The concept of essence develops as a prominent creative trend through the theme of emptiness seen in minimalism in architecture. To highlight a few experiences of the emptiness created by the function of space, this topic is examined in the juxtaposition of two cultures: Western as temporal and Eastern as spatial. This article focuses on the metaphorical connotations of space, on Lotman’s semiosphere, which is a space with the included area serving as a symbol of the included space. Lotman describes the semiosphere, based on dualisms, levels, and spatial oppo-sites that represent the Tartu semiotician’s thesis. This case study examines the research’s initial hypothesis of emptiness being a metaphor that appears in the semantics of connotation – in the connection between Eastern and Western culture ‒ and provides a spatial model for cultural interpretation.