial dreaming matrix originated from the social
dreaming matrix, a form of conversation used in dream
research (Manley, 2018). In the spatial dreaming matrix
we juxtapose the personal dreams of the residents of
the N9, and open them up to new perspectives from
other participants in the conversation. Participants
share their dreams. The scale models resonate with the
dreamed spaces of the participants (such as safe spac-
es, shelters, lost landscapes, public or private spaces,
closed or open spaces, ... or spaces in which escape
dreams, fear dreams, hidden dreams, euphoric dreams,
... occur). By sharing these we are able to explore
collective meanings, patterns and spatial archetypes.
(figure 2c.)

INFILTRATE NIGHTDREAMS
THROUGH A DREAMLOG

I used the dreamlog as the key to access the residents’

dreams. Keeping the log for a few weeks was followed
by an in-depth interview, which tried to reconstruct the
dreamed architecture and deduce spatial meanings.
By making a description, sketching, and asking spatial
questions like: Which spatial elements were there,
are the spaces recognizable or not, which atmosphere,
mood or emotional charge occured, ... (figure 2b.)
Figure 2a. Walking the road N9 (image: Maxime Vancoillie)

PERFORMING A DREAM ANALYSIS

The analysis framework processes the interviews.

It dissects the dream, looking at all spatial elements.
For each spatial element, different aspects are looked
at, such as whether or not it occurs in the environment
that the dreamer inhabits, the colours, materials,
typology. But also: what are the building blocks of the
dream? Does it come from a clearly identifiable
memory or not? In what way does the imagination play
a role and what emotional charge is linked to it?

Figure 2b. Extract from dreamlog (image: Maxime Vancoillie)

MAKING REFLECTION MODELS

By using architectural tools such as reflective images

and models on different scales (scale models,
1:1 models) the project performs a topoanalysis.
The models are spatial interpretations of the dreams.
Fragments of the dream are placed back into reality,
it is a generator of questions about the environment:
What does the public space look like in our dreams?
In which areas do we feel safe and protected?
Can we infer spaces of desire, resistance, or fear?
What do the dreams say about the influence of the
environment and the spatial systems in which we live?
Which cultural and archetypal meanings can be traced?
Figure 2c. Spatial Dreaming Matrix in Netwerk Aalst (2021)
(image: Maxime Vancoillie)
UNRAVELING NIGHTDREAMS:
CASE STUDIES

I will explain some of my own dreams, and dreams

from the residents from the N9 with a clear link to the
memory of place.

Figure 3. Dream 16: Tidal Wave (2020) - clay, insulation board, acrylic paint, plexi (16 x 13 cm)
(image: Maxime Vancoillie)

DREAM 16: TIDAL WAVE (figure 3)

Gateways to the imagination Reverse influence

Among other things, the dream is built from time,
like memories and imagination. Here we state that the
imagination in dreams always originates from memory.
The structure of memory enables us to add new
impressions to the stored image. We build up the
dream through memories and their associations.
They are reactions to the course of the dream.
The associations form gateways through which we can
move from one scene to the next.
In the first place, real environments have an influence
on us. An example of this is claustrophobia; a small
space provokes an experience of fear. In the dream it is
sometimes the other way around. First there is a feeling
present; the fear of the approaching tidal wave and the
subsequent escape. This physical and emotional
experience are the building blocks that build the
dreamed architecture around us, like the glass cage.

Flee and protection

This is a dream of my own that I can link to seeing news

reports of a tsunami on television. In my dream,
the tidal wave approaches and causes panic and chaos
as people run away. While fleeing, a glass cage
suddenly appears around myself and my two friends
who are with me. We can see what is happening
around us, but we are protected. The image of the tidal
wave comes from an identifiable memory;
the television images. The glass structure is an associa-
tion, a kind of built reaction born of the fear of the tidal
wave and fleeing from it.
 Figure 4. Dream 1: Cornfield Through The Window (2020) - clay, insulation board, acrylic paint (20 x 30 cm)
(image: Maxime Vancoillie)

DREAM 1: CORNFIELD THROUGH

THE WINDOW (figure 4)

This dream occurs in a time where the dreamer goes
through many changes (the parental house is being
sold, there are changes in her family situation, etc.).
Some spatial insights or observations become apparent:
Windowview as a spatial metaphor for an anchor
In the dream, the dreamer moves between three
different living spaces: the house where she currently
lives, the one where she used to live with her family,
and the the parental home where she grew up in.
Spaces no longer accessible demarcate time periods
In reality, the parental house is no longer accessible.
The dream lifts this inaccessibility. The dreamer returns
to the house as a young person. The house could
symbolise a demarcated time period: the dreamer’s
youth. Both period and space merge into a spatial
memory. In the case of spaces currently no longer
accessible, it seems easier to link emotional charges.
The strongest emotional charges seem to remain.
Here the parental home is defined as a safe place.

In the dream, she keeps looking out of the living room

window and the view is always the same: a cornfield
with cornflowers.

We could say that the view from the window acts as

an anchor in the dream, while the spaces around are
constantly changing.

Collage of places

When I ask about the origin of the cornfield, the

dreamer tells me that these fields are common in the
vicinity of her current residence, along the N9.
When she walks past them from time to time,
the swaying motion of the corn in the wind has a
calming effect on her.

The view from the window in her dream is almost

exactly the same as the original view of the fields she
had from her parental house. The only difference is that
corn did not grow on those fields, as this type of crop
did not grow in that area of the parental house.

We could interpret this as a collage where various

places converge: the place where she grew up and the
place where she lives now.
 DREAM 29: THE GRASS, THE PUDDLE, THE
HILL, THE FENCE OR THE BASE, A TRACE OF
REALITY, THE THREAT, THE REFUGE AND THE
MYSTERY (figure 5)

Spatial constellation

In this dream, the constellation of all the spatial

elements is important. It is significant how the
elements relate to each other, where they are
positioned, what the scale is, how these spatial
elements relate to the people in the landscape and
what influence they have on each other.

The centre of the constellation is a circular field of grass

where the dreamer finds herself. There is a puddle next
to the field. Suddenly there is a threat from the woods
from which intruders are rushing down. Here the
constellation gives spatial information about position,
scale and visibility. The dreamer is centrally located on
the open grass field, without any shelter. The intruders
have the dreamer in their sights from their higher
position, hidden by the woods. As the threat
approaches, the dreamer starts to run.

Dreams of escape

While running, a wooden fence suddenly appears in

front of the dreamer, which she has to cross. In escape
dreams, spatial obstacles often appear and must be
overcome.

From typological fence to archetypal wall

The wooden fence is a common feature along the N9.

It is used to demarcate private property, to mark
boundaries and to maintain privacy. The fence keeps
unwanted and unknown observers out.

In the dream, the dreamer climbs over the wooden

fence, the horizontal slats functioning as a ladder.
She crosses a physical boundary, in order to bring
herself to safety against the assailants from the hill.
She hides behind the fence to keep herself out of sight.
Because of her need for protection, she interprets the
fence in a subjective way. The fence is not a
demarcation of territory and privacy, but a wall that
physically protects her and brings her to safety.

The fence is (partly) stripped of its typological signifi-

cance alongside the road, and has a more original, or
archetypal meaning in the dream: the fence as a wall,
offering protection and cover.

Figure 5. Dream 29: The Grass, The Puddle, The Hill, The Fence or
The base, A trace of reality, The threat, The Refuge and The Mystery
clay, insulation board, acrylic paint (32 x 32 cm)
(image: Maxime Vancoillie)
 Figure 6. Dream 17: Apartment In Front of The Window (2020) - clay, insulation board, acrylic paint (20 x 25 cm)
(image: Maxime Vancoillie)

DREAM 17: APARTMENT IN FRONT OF

THE WINDOW (figure 6)

The dreamer lives in a house along the main road N9.
The window of her living room looks out onto a piece
of wasteland. This gives her an exceptional view of the
meadows behind her house, which her neighbours do
not have. In her dream, she wakes up and looks through
the window. A towering apartment building obstructs
her view. She describes the dream as a claustrophobic
experience and wakes up in a cold sweat.
Speculation about the urban environment
The source of the dream may lie in speculation about
spatial changes. There are effectively plans to build on
the plot. A family member of the dreamer saw future
plans for a new 4-storey apartment building in the town
hall. There was a projection of this speculation into the
dream.

Paradox of the open space

As a result of government measures stimulating the

acquisition of property, a private plot in the countryside
has been the norm for many people since the second
half of the 20th century. Unfortunately, this has
urbanized Flanders and resulted in the congestion of
space. Not much remains of the countryside and the
experience of open space. The dream exposes the
threat of open space clogging up at any moment,
and of vistas disappearing.

Spaces of desire, spaces of fear

The dream simultaneously expresses a longing for open

spaces, and a fear of buildings that take away those
open spaces. The dream reveals the 1-to-1 influence of
the surrounding space on the dreamer.
 To ensure or acknowledge your own existence, you are
therefore dependent on the other(s) in the same space.
In the case of the open sea, the others are
absent; there is no architecture to direct one’s gaze.
The architecture is absent. This possibly contributes to
the euphoria. It is precisely the absence of architecture
and reference points that provides the infinity and,
after a longer period of time, also creates an
uncomfortable feeling.

CONCLUSION

The study of spaces in night dreams reveals different

types of spatial information. The night dream serves as
a tool, to infer spatial experiences and then question
and interpret them. Unlike the daydream that only
returns to happy and comfortable places, the night
dream can also provide insights into e.g. spaces of resis-
tance, fear and desire. Moreover, the night dream can
also reveal spatial archetypes that are often hidden in a
typological appearance in the dream.
Unlike a conscious spatial experience, in the night
dream it is easier to delineate a ‘space of experience’
with a beginning (falling asleep) and an end (waking
up). The dream-narrative forms the delineated space,
and allows one to question the spatial constellation, the
spheres of influence between people, objects and
spaces and the actions that take place in them.

Figure 7. Dream 2: The Open Sea

clay, insulation board (20 x 16 cm)
(image: Maxime Vancoillie)
REFERENCES

Bachelard, G., La poétique de l’Espace, Paris: Presses

Universitaires de France, 1958
DREAM 2: THE OPEN SEA (figure 7)
Bollnow, O.F., Human space, London: Hyphen Press, 2011
[1963]
Euphoria and discomfort
Manley, J., Social Dreaming, Associative Thinking and
This is a dream of my own floating on an air mattress on Intensities of Affect, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018
the open sea. It gives a feeling of euphoria.
In conversation with a psychoanalyst, it becomes Norberg-Schulz, Ch., Existence, space and architecture,
clear that the brevity and finality of the dream may New York: Praeger, 1974
be responsible for the euphoric feeling. If the drifting
were to last longer, it would probably begin to feel Perec, G., Espèces d’espace, Paris: Editions Galilée, 1974
uncomfortable. While floating and surrounded by only
water and air, the sea seems infinite. There are no more
reference points, no other people, and eventually the
ILLUSTRATIONS
infinity becomes uncomfortable.

The absent architecture Figure 1. Diagram: Hybrid system of spaces

Figure 2 a b c. Photographs: tools and methods
In what way can we make statements about
architecture or the environment here? Figure 3. Photograph of model: dream 16
The constellation is important in this dream. Figure 4. Photograph of model: dream 1
The relationship of the person to the wider Figure 5. Photograph of model: dream 29
environment, the person floating in relation to the
large surface of the water. We could also describe it as Figure 6. Photograph of model: dream 17
absent architecture. Architecture positions people in Figure 7. Photograph of model: dream 2
a space and directs the gaze, including the gaze of the
unknown others, which ensures your presence in the
same public space being recognized or not.