As imagined virtually (left) and the reality (right) - The VA Roseburg Healthcare System Protective Care Unit by Robertson/Sherwood/Architects pc
Bill Kleinsasser was an advocate for the informed, skillful use of various types
of architectural media to facilitate the study of places, activities and
spatial components, the organization of those components into unified
compositions, and evaluative analyses. He believed these included not only the
customary diagrams, drawings, and scale models but also written essays about and
illustrated case studies of place-response and activity-support.
The following excerpt from
the fifth edition of Bill’s self-published textbook Synthesis serves as a
useful reminder that the purposes of study media extend well beyond merely depicting
design intent. It’s important for us to understand the capabilities and
limitations of the media we employ to avoid being victimized by them on the one
hand, or unable to read them on the other. As our designs progress, the focus
shifts across an increasing field of ideas, all in need of externalization for
study. The “badly needed” kinds of study media Bill advocated for are as much
about achieving a deeper understanding of the problem being solved as they are
means for producing tangible surrogates for building. He wanted us to not allow
the media we use to set their own agenda for our concerns—a topical
consideration today as we increasingly abdicate our design processes to virtual
reality software. Read on:
Architectural Study Media: Some badly
needed kinds:
Media that depict and remind us of the
multitude of actions and events that will happen (or that we hope will happen)
in the places we propose.
All
built places need to support many events and actions. Every built place should
present many opportunities rather than few. This can only happen when places
are made in sufficient response to the dimensional, proportional, and
locational requirements of a broad range of anticipated actions and events (but
this doesn’t mean that we try to make every place accommodate all actions and
events; that is impossible). We could begin by considering the most obvious and
demanding actions and events and then add consideration of as many more as we
can (activity overlays are media for this).
Media to remind us of considerations that
tend to be overlooked or avoided because they are difficult.
We
need categories that we can focus on or tend to in each design problem. The
several experiential categories from my course are of this kind. Bob Harris’
“modes of inquiry” are of this kind. Alexander’s patterns, while being much
more explicit in regard to what they suggest, are of this kind. And the
suggestions of Vitruvius, Palladio, Ruskin, Le Corbusier, and Kahn are all of
this kind.
Media that help us respond to a great
quantity of considerations.
A
typical house embodies responses to several hundred separate considerations.
Media that invite or simplify
consideration of recurring objectives such as spatial diversity, essential
three-dimensionality, sensorial richness, suggestiveness of spaces, spatial
layering, etc.
Of
course, if these objectives are absent in the first place the problem is not
limited to study media types, but conventional media (plans, sections, small
scale models, and the several kinds of projection) do not focus on these
objectives very well, especially when used separately. We need media that
deliberately focus on the objectives above.
Media that present a direct and detailed
description of the experience of places by the people who live there—their
description and explanation of the most important conditions, characteristics,
and aspects of those places.
My
media class is attempting to provide itself with such information by visiting
several houses and recording long interviews with their occupants about their
experiences there. We will also transcribe and categorize the occupants’
comments so that we can cross-reference them.
Media that help us generate design ideas.
Media that recall and retain for us the
gestalt of existing places, that recall and retain the overall impact of those
places.
There
is no reason to assume that such places will not have similar and significant
(while certainly not the same) meaning if recreated within new situations.
People have always built upon previously existing models and images, and with
meaning.
Media that recall and retain for us the
purposefulness and meaning of the parts and various characteristics of
places—parts and characteristics that have had obvious success or significance.
While
the particular circumstances surrounding those parts and characteristics will
not be the same as in new situations, the situational variation may be taken
into account and the examples still used as a source of valuable insight.
Media that help us identify significant
qualities, opportunities, and problems in existing places
(sub-places, undeveloped relationships, dependencies, fragility, dominant
characteristics, existing patterns of use, etc.).
Media that help us check the appropriateness
or precision of what we have proposed, and this under circumstances
that simulate reality.
Media that permit the observation of
proposed places under real lighting conditions, and
this during different times of day and during different seasons.
Media that permit the observation of
proposed places within their actual physical context, and
this in scale (a gross simulation is only misleading).
Media that allow ordinary people to
understand and evaluate (rehearse) proposed places,
especially how places would be for individuals with differing needs and how
they would be over time. This is important because those people must be able to
make wise decisions about proposed ideas. If they are confused or fooled then
they will be greatly disappointed with the built places they have decided upon.
WK /
1975
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