Unstoppable Force

modularity / time / change /art / association / architecture / reflection / creativity / photography /  technology / CG / efficiency / diversity / theory / 

"More important to Lefebvre than these predictable oscillations however, is a third category of time, the discontinuous and spontaneous moments that punctuate daily experience, fleeting sensation of love, play, rest, knowledge. these instance of rupture and illumination, arising from everyone's daily existence, reveal the possibilities and limitation of life"

Outsiders looking in

When was the last time you found yourself waiting in line at Starbucks, thinking to yourself how much you love just being in that moment chatting with your friends? We do not value these moments as much as Lefebvre, Debord, and De Certeau love to romanticize over them, but would rather relate more to their role as spectators of social interaction, something that we have been doing for generations. We value the comfort that comes from watching our daily dose of tv dramas and romantic comedies. We value the rush of endorphins we get from watching those "fleeting sensation of love, play, rest and knowledge". Our brain learns the best by associating things we already know with the new information we are learning. The more connections we can make with our senses, the more accessible these memories become later in life. In my opinion, the moments and memories that are the most valuable in our day-to-day lives are the ones where the architecture disappears, regardless of any subjectivity to form or style. The perfect amount of light, at the perfect temperature, with the perfect acoustics, the comfort of a warm leather couch, with the perfect company and having conversations, all permit this disappearance. This perfection is not from having a designer’s chair, brand new clean buildings or even the built environment; but can be a group of people around a campfire in the fall by the seashore. Before you know it, this small little dot along the coastline can become the most memorable space created by light and shadow. These fleeting moments come and go, and continue to oscillate throughout time and space. 

  

Art 

I would like to speculate that the reason why theorist like Lefebvre focused so much on these fleeting moments of our mundane lives was due partially to Art and technology. When we look back to theorist or historians or even architects, we need to make an attempt to understand all the different factors that could have influenced them to write about their environment or any given topic about their society. This is a very difficult task due to the different variables that could have influenced Lefebvre's views on everyday urbanism. Advancements in technology, like the invention of the camera, could have influenced society in the debate of whether photography could be consider as art. Even though the Realist movement aided in the adaptation of photography into the world of art, even though the majority criticized the new up and coming art medium. The Realist / naturalist art movement came to fruition as a reaction to Romanticism in mid-19th century France, which portrayed the working class in their everyday life. This major shift of subject matter in such a rich aristocratic commodity that is art, must have influenced society in a dramatic way; a shift that can level all social status and gives importance to the working class and their day-to-day mundane tasks. 

Time 

How can architecture withstand the force of time and social influence? And how can we design to have more intersections between the three categories of time set by Lefebvre: cyclical, linear and discontinuous and spontaneous moments?