TR
EN
Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self
Abstract
This article examines the problem of experience in architectural discourse by proposing a historico-critical framework that reconceptualizes architecture as a technology of framing. Drawing on Bernard Cache’s approach to architecture as a generative system of frames and Michel Foucault’s analyses of technologies of knowledge, power, and the self, the study examines how spatial configurations produce historically specific fields of experience rather than merely accommodate them. Methodologically, the authors use Foucault’s tripartite framework of archaeology, genealogy, and problematization to develop a comparative analytical matrix applied to three spatial dispositifs: camera obscura, concentration camp, and confessional booth. Each case is analyzed through a six-part schema addressing their historical specificity, architectural diagram, regime of truth, subject formation, primary relational structure, and experiential output, followed by their micro-operational logic. Findings show that, despite their historical and functional differences, these dispositifs share a common diagrammatic structure in that they all isolate bodies, regulate regimes of contact, and generate distinct corporeal repertoires that organize perception, domination, and self-relation. By foregrounding architecture’s role in materializing the “historical a priori of possible experience,” the article argues for a shift in architectural historiography from typological and representational analyses toward a focus on spatial diagrams and operative mechanisms. The study concludes by emphasizing architecture’s dual capacity to stabilize existing experiential regimes and to open possibilities for their transformation through critical inquiry and design practice.
Keywords
Supporting Institution
The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.
Ethical Statement
The authors declared that an ethics committee approval certificate is not required.
Thanks
The authors extend their grateful thanks to Gülsüm Baydar and Andreas Treske for their immense contributions throughout the original formulation and development of the major premises and arguments of this work.
References
- Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer: Sovereign power and bare life. Stanford University Press.
- Agamben, G. (1999). Remnants of Auschwitz: The witness and the archive. Zone Books.
- Agamben, G. (2005). State of exception. University of Chicago Press.
- Agamben, G. (2009a). The signature of all things: On method. Zone Books.
- Agamben, G. (2009b). What is an apparatus? And other essays. Stanford University Press.
- Anderson, B. (2009). Affective atmospheres. Emotion, Space and Society, 2(2), 77–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2009.08.005
- Anson, P. F. (1948). Churches: Their plan and furnishing. Bruce Publishing Company.
- Arendt, H. (1973). The origins of totalitarianism. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Architectural History, Theory and Criticism
Journal Section
Research Article
Publication Date
October 10, 2026
Submission Date
March 27, 2026
Acceptance Date
July 6, 2026
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Volume: 10 Number: 3
APA
Uysal, V. Ş., & Basa, İ. (2026). Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self. PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research, 10(3), 370-384. https://doi.org/10.54864/planarch.1917444
AMA
1.Uysal VŞ, Basa İ. Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self. PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research. 2026;10(3):370-384. doi:10.54864/planarch.1917444
Chicago
Uysal, Veli Şafak, and İnci Basa. 2026. “Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self”. PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research 10 (3): 370-84. https://doi.org/10.54864/planarch.1917444.
EndNote
Uysal VŞ, Basa İ (October 1, 2026) Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self. PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research 10 3 370–384.
IEEE
[1]V. Ş. Uysal and İ. Basa, “Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self”, PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 370–384, Oct. 2026, doi: 10.54864/planarch.1917444.
ISNAD
Uysal, Veli Şafak - Basa, İnci. “Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self”. PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research 10/3 (October 1, 2026): 370-384. https://doi.org/10.54864/planarch.1917444.
JAMA
1.Uysal VŞ, Basa İ. Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self. PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research. 2026;10:370–384.
MLA
Uysal, Veli Şafak, and İnci Basa. “Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self”. PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research, vol. 10, no. 3, Oct. 2026, pp. 370-84, doi:10.54864/planarch.1917444.
Vancouver
1.Veli Şafak Uysal, İnci Basa. Architecture and the Limits of Experience: Spatial Apparatuses of Knowledge, Power, and the Self. PLANARCH - Design and Planning Research. 2026 Oct. 1;10(3):370-84. doi:10.54864/planarch.1917444