Linear and Point Improve Everyday Life Together
I would like to talk about what is the everyday life which was mentioned in the class based on my own experience at first. I truly felt awkward when I read the theory of Koolhaas and saw the image of junk space in Chongqing which shows the crowded and messy commercial space because I truly did not think those are interesting. Then I looked back at my own experience and tried to find the reasons which are listed below.
There are lots of malls and crowded stores in my hometown. I almost went to these two kinds of space every week. I cannot say that my everyday life is consist of malls and crowded, but they truly play a crucial role in my life, which may make me regard them as ordinary stuff. Honestly, I feel depressed at first because I believe an architect or a designer should be sensitive to surroundings. Then, I also feel I am happy when I realize that I have the experience which is interesting in others' mind.
As Henri Lefebvre said, everyday life is what remains while removing specific activities. So what is specific activities? If I make people do not think those activities are specific anymore, could I improve the quality of people's everyday life? Then I would like to talk about my thought of how to make it.
Firstly, I totally agree with the point that overlapping several programs/activities in one space. However, I am afraid that focusing on creating junk space/ everyday space may lead to bulky buildings which has happened in some Chinese cities, like Peking/ Beijing. Besides, I do not want to have a house which is adhered to a gathering space/ community center because of the noisy and messy environment. From the perspective of a house owner, those kinds of community centers are negative elements for my house, although they are good to the urban. So community center is far away from enough.
I also agree with Jane Jacob's theory that street is very important for urban. The stores along the street are able to enrich people's everyday life, but it is not as strong as the community center. I would like to abstract street as the linear and abstract community center as the point. The residential area may along the linear as well and keep a certain distance from the point. Then the points may be linked my the linear.
That is the desired model in my mind the improve the quality of everyday life.
I really appreciate your inside and first-hand experience with some of the "junkspace," and I agree that a lot of supposed "community-focused" spaces that are a huge mass of a building that allows a lot of flexibility can be very overwhelming as people inhabit the space in their own way, but there is a strange beauty to the way the public evolves the space themselves. I wonder if instead of creating huge new infrastructures that in a way overpower some of the rest of the city could be better solved by re-using and re-adapting existing buildings that are no longer doing their part to contribute to the city. I think sometimes as architects we want to create a new and big thing that becomes an icon of us when really there are so many existing buildings that aren't functioning well and could use some love and renovation!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, the point of using the existing buildings inspired me a lot. It is truly a chance to make the building local and respond to the context more. Imagining spreading the programs in a huge mall thinly, that is, organizing those programs in horizontal level instead of stacking them together, it may create a "Disney Land" but for real urban life. Considering the price of the land, it may happen in suburban area.
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