ABSTRACT
The most ancient types of place are those concerned with the fundamental aspects of life. Place links architecture with life. The places people use are in intimate relation to their lives. Living necessarily involves the conceptual organisation and physical arrangement of the world into places. Places are identified by basic and modifying elements of architecture. Some primitive place types have acquired their own names – hearth, theatre, tomb/grave, altar, fortress, throne – that reach far back into history. Their ancient names are testament to their age-old roles in the lives and architecture of people through history. The architecture of an altar may be more consistent than that of a hearth or of a bed. It is almost always a table for ritual or symbolic sacrifice, or which plays the role of focus for worship. Primitive places are often used in combination too. Variations on the combination of hearth, altar and bed can be found in the works of architecture.
