SPATIAL STRATEGIES SOLUTIONS

Written by Anna Markovic Plestovic

Previously I wrote about the influence spatial forms may have on individuals and various levels of society. Now I would like to give an example how individuals express their values in spatial arrangements. Of course, if those individuals are prominent public figures of considerable power and wealth, their individual spatial expressions are likely to have a much further reaching influence, then just their individual lives. And if they happen to be the Emperor...

If it was a desk of a manager of a company and I was asked to give feng shui consultations to assess the success of the company, I would have said without hesitation, that this desk was a disaster, and it should be repositioned immediately in order to regain control over the situation. Of course, the damage would not be done by the desk, but the person choosing to place ant orient the desk. So, the better advice would be to chose another manager. Obviously, Franz Josef I., the Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Krakow did not ask for feng shui consultations.

Following the obligatory tourist route in Vienna, I have visited the Hofburg apartments of the last Emperor of the Habsburg (Austrian or Austro-Hungarian) Empire, Franz Joseph I. The restored original design and furnishing of the apartments these days radiate an undeniably petit bourgeois flair. Not very surprising, since the Imperial court and household, as arbiter elegantiae, had set the standards that middle-class housewives were eagerly trying to live up to all around the ex-Empire, and many still do more than a century later.

It was just one detail that caught me as surprising – the placement of the Emperor's desk in his study, at which, as we were told, Franz Joseph was working daily from as early as 5 in the morning and into the late evening hours. The desk was placed sideways in front of a window, which did put the desk right onto the passageway created by the two doors that are in line on both side walls of the room. The desk was facing the door of bedroom, rendering the back of the person sitting at the desk open and undefended to the door of the council chamber.

Now why did I find this so odd? Because it is a very exposed, uncertain position even for lower ranking officials, or for minor executives in a company, while the Emperor is the highest-ranking official, emblematic of the whole Empire and impersonating it. The usual design logic requires the person "in control" to be placed in a controlling position in space. The controlling position is basically defined by military logic: secure the back and the flanks and focus on the space (battlefield) in front. Even though the arrangement of Emperor's study contradicted the design principles for the studies or offices of people in high positions in politics and business applied through history up to these days, I thought it might be just a mistake in reconstruction.

The Emperor's desk in Hofburg

The next day I went to Schönbrunn palace, where among other things, the apartments of the last imperial couple of Austria are shown to the visitor. Once again I have seen the study of Franz Josef I, now in another palace. The desk in this study was placed the same way like the one in Hofburg. I have even found a contemporary photograph, which shows that the placement is no mistake, but a historical fact, the result of choice of Franz Joseph himself.

Since he chose to place and orient his desks in both places in a specific manner, we can assume that it is a specific spatial expression of the person. The specific spatial expression speaks about the person.

What do the desks tell about Franz Joseph I?

Facing the private rooms and turning back to the premises representing the public domain – the government and the Empire – would indicate a man completely involved in his own conceptions and plans. These conceptions and plans are most unlikely to come to realization, since the field where they should be realized, the outside "real" world in front of the palaces, is left sideways. Thus this man is unlikely to face and resolve situations arising in the relation of his position and the community he represents to the outside world, he is unable to react properly.

Choosing the smallest chamber in the row, the narrow pass from public to private sphere for the study shows a determination to keep these two spheres apart, which could represent a deep-rooted resistance to the role he has to play in the outside world, unwillingness to identify with the Empire. That the desks are placed outside the bigger, safer part of the room, in a place for a person who runs on errands for others also tells a story of lack of self-confidence and the influence someone – most likely from the family, where his focus was – had over Franz Joseph. The history has it, that he was indeed greatly under the influence of his mother, Princess Sophie of Bavaria.

Facing inwards and leaving the real world and the public domain sideways and behind also may speak of a man tired and frightened of the outside world and it's pressures. It could also depict a man focused into past (family) not willing to accept present and future.

The back rendered open to the public domain would point out the lack of control over the politics and over the officials of the Empire, upon whom he relies. It also enables the officials to act on their own agendas, furthering policies potentially harmful for the Emperor and to the Empire.

And what does history say about Franz Joseph I?

The 68 years (1848-1916) long reign of Franz Joseph I seems to be his greatest accomplishment, the one for which the period is now remembered across the territory of former Austro-Hungary as a period of order, progress and prosperity. Long rules are usually associated in memory with a well-ordered society lacking political and economic perturbations.

In reality, the reign of Franz Josef I was the period of building up and surfacing of most of the economic, national and religious tensions and conflicts present to this day in the region of Central and Southeastern Europe. It was also a period of decline of the family of Habsburg and the influence and importance of the Habsburg Empire in the European political arena. It was a period of decline of an Empire ending in the World War I, and death of Austro-Hungary.

To illustrate the above assessment of his performances based on his spatial choice, here is a short description of the reign of the last Emperor of Habsburg monarchy, based on Wikipedia:

He ascended to throne in 1848., after the abdication of his uncle, an arrangement that should end the revolutions of 1848. Largely considered to be a reactionary, Franz Jozeph spent his early reign resisting constitutionalism in his domains.

The Austrian Empire was forced to cede most of its claim to territories of Lombardy-Venetia to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia following the conclusion of the second Italian War of Independence (1859), and the Third Italian War of Independence (1866). Although Franz Joseph ceded no territory to the Kingdom of after the Austrian defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, the Peace of Prague (1866) prevented the unification of Germany under the House of Habsburg.

Franz Joseph was troubled by nationalism, and the raise of national movements during his entire reign. He granted greater autonomy to Hungary in 1867, hence transforming the Austrian Empire into the Austro-Hungarian Empire under his Dual Monarchy. After the Austro-Prussian War, Austria-Hungary turned its attention to the Balkans, which was a hotspot of international tension due to conflicting interests with the Russian Empire. The Bosnian crisis was a result of Franz Joseph's annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, after it had been occupied by Austrian troops since the Congress of Berlin (1878).

On 28 June 1914, the assassination of the heir to Austro-Hungarian throne by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, resulted in Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against the Kingdom of Serbia, which was Russia's ally. This activated a system of alliances which resulted in World War I.

During his reign Franz Joseph personally suffered the tragedies of the suicide of his son, the Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889, and the assassination of his wife, the Empress Elisabeth in 1898. Though the love story of young Franz Joseph and Elizabeth (Sissie) inspired romantic movies and literature, their married life was anything but happy. In order to avoid restrictions imposed on her by the Court and Princess Sophia, her mother-in-law, the Empress was mostly visiting fashionable places around Europe, spending very little time, if any, in Vienna, where the Emperor had his official mistress, the actress Katharina Schratt.

Now, is the desk to blame?

No, the desk just shows a man not related to his position or to the outside world. The specific spatial aspects of chosen positioning and orientation point to the specific set of values, conceptions and behaviors characteristic of the man, wherefrom his decisions and actions originated, and through that it could help to foresee outcomes of his actions in any given circumstances.