ARCH 642 Challenge vs. Comfort

Rem Koolhaas explains to us that designers used to come up with really unique and groundbreaking ideas that were unpredictable and maybe even controversial. But now, designers have gotten into this rhythm of predictable and safe designs that don't challenge the designers or the users of the space to have to think about it. We design spaces for specific people and only those specific people tend to congregate there. It used to be that designers could create a space that would apply to multiple types of people and therefore would allow for a variety of humans to come to the space, spurring social interaction with new types of people. Many designers now are afraid to take a chance and try something new and crazy because they fear being ridiculed and rejected.

This is an example of a "comfort" plaza. It is safe, symmetrical, flat, and predictable.

This is a "challenge" plaza. It has a sense of danger, has a giant curve that people can climb on if they desire to, and has multiple levels of space.

While both spaces are intended for people to spend time on and congregate in, they are completely different in design. There is nothing in you that desires to walk to the other side of the safe plaza because you know that it will be the same on one side that it is on the other. But there is a part of you that wants to climb the curve on the challenge plaza, a part of you that wants to run down it or sled or just see what the view is from up higher. The challenge plaza creates different types of spaces for all types of people, not just one massive space for a few types of people.

ARCH 642 Invisible Cities

When reading about the city and the sky, I started imagining how you could bring the city level up closer to the sky. I envisioned terraces towering over a city that create a long but meaningful journey up, with connections along the way and multiple paths to choose from. 

One of the city and the sky chapters discussed a city that had a very complex and confusing road system, but if you stood in one specific spot in the city, the paths would all make sense, This model is a conceptual idea representing finding order in chaos. Bright colors, multiple shapes and scales, and blocked views make this environment difficult to travel through, but if you recognize that the patterns on the vertical surfaces are the same as the pattern on the horizontal surface, you can begin to understand the repetition. 

ARCH 642 Theory Less More

LESS seriousness MORE humor
less blah blah blah more ha ha ha

In a society where we are told to be professional, look our best, and behave, it doesn't hurt to break from the norm every once in a while and have a good laugh. Laughter is the best medicine. It is scientifically proven that children laugh significantly more than adults do, but as we grow older we lose our laughter. And that is not okay. If not for pure enjoyment and bliss, laughter can at least help manage stress, decrease blood pressure, and help with anxiety. I think we all get caught up in life and our jobs and forget to have fun with it. I am not immune to it, but I am aware of it. If you aren't surrounding yourself with people who make you laugh or with an environment that you can have fun with, then I think it's time to make a couple of adjustments.

LESS talk MORE action

This is something I have to remind myself of. I am notorious for having big ideas and big dreams for things, but never fully executing them the way I had imagined. That is not to say I am not a highly motivated and goal oriented person, because I am. I think I just am very optimistic when starting something new, and by the end of it the realism sets in and I finally see what I can realistically get done in the amount of time I have and with the resources I have access to. I'm hoping this doesn't happen with my thesis. I have already started doing readings and research for it, so I am trying to get ahead of the game as much as I can while I have the time to do it now. I am very excited about my thesis topic and about the work I have ahead of me to get it accomplished, so I just keep telling myself to 'shut up and do it!'