Norberg-Schulz’ elements of space in Dark City

The chapter analyses the future noir environment of Alex Proyas' Dark City (1998) from a spatial perspective. This science fiction film puts forth questions about the construction process of a city. The aliens in the film constantly alter each street, building and room to create the right environment for humans to dwell. These ‘strangers’ believe that they need to study humans in their authentic spaces to understand human nature. Using bits and pieces of people's memories, they reconstruct a worldless city. On another note, Christian Norberg-Schulz identifies four elements of space: physical, perceptual, existential and conceptual. Physical space is physical existence as it is. Perceptual space is the temporary space the user perceives. Existential space, for instance, the meaning of the concept of home, is abstract and permanent; it does not change with changing conditions. Finally, conceptual space, in his spatial philosophy, is the space concept of specialists like architects, economists and mathematicians. In the context of Dark City, the notion of building is studied as to physical, perceptual, existential and conceptual spaces of Norberg-Schulz through concepts of home, identity, belonging, and alienation with reference to the architecture of the city and the concept of worldlessness. As a spatial and temporal art, cinema includes representational space. With a critical gaze at the existing norms of architecture, science fiction films create new horizons. They extend the borders of the concept of space by creating the space of the future or of the non-existent. In this chapter, the author brings forth the imagined architectural designs of Dark City. Analysing this film in which space performs like an actor, she shows how sci-fi set designs add to the narration of a film and help question the concept of space.