Congest, Clump and Clog my Architecture... No thanks
Reflecting back to both the weekly readings and class discussion, I found the “culture of congestion” to be most intriguing for me to think about. This notion of designing for the purpose of clumping together various programmatic types, bringing people together, crossing circulation patterns and other aspects can go one of two ways. I think that on one side of the argument I can see this working quite effortlessly if we were to talk in terms of the experience for the user, it serves as a mini city with incredible proximity to all that we interact with. Trading my college campus during harsh winters in Missouri for the Downtown Athletic Club sounds ideal in this scheme. Instead of maneuvering through unnecessary walking patterns to use ancillary buildings as escape routes from the cold for minutes at a time, I could simply take the elevator from floor 23 to 5 and reduce my time and effort of bundling up each time I needed to move. Essentially removing the human from the uncontrollable elements of nature would reduce unavoidable disruptions with our everyday life. My interaction between programs would be incredibly more enjoyable to me, being someone who hates cold weather, and I think in this case only increases my experiential attitude with the architecture.
But taking a look from the designer’s perspective, I can only see a congested approach to be one that has such opportunity for error. I think that by attempting to combine all of the needs for daily life together is ground for too much complexity and not enough breathing room. For example, it seems that if my entire college experience was from a singular building including where I lived, where I studied, where I ate and where I socialized I don’t think that the success of the building is anywhere close to the potential of a campus type design. By generating a metropolis within one tower, the needs for elevators and for tables to eat at doesn’t sound efficient to me. Say everyone in the building eats lunch at the same time, the capacity of the dining hall would be pointless during the hours of the day when less than half of the people use its space. There is always room for flexibility in spaces of course, but the demands for the architect on all of these things doesn't seem worth it to me. A series of programmatic fragments sounds very much more appealing to me than a place that is convenient for me in ways that I would like them to be. Sometimes breaks and breathers are a good thing, and allow us to experience the built spaces in a stronger way.
I totally agree Hayley. The thought that I would spend all of my time between the same walls, although across a span of floors, already peaks my claustrophobia. The elements are part of the experience of place; they help us determine where we want to be and what we enjoy. Just like you mentioned that you hate the cold, you said goodbye to Mizzou, and now were happy to have you here in Clemson!
ReplyDeleteI read something once that said people always say college was the best time of their live, and its also the only time (most of) their lives that they'll ever live in a walkable community. Can you imagine if neighborhoods were built more like campuses? I would maybe actually know, maybe even see, my own neighbors!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I believe that there are communities build in a system like that. Actually a bunch of them in Portland, where people share the same big kitchen for communal dinner, a common community garden, play area for kids, woodshop, workshop, bike room. They live in their own home but share these spaces together (I lived in one of these communities and did a documentary on one of them for my senior year thesis, and I would love to send you the video when I find it in my old Tumblr account). Hope you will love it, and yes,"Can you imagine if neighborhoods were built more like campuses? I would maybe actually know, maybe even see, my own neighbors!" I always wondered why not design like this forward.
DeleteGreat post Hayley, it is cool to think about what you said, and to me proximity vs. long distance is a big debate when it comes to how we design our spaces, and link up with each other, etc... I liked when you said, I think that by attempting to combine all of the needs for daily life together is ground for too much complexity and not enough breathing room." That is one of the effects of living in big cities. I get mood change sometimes and want to take a break from the big crowded buildings that surround me, but again at times I feel great being around them since they remind me of my ability and the multitudes of possibilities that can happen when you have that much inspiration around you. So to speak, it is a debatable approach at the end of the day. Bummer, I don't always like campuses building though, they give me headache especially brick buildings.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the section where you talked about the elements being parts of the experience of place. Awesome post!
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