Obertoplatz | Hechingen (Germany)
“Enclosure is the end product of traffic, this is the place to which traffic brings you. Whiteout enclosure traffic becomes nonsense”.
Gorden Cullen (1961)
There is a difference between closure and enclosure. Closure is the creation of a break in the street. This break does not block out the sense of progression beyond. You are focused on the break and the space behind.
With enclosure on the other hand, you are completely surrounded. Once an enclosure is entered, the scene remains the same as you walk across it. Enclosure provides a world apart which is inward looking, static and self-sufficient. A pleasant square has enclosure, no closure.
This square in Hechingen has closure: you’re aware of the progression beyond the square. You do not experience it as an enclosed place.