Embracing the tyranny of distance: space as an enabling constraint

Architectural design is typically limited by the constraints imposed by physical space. If and when opportunities to attenuate or extinguish these limits arise, should they be seized? Here it is argued that the limiting influence of spatial embedding should not be regarded as a frustrating tyranny to be escaped wherever possible, but as a welcome enabling constraint to be leveraged. Examples from the natural world are presented, and an appeal is made to some recent results on complex systems and measures of interaction complexity.