ABSTRACT
Supplementing the view of universities as heterotopic spaces in their relation to society and therefore as driving forces of spatial multiplicity the chapter suggest apprehending university spaces as multiple in themselves: as perpetual results of the coming together of a variety of spatial trajectories. The space of the University of St Gallen might not only be conceived as heterotopic in relation to its urban surroundings it is produced through heterogeneous spatial performances in the first place. Picking up Lefebvres spatial ontology, we can easily discern the interplay of physical space of its architecture, mental space of planning and imagination, and social space of everyday urban and university practices. Together, these spacings form the places where we research and teach. While the materiality of buildings, rooms and technical apparatuses certainly affects the labour of research and teaching, of studying and administering, we need to grasp space through its simultaneous imaginary, narrative, affective and embodied constitution, too.
