Learning from the Roman house. Dom Hans van der Laan: Experience-spaces and constructional analogies

Dom Hans van der Laan’s architecture and archetypal models as described in his 1977 publication Architectonic Space aim to provide universal fundamentals, with an ahistorical perspective. The only specific references are to Vitruvius and Stonehenge. Nevertheless, research of Van der Laan’s archives and rare travel diaries reveals a series of ancient historical references that can be uncovered, from an early map of Rome to the study trip to Italy in 1969. Van der Laan dealt with the theory of architectonic disposition in the CKA between 1968 and 1973, after working on the plastic number and on architectonic form. The 1969 trip to Italy and the first-hand visits to the ruins enabled him to confirm and further develop his theories on architecture.