Thoughts on Context: Week 3

Class, thus far seems to moving at a steady pace and is starting to help narrow in what I want to research and potentially make a Capstone project out of. Last class period was thought provoking in a sense of trying to figure out what other people’s questions were about or what they were trying to get towards. Thinking about how a question can be more specific and how it can start to reveal new things about a topic that I may be potentially interested in. From this week, I have been focused on researching and further developing my questions at hand.

I feel like this blog post will help me be able to think through some of the context, interests and motivation that lies at the core of my 3 questions. The Idea that I can start to write out exactly what I have in mind when I mean “What makes design comfortable?”, “What role do signs and symbols play in the built environment?”, and “ How can architects use social sciences to better design and make spaces more understandable?”

Motivation:

To start out, I have a string interest in the way people feel when they enter a space. How and what they are thinking about certain types of architecture, especially ones that are easy to understand for someone in the design profession. I want to be able to design for the user and keep that particular group in mind when a project is in the design process. How can more architects think about this group of people and how might it impact certain design decisions? I feel that it is important to not just design for the architecture community and for awards, but to design something that impacts the lives of those that use the space. I found an interest in the topic of how people navigate a complex environment of “turning right to turn left” (Venturi). It interests me that people often feel more comfortable going into a space with a big sogn that a place without that same explicit message.

Interests:

Some of the interests behind my questions is the thoughts and theories of Rem Koolhaas and the idea that drive his architectural thinking. For example, reading portions of Delirious: New York, it is apparent that he understands that within a skyscrapers spaces have a strong variety between floors. From this notion is what makes up the essence of the skyscraper, individuality and variance with every floor. Another interest that represents the merge between architecture and symbols is the work of Bjarke Ingels. His architecture emits a clear understanding based on a symbol that the project follows. It would be interesting to see how people or if people react differently to his archirtecture compared to other styles of design or other architects work. It is intriguing the notion that Venturi and Scott Brown make in “Learning From Las Vegas” about how humans prefer the signage to help with guidance in the complex environment that we live in. In today’s architecture it is important and a necessity to be able to design for the public or the user of a space. To guide and help people through design.

Audience:

Through research and interests, I feel like the three question all point towards an audience of architects and designers. The audience, at this point in the process is hard to judge and finalize. The audience are the people that can take the ideas from this capstone research and be able to apply them to work and projects. It would also be interesting to see if the project goes towards a broader audience, that being the user (space dweller). To focus how people should feel within a space or how the architecture can impact the experience of a space and be able to see and hear what others feel with different types of spaces.

Impact:

I hope that the impact, of this research, is one that people can replicate in their own architecture and spatial propositions. Architecture is powerful and the built environment is what users experience and interact with each and everyday. Design should reflect the user and influence their lives in a positive manner and not a negative one. The research can help to identify the experience of a user versus a designer and make claims towards the differences in viewpoints and be able to merge the two voices.