The Japanese idea of Ma, loosely translated, stands for space, or emptiness, just as the silence that allows melodies to make sense – negative space, being an essential component of a whole. In cities such as Zürich and Berlin, it is a common occurrence to go through passageways that link the interior of a block to the street, as a bridge links banks, and uphill to downhill.
These spaces enhance the idea of the interstice as an essential factor in the construction of a city, which allows for a deeper exploration of the built environment, from the perspective of the human eye. New narratives are created by these shortcuts, revealing a whole new range of unseen realities.
This photo series began a personal study of the visual and emotional dimension of the path and its role in Zürich’s urban context, then being expanded to Berlin. It was a way of documenting my experience and interpreting transitional spaces in different contexts during my stay abroad. It inspired me to further develop the theme of in-betweenness in Architecture as my Master’s degree diploma project, “In-between space: image, architecture and experience” at the Architecture School of the University of Porto.
Text and photography by Julia Rosas,
Web Design by Vinzenz Leutenegger