ABSTRACT
In the majority of buildings, space is organised using parallel walls. This is principally for structural reasons; it is easier to put a roof on parallel walls than over an irregular space. The spatial dynamic of parallel walls also resonates with our own horizontal directions. In the twentieth century, architects experimented with parallel walls as a basis for spatial organisation in ways that sometimes transcend the pragmatic. Their interest has been in what parallel walls can do as basic architectural elements. Some have challenged the orthodox ways parallel walls are used. Some architects have experimented with parallel walls that are not straight, or with layouts in which a parallel-wall strategy has been distorted. The drawing, right, is the plan of the ground floor of a student residential building in the City University, Paris designed for Swiss students by Le Corbusier.
