INHABIT PHILOSOPHY

With the snapshots of people, this design also relates to my trashold design with the polariod photographs. While their it was about catchin that instantaneous moment, here it is about bringing it to life with real people and new friends. Here I encourage people to download this polaroid printer, go home, print out some photos of them with their friends, and stick them onto the boards in the spaces.

SNAPSHOTS

The beginning process of the design, was to start building the space that I intended to inhabit. Therefore I began building the downstairs area, with the case study rooms and lengthy corridors. To reach this point however from the main staircase, I had to first build the large downstairs study space, so that people could navigate their way to the corridors.

SPACE

Considering the reading that went with this brief, about considering the feeling of a place, and based on my Thrashold design of bringing people together, I have chosen my space as the corridors. These spaces make the individual feel like they are on forced pathways. Where they are trapped by this movement of people and rushed to continue onwards where this especially happens downstairs. The red paint on the wall emphasises the need for students to be quick and hasten their steep. It almost feels like being forced to do something, go somewhere or make decisions because one chose the wrong path. There is even a tunnel effect with some of the main doorways, and its always trying to reach that destination.


You are continuously walking past the people around you, never stopping to greet people, or to simply pause, even when the corridors aren't empty. They feel like they should not be occupied. In the upper levels, red is not used, however their are black walls that are either rounded (usually near the atrium) that guide a smoother path for the individual, or harsh angular walls that force a decision out of you once you have become entangled in the labyrinth of corridors. The corridors even look the same. More than once you get the feeling that you have walked down this path before.




I would like to create an intervention that encourages (not forces) people in the corridors to pause, to feel the need to stop, and maybe even go against the flow. In the majority of the corridors (especially downstairs because of the large number of students)people even walk on one side of the corridor, like they drive down a road, driving past friends and stranger alike.

This intervention would ultimately bring people together. For them to stop, chat, and observe with other people, creating chance opportunities to bump into people whom you haven't seen for a while or make new friends. In the downstairs area, students are almost encouraged to move faster, but why? So students can get from one lecture to the next, so they can stick to their routine? Why not create an intervention in this building which just from the exterior view imposes the idea of power and leaders of the future, and make them take a breather. An intervention to bring them closer as their hierarchies are significantly split.

The grand atrium makes one feel small, insignificant and not apart of the building when looking up from the bottom of the stairs. This is because of the height of the building, the fact that i am a student, not a lecturer or tutor, and that I can't reach those stairs that would propel me to those higher levels. This is part of the hierarchy that needs to be broken.

From here I will video camera each of the corridors at different time periods to monitor the flow of people and to analyse why some people (very few) choose to stop, considering how i can bring people together.

INHABIT

Carnival appropriates and occupies place, changing it momentarily. Increasingly invisible architectural devices exert influences on traditional architectonis. We can be there but also elsewhere. Friends in different time zones and hemispheres can share ideas and dreams. Arguably wireless signals, access control and 3G availability have become new architectonic constituents, which increasingly influence the occupation and quality of space. The relationship of built forms and the support they offer to occupation, commerce and experience is increasingly fluid and challenges the language of traditional architectural discription and working process

Use you previos experience of Threshold and the required reading to change a space in the Owen G Glenn (OGG) Building through occupation by designing an intervention that challenges someone's spatial ideas of the body and signal or bodily needs and heady idea.

For this brief 'Inhabit' I should consider changing a place or area through habitation where one could change the feeling of that place, contradict the architecture and create events that shift the normal social path and possibly change your movement. A place influences how you behave, they do not control your emotions but they do control one's activity and I should be considering how thresholds might undermine or change these activites and behaviour.

From the reading I have gathered many interesing ideas about inhabiting a space and how people and routine cause space to evolve qualitatively over time, considering how space can change over time and be depicted through experience. It went on to emphasise that spcae has both dynamic and static components, however it is the dynamic components, which involve people, acitivties and routines, that also influence space by changing over time as well as their attitude to amenities and commerce.

For this brief I believe that randomness could play a large part of the design where Hyde sugggests "imperfections and uncertainly within a relationship offers the potential for creative play".It is the imperfection of chance encounters and interaction that aloow for creative opportunites which can be exploited. The reading also suggests that "using digital technology for capturing emotive as well as physical aspects of space challenges existing organisational paradigms that isolate computing for drawing, management or monitoring applications", which I should take into consideration when it comes to inhabiting my chosen space and the method or technology I use to provoke or show it.

From my previos design brief 'Thrashold', I wish to bring in my idea of breaking heirarchies between people. This included between the different year levels, between students and lecturors/tutors, and between the different fields of study (i.e. architects and engineers'. In my Thrashold design I created a space that could be occupied by anyone. It wasnt for any sort of person and brought people from both sides of the threshold (the courtyard and studio) together to establish new interactions and opportunites.

After documenting the building with my threshold in mind, I believe I would like to create an intervention in one of the following three places.
1. In the downstairs corridors, where students are quickly rushed through an orderly maze of corridors that allows for no freedom or wandering. An intervention here would create an opening in these corridors and allow them to wander more freely in a relaxed manner.


2. In the space downstairs by the one entry/exit. This empty space needs an intervention that forces people to move towards it with excitement, not pass through it unnoticed or walk around it access other paths. This space needs some people to inhabit it.



3. Lastly the main staircase provides a wonderful view looking up at the various levels, bringing fascination and wonder at this great atrium. However not only are you not meant to stop on the stairs, you cannot access those levels. The stairs can teasingly be seen starting on the floor above, and the elevators are not accessible to most people. Once again the space by elevators in narrow and confined and encourages a fast flow of people in order to avoid blockages, apart from the people catching the lifts. An intervention could be built here so people can seize the space on the upper levels which may offer a slower environment, away from the hustle and bustle of the atrium.

Documentation of the Owen G Glenn Building

Change a space (occupy) by designing an intervention that challenges:

1. What the body should feel like it should be doing, how it should be moving
2. movement, space, circulation, direction
3. The signals we give off as we move - haste, routine?

and provide new opportunities and interactions between people. (THRASHOLD)



OWEN G GLENN BUILDING - SCHOOL OF BUSINESS


Opening by main central stairwell, attracts you towards elevator shaft, however access to the higher levels is restricted to the people who work there. A person moves towards this opening only to be forced to continue through. Cannot stop because it blocks the narrow area, and because a person from outside the higher levels cannot access it. We instincively pause at this area, only to be pushed along.



This view is from the lower level, looking towards the bottom of the main staircase. The body wants to almost surface above this underground, it is drawn to the opening and light that comes from it. The body moves at a leisurely pace up the stairs. Goes with the students who are leaving this downstairs area which is a working area with lecture theatres and computer labs, to the cafe and atrium above which has a more relaxed environment.


This black wall, makes the body want to stop. Its sharp edge bluntly cuts the persons movement, and forces them to acknowledge the two different paths on either side. In this corridor, there should really be a continuous flow to avoid blockages however this wall almost challenges that idea.


This photo is taken from the door downstairs that leads out to Windham street. In this area, people should not be stopping for any reason as it is simply an entrance with alternative pathways leading off it. Due to the lighting and the coloured walls on both side, the body automatically wants to move forward as a sort of tunnel vision is created. In this area people tend to give off signals of haste, as they rush to their lectures classes and leave through this entrance to other parts of the university more accessible via this doorway like the Human Sciences Building.


This is the oterh corridor leading up to this second doorway to the building. It is neither inviting or uninviting. This building seems to house many corridors that lead off to various rooms, theatres and spaces, to possibly create a momentous flow when the building is busy, and direct people to there needed location quickly and efficiently. Two concepts that could easily be challenged as this route is also forced; there is no free will of movement. Students cannot wander at their leisure or explore.


The continuous use of red, is also very disorientating. It makes you feel like you have been in certain areas (which you haven't been) before. Along with its formal corridors, it almost forms a maze in the underground area of the building, an ants nest or orderly chaos that is hectic and busy.




This space, appears to have no importance, as it has no furniture or supply any reasons for a person to be there, apart from the fact that it is almost a breathing area between the corridors. It is another entrance. The space could be used more efficiently. People there barely go down this end of the space, as there is much reason to. It is one of the quite spaces of the building. An intervention could be developed here to encourage people to occupy this space rather than bypassing it.


This is a small study space that leads off to the previously mentioned space. It is a quite area for students who wish to be alone.

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This is in the large downstairs area just below the main stairwell and to the left. It is a space with a computer lab area and with furniture to invite lingering and interaction. However once again it feels empty, like the space hasn't been used to its full advantage. The body simply wants to walk through it and continue on to the stairwell. It doesn't want to have a seat.


Same downstairs area, showing the seats which are all vacant. I did go to the building in the holidays which may not offer fair results, requiring me to go at another stage during the semester however the people who were there, were not taking a seat.

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the photo montage on the wall, brings people towards this area. in a sense it makes the individual want to discover more about the building and the type of people who work here. the colour brings life and warmth into the downstairs area, and the large space in front of the board allows for movement and circulation around the board.


At the bottom of the grand staircase, in the atrium, we experience a sense of awe, or wonder, like in a tall cathedral. However due to the atmosphere and design of the staircase, the individual does not enjoy this. We do not instinctively look up or out of the window, which is a shame because it really deserves some attention. The experience is therefore undermined and forgotten in the hustle and bustle of students.


This is one of my favourite views in the building. It assentuates the colour coding throughout the building and generates the idea of a central axis within the building. The elevator shaft convey messages of power, control, strong, bold and brass were oureyeline directly travels upwards. However most people are too busy looking down on the floor to notice this architectural potential. The curves from the balconies and those unreachable staircases, creates a flow of one's line of sight. This view is aesthetically pleasing because of its shape.

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However this view is minimised or not notcied at all as people simply make there way up and down the staircase, watching their feet or following the curve of the staircase to the areas off to the side with their eyes. When walking up these stairs one does acknowledge how wide the stairs are. Yet, even after going to the building during semester the staircase isnt used that much, so why has it been built so big? To impose on us these preconceptions about business? or most likely has it just been designed as a large staircase for the atrium; a grand staircase between the student underground, basement area with lecture theatres and the open, light areas of the business world these students will one day really be apart of. The heirarchy between the various areas is severe with signs even restricting access to certain people. When I went up the elevator I could tell from the atmosphere that people didnt think that I should be there ( might have been due to my photo taking) but they could tell I didnt belong in this world of business. I wasn't on a straight course to my next destination, i was taking a leisurely walk around the building.


The height in the atrium makes you feel like your moving through the heart of the building, the part that is exposed and shows you the progress that is yet to be made, the goals that are yet to be achieved, and acts as a place where people can observe others from the various levels. Architecturaly, I love this view because of the curving balcony with the supported bridge and the support system visable, as well as the stairs that look like floating platforms. The individual experiences a sense of wonder when one looks up, however no one takes the time to.


To experience the grandeur of this entrance, you need up from your feet on the stairwell, and into the huge glass opening that offers a framed view. It wants attention, however the experience is ruined because it is almost ignored, plus the view chosen is of the ASB Tennis stadium which is being modified.


This is the cafe area on the first floor, looking from the atrium. Your path is unintentionally navigated from the curve in the roof and floor plan, along with the steel columns that almost bar off the area. However it creates a pleasant circulation through this area which during semester gets rather busy. It was interesting to note that this area shown was inhabited by all students while the seated area on the other side of the cafe contained a majority of what I presumed to be professers and lecturers. There was an obvious age split between the two different areas and I wondered why this was. Both areas are well lit up, however the curved black wall (which is repeated throughout the building) which the cafe is located within, sets two different zones or paths. The professers and tutors choose to sit at the one that seems more like the cafe, while students choose the larger area, that is one of the sunny spots in the building they are allowed.


From this viewpoint I experience the idea that the stairs are leading down towards something, that they are not simply turning off at the sides taking different paths. I feel like the movement should be continued straight through, not haltered by this seemingly glass wall when i can see that the building continues on either side.






This outer courtyard offers a great neutrol zone of the building where anyone is free to linger, stop, rest, eat their lunch or simply walk past. It is a area designed not just for business students but for the wider university community. However the same materials and square shapes almost suggestive otherwise.


Here the outside glass from the different levels, visually creates a ladder out the side of the building, however like the stiarcase in the atrium, there is no connection from the ground to the next level. Maybe one is never expected to get to that level.


Once again the curved shape of the building influences the path the individual walks along with the columns that act as a barrier almost. Makes you feel like you should not walk out from this controlled pathway.


One of the postgrad and lecturer only areas, visible from the first floor cafe area. Once again, no obvious link as to how one is meant to get up there.












With this view, I experience the idea that this building and the people within it are very modern, techno savy, fast pace people; the vision of the future. It comes across as a leading establishment in the country because of the power it emposses.




Walking up these stairs, I felt the experience that I was being forced into some small space, forced to change by bodily spatial needs to become accustomed to the shrinking height. Offers a gradual transition between the open skies to the 1 storey corridors.