Submitted by holga on Tue, 2007-11-13 09:17.
Olga Panadés Massanet
October 22nd 2007.
My objectives:
o Learn more about the variables that influence how we physically experience a particular space. (For instance: amounts of light, electricity, shape of the room and the building, sound, route to access, privacy/publicity, radiation, temperature, cleanness, subjectivity, presences, height and width of walls, size of the room and shape, colour of walls, sounds, etc.)
o Map two or three of the variables that influence the energy of the different spaces in the building and cross them.
o For example take ROUTE TO ACCESS and PRESENCES. My hypothesis about the ‘route to access’ is that depending on the length, difficulty, cleanness, light of the route, number of bifurcations and therefore decisions, the space is perceived in a different way. So we could use all these information to describe a particular room.
ß LAB: it’s accessed through stairs, through two locked doors, it has the reception on its way, it requires al least 3 decisions, and zones of light and shade are found alternatively along the way.
o Then if we consider PRESENCES we would map people and objects that are present in the room. We could complicate the picture even more by considering the routes of those presences (tracing people and objects).
o In doing so, convert the room into a list of information.
o Rethink about the influence of the observer in the room. For example if we think the room as a huge list of data, we could think how this list completely changes when I start reading it. The text would never be the same. Every time that you try to read it as a different user, the list data would change completely.
o But then, want to go back to space (I don’t want to fish the trip in the list of information, somehow I should find a way to bring this back to the room).
The resources and strategies I will use are:
o Talk to Goldsmiths site office and see if I can get plans of the building.
o Contact the local authority to see if there are any historical groups who might have plans.
o Create a database with the data gathered about the variables chosen for each room.
o List the spaces.
o Study for example their route to access taking into account:
ß Number of decisions taken during the trip (bifurcations).
ß Number of doors passed.
ß Number of security controls.
ß Length.
ß Areas of light and shade.
ß Average of people encountered on the way.
ß Fix number of people encountered: security man, ??
ß Width of the different passages.
o Study presences taking into consideration:
ß Number of people depending on the different time lapse.
ß Permanent objects & ephemeral objects.
ß Route followed by objects and people to end up in the position studied.
ß Map concentrations of presences.
o Talk with the people that use the rooms about their perceptions, feelings, thoughts…
The proof of accomplishing this activity will be:
o Being able to find a way to quantify these variables and elaborate a map.
o Being able to involve the group.
o Find out that the more we get into it the more interesting it gets and the more possibilities appear to complicate the picture and inspire us.
o Come up with an idea of how to evidence the role of the observer in the room (the actual space).
Evaluation criteria and means of validation will be:
o What the group feeds back to me about the quality of my research.
o How the group takes the research forward in their own projects.
o How satisfied I am with the job I have done.
o How consistent I find the way I introduced the role of the observer in the whole project.
Timetable:
o 22nd to 28th of October: List the rooms I want to take into considerations, the variables, build a model table to gather data.
o 29th of October to 1st of November: gather data.
o November 1st: I should have gathered quite a lot of data to be able to come up with some questions to the tutorial.
o November 1st to November 8th: amend the project and add or change what we’ve talked in the tutorial. Prepare the presentation and send a draft to Graham.
o November 9th to November 13th: I’ll be travelling to Mallorca for my best friend’s wedding!! I hope I can give the presentation next Tuesday.
