Meaningfulspace
The depressing thing about the art, regardless of the medium, is that it is inextricably tied to money. When the economy is good, the market for art (including architecture) flourishes. When it is bad, art suffers. Which is unfortunate, since hard times are when people most need inspiration and are most susceptible to ideas of hope. For art, which strives to redefine the rules and point out the flaws of society, perhaps the most ironic injustice of well-meaning artists is that ultimately, they are at the mercy of that flawed society they put under the microscope.
In architectural terms, as painstakingly cataloged in, "The World in a Shopping Mall," Crawford points out just how much influence consumption has on our environments and psychological states. Even the act of shopping is a calculated experience, with our purchases resulting from a barrage of outside influences that attack our senses through marketing. It is very much a predator-prey relationship. Crawford outlines our new found tendency to define our identities through what we buy.
Naturally, my instinct is to attempt to break myself free from this "tyranny" of consumerism. Because I am very much fulfilling this pattern of life through consumerism. We all are. So, what are the options? Let's look at architecture. In order to remove myself from this system, I have to design a building that attracts users without the use of branding, marketing, artificial heating/cooling, and identifiable stylistic attributes. Honestly, architecture cannot do it alone.
In order for people to accept such fundamentally different environments, they will have to undergo the same barrage of multi-sensory marketing campaigns to convince them that these artificial oasis are unfulfilling. Essentially, use the exact same principles employed to sell junkspace, but switch out the messages for meaningfulspace. Sustainability has already started to become a profitable industry, so perhaps we just redirect our efforts of junkspace consumerism to meaningfulspace consumerism.
In architectural terms, as painstakingly cataloged in, "The World in a Shopping Mall," Crawford points out just how much influence consumption has on our environments and psychological states. Even the act of shopping is a calculated experience, with our purchases resulting from a barrage of outside influences that attack our senses through marketing. It is very much a predator-prey relationship. Crawford outlines our new found tendency to define our identities through what we buy.
Naturally, my instinct is to attempt to break myself free from this "tyranny" of consumerism. Because I am very much fulfilling this pattern of life through consumerism. We all are. So, what are the options? Let's look at architecture. In order to remove myself from this system, I have to design a building that attracts users without the use of branding, marketing, artificial heating/cooling, and identifiable stylistic attributes. Honestly, architecture cannot do it alone.
In order for people to accept such fundamentally different environments, they will have to undergo the same barrage of multi-sensory marketing campaigns to convince them that these artificial oasis are unfulfilling. Essentially, use the exact same principles employed to sell junkspace, but switch out the messages for meaningfulspace. Sustainability has already started to become a profitable industry, so perhaps we just redirect our efforts of junkspace consumerism to meaningfulspace consumerism.
Comments
Post a Comment