Postmodern Issues In A liON DES GN Part II: Philosophical Problems of Space 5 pac e A DELBERT The Summer 1990 issue ofTD&T introduced a series ofarticles on Action Design TheolJ\ an exciting theatrical design school of thought born in the postwar theatres of Prague. Its basic premise states that on0' those items which are necessfll)/, which have a function related to the action ofthe drama, are placed on the stage. The previollS article discussed fil//ction and the horizon and the problems posed in Action Design by proscenium environments.-Ed. s T UNRUH he pracrical spa rial concerns of Acrion Designers in proscenium rhearres have lead ro rich and varied solurions. Bur rhese pracrical concerns are only rhe exrernal manifesrarions of rhe cenrral philosophical problem of space wirh which rhe Acrion Designers are concerned. This problem is occasioned by rhe developmenr of a new posrmodern view of rhe use of space in design and can be undersrood, in parr, by examining some exren- T ext sions of rhe ideas of rhe French psychologisr Lacan. His work seems ro indicare rhar rhere are ar leasr four ways of apprehending and inreracring wirh space.' They are: SPACE AS LANDSCAPE Firsr, space can be seen as a landscape. Conracr wirh space in rhis perceprion is solely visual. Space is viewed as arrificial and is arranged for me ro see, nor ro live TD&T 1990 FALL 25