Selected Bibliography Architecture - Form Space and Order | Page 34

PLANE

Planes in architecture define three-dimensional
volumes of mass and space. The properties of each
plane—size, shape, color, texture —as well as
their spatial relationship to one another ultimately
determine the visual attributes of the form they
define and the qualities of the space they enclose.

In architectural design, we manipulate three generic
types of planes:

Overhead Plane
The overhead plane can be either the roof plane that
spans and shelters the interior spaces of a building
from the climatic elements, or the ceiling plane that
forms the upper enclosing surface of a room.
Wall Plane
The wall plane, because of its vertical orientation,
is active in our normal field of vision and vital to the
shaping and enclosure of architectural space.
Base Plane
The base plane can be either the ground plane that
serves as the physical foundation and visual base for
building forms, or the floor plane that forms the lower
enclosing surface of a room upon which we walk.

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