Evolving_Spaces
Mckenna Cameron Dissertation outline draft
Introduction:
A Utopia cannot be built as I discovered when researching for my last essay. Once it is built the definition of a Utopia changes therefore changing the space to no longer be idealistic. Through my main project I have been researching and discovering whether or not you can create a ‘Universal Personal Space’ in the 21st century. A space that is flexible and can accommodate many people to become their perfect space. My development has taken me to exploring the notion of a perfect space for many people. The idea seems a little contradicting considering that in order to design for many you have to focus on one person or group at a time. My main referencing will be to Michel Foucault’s ‘Of Other Spaces’ where he describes different Heterotopias. I’m not entirely sure of the path that my main project will take but I am interested in the tools I learn on the way. I am reading a book called Convivial Urban Spaces: creating effective urban places. It’s helping me to understand the importance of public spaces and how to design them effectively.
I. Shangri-La (Unreal space)
Using Shangri-La as an example of an unattainable Utopia. It is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton. People were so convinced the place was real the Nazi’s set out an expedition to find a master race there. It encompassed the notion of an earthly paradise. By looking at Shangri-La I came to realise peoples longing for a permantly happy place that was separate from the outside world. I will reference this to Michel Foucault’s view’s on Heterotopias.
II. Le Corbusier (Physical space)
In relation to mass produced housing. He looks at strategies to transform society into a better environment with higher standards of living on all levels. His idea to knock down most of Paris and replace it with identical rows of towers relates to my idea of standardised modules I.e. terraced houses from my SuperCrit sheet. The idea that they are blank canvases to put your own stamp on to. They create spaces for the masses. Except they are static and do not evolve physically from person to person but each person makes the space their own within the boundaries of the standard components.
III. MVRDV and Dutch Design (Physical space)
They strive to make the conceptual real with quite a lot of success. They also seek to solve the rise in the population creating very extreme proposals. Which I find exciting but do not necessarily agree with. They try to reorganize the existing city so that it can deal with these issues. Their designs and notions have influenced my thoughts of what can be possible while still trying to better previous designs for people to enjoy. MVRDV are very meticulous in their research of the city and the people. This scientific approach to design for the people interests me. I will also reference a book I read on Dutch design and town planning. They strived to create an environment that was capable of offering it’s inhabitants visual stimulus. I agree with this, that designers have to provide enough visual excitement to prevent the user from falling into a state of boredom. In Dutch Design they were inspired by lessons of sociology and psychology when designing Almere. They believe development cannot be halted. This is very true when it comes to designing a space that many people can enjoy. It needs to be able to evolve and develop from one person to the next. I want to research more into the traces people leave like the physical footprints, fingerprints, DNA and physical marks left by their furniture etc, and digitally, we leave a virtual trail every time we use the internet and interact in our daily lives. I want to record these traces left and am currently reading ‘The Weight of Evidence for DNA profiles by David. J. Balding’.
IV. Michel Foucault (Of Other Spaces)
He describes other spaces as sites of temporary relaxation, sites of rest. He believes that there are varied forms of heterotopias and that no one form of heterotopias would be found. One heterotopias in particular is the one linked to slices in time. For example museums and libraries. Time never stops building up and being stored. This relates to my notion of a space that evolves from person to person yet leaves traces behind that may influence the next person. The space archives time.
V. Main project
My main project started with the notion of exploring a built Utopia. Then developed into trying to find a way of building a perfect universal space. While developing my work we are encouraged to display our work on Inside Open. When I was looking for a way to annotate and graphically display my work I looked at Mesmerisation and Contemporary processes in Architecture. They helped me to visualise a more exciting way of showing my idea. My manifesto is my guide and outline to which I want to try follow. This may evolve as my prototype develops. Some of the points that are very important are, A perfect space can only be perfect to one person at any one time before having to evolve to accommodate another, Space accumulates time, you don’t need a programme to represent a perfect space, spaces are made up of components and space has a memory which leaves traces. All the designers I have research all seem to have the same goal and understanding to want to better our social standards. Some may be a little more extreme than others perhaps bordering on communism, because by forcing a certain way on the people is taking away their freedom to choose. My project is approaching this on a smaller scale. Perhaps an idea could be to alter the space slightly to accommodate different cultures or groups at a later stage of research. I am in the mean time researching how people leave traces and how to record these through reading books about DNA profiling.
I. Shangri-La (Unreal space)
Using Shangri-La as an example of an unattainable Utopia. It is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton. People were so convinced the place was real the Nazi’s set out an expedition to find a master race there. It encompassed the notion of an earthly paradise. By looking at Shangri-La I came to realise peoples longing for a permantly happy place that was separate from the outside world. I will reference this to Michel Foucault’s view’s on Heterotopias.
II. Le Corbusier (Physical space)
In relation to mass produced housing. He looks at strategies to transform society into a better environment with higher standards of living on all levels. His idea to knock down most of Paris and replace it with identical rows of towers relates to my idea of standardised modules I.e. terraced houses from my SuperCrit sheet. The idea that they are blank canvases to put your own stamp on to. They create spaces for the masses. Except they are static and do not evolve physically from person to person but each person makes the space their own within the boundaries of the standard components.
III. MVRDV and Dutch Design (Physical space)
They strive to make the conceptual real with quite a lot of success. They also seek to solve the rise in the population creating very extreme proposals. Which I find exciting but do not necessarily agree with. They try to reorganize the existing city so that it can deal with these issues. Their designs and notions have influenced my thoughts of what can be possible while still trying to better previous designs for people to enjoy. MVRDV are very meticulous in their research of the city and the people. This scientific approach to design for the people interests me. I will also reference a book I read on Dutch design and town planning. They strived to create an environment that was capable of offering it’s inhabitants visual stimulus. I agree with this, that designers have to provide enough visual excitement to prevent the user from falling into a state of boredom. In Dutch Design they were inspired by lessons of sociology and psychology when designing Almere. They believe development cannot be halted. This is very true when it comes to designing a space that many people can enjoy. It needs to be able to evolve and develop from one person to the next. I want to research more into the traces people leave like the physical footprints, fingerprints, DNA and physical marks left by their furniture etc, and digitally, we leave a virtual trail every time we use the internet and interact in our daily lives. I want to record these traces left and am currently reading ‘The Weight of Evidence for DNA profiles by David. J. Balding’.
IV. Michel Foucault (Of Other Spaces)
He describes other spaces as sites of temporary relaxation, sites of rest. He believes that there are varied forms of heterotopias and that no one form of heterotopias would be found. One heterotopias in particular is the one linked to slices in time. For example museums and libraries. Time never stops building up and being stored. This relates to my notion of a space that evolves from person to person yet leaves traces behind that may influence the next person. The space archives time.
V. Main project
My main project started with the notion of exploring a built Utopia. Then developed into trying to find a way of building a perfect universal space. While developing my work we are encouraged to display our work on Inside Open. When I was looking for a way to annotate and graphically display my work I looked at Mesmerisation and Contemporary processes in Architecture. They helped me to visualise a more exciting way of showing my idea. My manifesto is my guide and outline to which I want to try follow. This may evolve as my prototype develops. Some of the points that are very important are, A perfect space can only be perfect to one person at any one time before having to evolve to accommodate another, Space accumulates time, you don’t need a programme to represent a perfect space, spaces are made up of components and space has a memory which leaves traces. All the designers I have research all seem to have the same goal and understanding to want to better our social standards. Some may be a little more extreme than others perhaps bordering on communism, because by forcing a certain way on the people is taking away their freedom to choose. My project is approaching this on a smaller scale. Perhaps an idea could be to alter the space slightly to accommodate different cultures or groups at a later stage of research. I am in the mean time researching how people leave traces and how to record these through reading books about DNA profiling.
VI. Designer’s role
I am very excited to see where this leads as the role of the designer. My job is to change the way people use spaces and to preserve what environment we have left. Perhaps by not only designing an exciting and new personal space, I can discover new ways to re use previous spaces. In the book I’m reading called convivial urban spaces I am finding out just how important a designer is to society.
I am very excited to see where this leads as the role of the designer. My job is to change the way people use spaces and to preserve what environment we have left. Perhaps by not only designing an exciting and new personal space, I can discover new ways to re use previous spaces. In the book I’m reading called convivial urban spaces I am finding out just how important a designer is to society.
Conclusion:
After realising a Utopia can never be built and researching into the concept of designing for the masses, I have developed my design and concept using Michel Foucault as my main reference. I am trying to understand the complexity of the user so that I can design spaces that are perfect for them and their needs. My main project may close ideas and concepts, like with the realisation a Utopia cannot be built. I will learn new information that may change my opinions and views but at this moment my aim is to design the a comfortable space people would want to be in. Perhaps like MVRDV my design will be a theoretical idea of what could be with future technology. I have an idea to maybe have the concept as a virtual design.
After realising a Utopia can never be built and researching into the concept of designing for the masses, I have developed my design and concept using Michel Foucault as my main reference. I am trying to understand the complexity of the user so that I can design spaces that are perfect for them and their needs. My main project may close ideas and concepts, like with the realisation a Utopia cannot be built. I will learn new information that may change my opinions and views but at this moment my aim is to design the a comfortable space people would want to be in. Perhaps like MVRDV my design will be a theoretical idea of what could be with future technology. I have an idea to maybe have the concept as a virtual design.
Bibliography:
Books I’ve read:
Books I’ve read:
Le Corbusier. (1998) Essential Le Corbusier: L’Esprit Nouveau Articles. Uk. Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd.
MVRDV. (2005) KM3 : Excursions on Capacities. EU. Actar.
MVRDV. (2003) Reading MVRDV. Belgium. NAi Publishers.
Walter Hamilton. (1951) Plato- The Symposium. England. Penguin Group.
Desmond Lee. (1987) Plato- Timaeus and Critias. England. Penguin Group.
Desmon Lee. (1987) Plato- The Republic. England. Penguin Group.
Steve Bruce. (2000) Sociology- A very short introduction. UK. Oxford University Press.
Umbro Appollonio. (2009) Futurist manifesto. UK. Tate Publishing.
OMA/Rem Koolhaas. (1999) Dutch town- A city centre design. Rotterdam. NAi Publishers.
Aaron Betsky, Adam Eewens. (2004) False Flat- Why Dutch design is so good. Uk. Phaidon Press Ltd.
Maggie Toy. (2000) Contemporary processes in Architecture. England. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Gee Thomson. (2008) Mesmerisation. England. Thames & Hudson.
Books I will/am reading:
Watson. James D. (1928-) A Passion for DNA: genes, genomes, and society. England. Oxford University Press.
Freya. Conny. (2008) Digital by Design: crafting technology for products and environments. London. Thames and Hudson.
Shaftoe. Henry. (2008) Convivial Urban Spaces: creating effective public places. London. Sterling, VA.
David. J Balding. (2005) Weight of evidence for DNA profiles. England. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
1 response so far ↓
1 ephraim // Nov 28, 2009 at 6:08 am
do you think there are examples (in art and spatial practice) of universal personal spaces? (interesting contradiction)
and if so; do you want to provide an alternative or a further development in relation to these examples?
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