That architecture carries meaning is hardly a contested issue. Neither that this is largely through representing or implying social relations or structures. How is a more discussed issue. The plethora of theories around this is rich, including Foucault, Lefebvre and Bour- dieu. Thomas Markus has, in Buildings and Power, convincingly shown how space syntax theories can contribute to this discussion, especially concerning social relations - relations of self-to-self, self-to-others and self-to-the other.

He does, however, not go to the depths of the implications of the main strength of space syntax - the found correlation between a building’s spatial system and the following use, something he shares with many others working with space syntax and meaning.

This paper introduces concepts for a methodology for such an understanding based on the hermeneutic theories of Ricoeur, taking into consideration the three forms in which social relations are present in or produced by architecture.