Emptiness as Cultural Resonance: Spatial Design between Heritage and Perception – An Artistic Approach through Photography, Sculpting and Crafts

This paper explores the intersection of cultural heritage, spatial perception, and design practice by examining emptiness as an active mediator between form and meaning. Bridging architectural theory, phenomenology, and artistic methodology, I argue that cultural identity resides not in static objects but in the dynamic relationship between their interiors, exteriors, and the narratives they embody. Through the dual
lenses of ceramics and photography, I propose a design philosophy that reimagines emptiness as a "resonance space"—a site of exchange where memory, perception, and innovation converge. The vessel, as both an archetypal object and an architectural metaphor, exemplifies this duality. Its cultural significance emerges not from its material walls but from the emptiness they delineate—an active void that "grasps" by receiving (taking)
and retaining (keeping). Drawing on Heidegger’s notion of the jug’s ontological emptiness, I explore how traditional craftsmanship prioritize spatial logic over form, enabling heritage to be reinterpreted rather than replicated. Similarly, adaptive reuse in architecture transforms historic buildings by reanimating their "emptiness" as hubs for contemporary narratives while preserving cultural memory. Photography extends this inquiry into the perceptual realm. Like sculpting, it frames space as an embodied conception rather than a passive void. The camera’s aperture operates as a threshold, mirroring the vessel’s opening—a site where light,
materiality, and boundaries intersect. Inspired by Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology and Bachelard’s poetics of space, I employ photography as a methodological tool to interrogate spatial thresholds, revealing how boundaries function as both barriers and conduits. The photographic frame, like the lip of a vessel, becomes a space of cultural negotiation, where inside/outside and past/present dynamically interact. By integrating artistic practice with architectural theory, this research offers a transdisciplinary approach to spatial design—one where emptiness, as cultural resonance, fosters continuity and innovation in an increasingly globalized world.