#interior spatial

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Atmosphere

Architecture is only important when it creates a feeling. The feeling can be anything. It can make you feel small and insignificant, or it can make you gasp in awe and admiration. It can inspire, demand, articulate, overwhelm, comfort, distress or facilitate. Without feeling, there is no meaning, no importance.

  Architecture demands atmosphere. The atmosphere of a building or of a particular spatial quality dictates how people react, interfere and ultimately participate within that space. Without this atmosphere, the space is simply elements put together. With atmosphere spaces invite dynamism, movement, mystery and energy.

  Atmosphere can be created within any space. The use of thresholds, colour, vision, temperature, scale and light can change the tone of a space and therefore the ambience. These elements need not stay static. Atmosphere can change and develop over the day, or even weeks and months. It is a forceful element of architecture that influences the spatial qualities and use of a particular domain. By changing how people interact with the atmosphere of the architecture, designers can effectively change how a space is perceived and used. The change in interaction allows for multifaceted use within a single space.

  But does an architect truly control this atmosphere? Do they dictate how, when and what feelings are felt, desires desired and longings longed for? Is there still an atmosphere if there is no one to appreciate or experience it? The control of the atmosphere of a particular space is now in the power of the participants. Through use, audiences can transform spaces as they no longer need to rely on architecturally designed cues. This means architects must design for more uses than only those they anticipate. But is that still enough?

  Constant Nieuwenhuys envisioned the story of New Babylon, a utopian anti-capitalist city.

“Its main theme is a new regard for social space. It is the medium for a new creativity that is to manifest itself in daily life, by means of continually varied arrangement of the environment, in harmony with a dynamic way of life. The interior of these buildings consists of a large public space serving the purposes of social life. This gives rise to a multiplicity of difference ambiences that can be altered at any given moment. The character can be influenced and determined by an abundant manipulation of colour, sound, light, climate, by use of the most varied kinds of technical apparatus, and by psychological procedures. But New Babylon will first be realized by its inhabitants.”

(Niewenhuys, 1960)

  Nieuwenhuys imagined a world where the users defined the space. Yes, the architect designed it, but users defined it through how they interacted and participated with the space. Through using the space, the architecture becomes a vibrant part of society and allows people to interact with each other and their environment. The function of the building is adapted to the needs of the user, not the other way around. In this case, the atmosphere of the space is entirely dependent on the audience.

  Contrary to Nieuwenhuys’ view of users defining the space, Mies Van Der Rohe’s campus at the Illinois Institute of Technology presents atmosphere in architecture through a different means. The use of materials, lighting effects and diverse programming are what determine the atmosphere within the space. The use of “programmatic zones are spliced together” produces “abrupt linkages and opportunistic appropriations.”(Rice, 2008)  This effect creates opportunities for users in employing the spaces. One does not move directly towards a function, but instead comes across a point where options become available. These areas of opportunity become defined through furniture, ceiling height or a change in floor surface. The effect of lighting on the space is also highly intelligent as it changes the ambiance. The varying levels of illumination and contrast also help define the multiuse zones within the interior. The most striking feature of the building is the orange polycarbonate that filters the light in different zones. The way audiences react to the architecture is what defines the atmosphere within the space. The atmosphere has been clearly defined by the architect and users simply interact with the space without needing to define it.

  Olafur Eliasson combines the approach of both Mies Van Der Rohe and Nieuwenhuys. He believes that atmosphere is created through materials, but realized through audience. His installation, The Weather Project (2003) used the “manipulation of colour, transparency and the reflection of light to dissolve the material of interior space into the material sensory quality of atmosphere.”(Frichot, 2008)  Eliasson’s work is so intense it demands the audiences’ engagement and, as such, transforms his work and the atmosphere within which it is housed. Many reports “describe how visitors were sprawled across the ground, transfixed by the looming interior sun and the subtle shifts in light and humidity.” (Frichot, 2008) This notion of atmosphere being realized through audience is seen again through the Horizon series (2003, 2004) where “the second-person pronoun of the titles clearly places the ownership of the artwork with the beholder: the art is incomplete without the uncertainty of the one who perceives it.” (Frichot, 2008) Eliasson’s works attempt to offer different kinds of engagement with spatial experience and how these can be manifested through interior atmosphere and audience realization.

  Gernot Bohmes’ article ‘Atmosphere as the Subject Matter of Architecture’ makes the observation that architecture shapes space. That is, space is experienced by physically being in it. Bohmes announces “We can sense what kind of space surrounds is. We sense its atmosphere”(Bohme, 2005)He cites Peter Zumthor “There are two basic possibilities of spatial composition in architecture: the closed architectural body, which delimits, and the open body, which embraces an area that is connected with infinite space”(Bohme,2005) Bohmes debates this point and instead declares that architecture articulates space and therefore atmosphere.

  Jonathon Borofsky’s ‘Man Walking to the Sky’ (1992) shows how atmosphere can be created through use. The artwork defines the space, and in turn defines the atmosphere through use. It is “simply an explicit rendition of what lines, beams, ledges, or ridge turrets do to space: they furnish it with a suggestion of movement.” (Bohme, 2005) The notion of movement within the artwork opens the space and articulates it through concentrations, directions and configurations in space.

  The same happens in James Marsh’s documentary ‘Man on a Wire’ (2008). The spatial qualities of the World Trade centre are altered because of the location where the Phillipe Petit chooses to perform. By breaching the architectural space, Petit changes the spatial dimensions of the building itself. Whilst both these examples aren’t architectural, they both involve an experience of space that doesn’t require objects or elements. This is different to traditional architecture, a space of place and distance, which are essentially defined by objects and elements.

  All these examples show how atmosphere is utilized within various spatial dimensions, either through materials, audience, light or simply the definition of space. What they all have in common is the belief that atmosphere is imperative to good architecture. It makes you feel. Coop Himmelb(l)au said “Architecture must blaze.”(Himmelb(l)au, 1980) I say so must atmosphere.

    Nieuwenhuys, C. 1960, ‘New Babylon’ in U Conrads (ed.), Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp.177-78

Rice, C. 2008, ‘The Atmosphere of Interior Urbanism’, Architectural Design, vol. 78, issue 3, pp.88-91.

Frichot, H. 2008, ‘Olafur Eliasson and the Circulation of Affects and Percepts In Conversation, Architectural Design, vol. 78, issue 3, pp.30-35.

Böhme, Gernot 2005. “Atmosphere As The Subject Matter of Architecture” in P Ursprung (ed), Natural History, Herzog and de Meuron, Switzerland, pp.398-406

Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture, trans. Maureen Oberli-Turner, Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag, 1998, pp. 21

Coop Himmelb(l)au, 1980, “Architecture Must Blaze” in A Danchev (ed.), 100 Artist’s Manifestos, from the Futurists to the Stuckists, Penguin, London, pp.396-398

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Hospitality Design and Detail

The eighth and final lecture of the Interior Spatial Design Lecture series was by Anthony Gill of Anthony Gill Architects (AGA). AGAis a small Sydney-based firm of three people working on residential, hospitality, retail and commercial projects. Established in 2007, the practice is interested in creating finely crafted buildings and interiors that are highly considered and hopefully timeless. Gill spoke about 3 different design projects he had worked on: Vini, Berta and Potts Point Apartment.

Vini is a small bar and restaurant in Surry Hills whose focus is on wine. Gill helped his client to design the bar, starting from a small space growing into a larger, more diverse atmosphere. The three main constraints that Gill credits for the design of Vini is budget, size, and the idea. The concept of Vini is derived from the product. This focus on wine developed into a restaurant with a working wall of wine and food that would be active throughout service. The size constraints of the space were difficult to work with, and so the working wall allowed for the kitchen to be interactive with the dining experience. The blackboard in the space was fundamental to the client’s concept of a changing food and wine list, and the blackboard mentality is reflected through the materials. The materiality of the project was extremely important to Gill and the use of form ply in the space significantly reduced the budget. The minimalistic material sucked light from the space and the ply edge gave warmth. As Vini grew, the restaurant expanded into the loading dock where a room within a room was created from a shipping container. The materiality of this was the reverse from the main room of Vini being a black box lined internally with ply.

The second project, Berta, is an offshoot of Vini on the fringe of the city. It is located on the ground floor of a re-developed warehouse and backs onto a forgotten laneway. The client for this project was the same for Vini and the concept for Berta was very similar. In the design of Berta however, the client had more money with which to work and a more exciting space. As the design was developed from the beginning, Gill was able to work with builders to realise his vision, instead of adding on spaces as they became available. The entrance created a problem as it was extremely long and thin, meaning patrons were unable use the space to sit. The concept of the working wall was re-visited in Berta, but in this case it was used to create a level of separation between the kitchen and the patrons. The working wall provided transparency in the space and removed verticals to create a more open atmosphere. The wall also acts as a tool to draw people into the space. The restaurant is divided into a bar and a dining area with subtle changes in level and materials defining use. The externally framed windows help to connect the restaurant with the forgotten laneway.

The Potts Point Apartment involved the redesign of a 38sqm one bedroom apartment in the Harry Seidler Building. The aim was to create a space that would suit a couple with a young child as well as adding more room, storage whilst still addressing privacy issues. This was achieved though using joinery to create a space. The idea is similar to that of the working wall, but instead is used as a multipurpose space that divides the rooms and insinuates program. The existing masonry of the bathroom and kitchen were used to develop where the joinery would sit in the space.

  All three of these projects use joinery to activate the space and to make workable areas. The joinery helps in the planning of spaces as there is a rhythm derived from the pattern which helps with proportions and can fix design issues. Materiality is also important in all of these projects as they are durable and cheap, helping to bring down cost.

Australian Design Review, Practice Profile Anthony Gill Architects, Australian Design Review, viewed 30/5/11 <http://www.australiandesignreview.com/companies/239/contributions>

  Anthony Gill Architects, 2007, viewed 30/5/11 <http://www.gillarchitects.com.au/>

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Teresa Stoppani – Dust Reversals

The seventh Interior Spatial Series Lecture was done by Teresa Stoppani who is the senior lecturer at the School of Architecture and Construction of the University of Greenwich. Her main interests are the relationship between architecture theory and the design process in the urban environment, and the influence on the specifically architectural of other spatial practices. Her work has been published in Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and Argentina. She is currently writing a book titled 'Manhattan and Venice: Paradigm Islands of Anti-Modern Space' and is working on a design research project 'The Palace, the Line and the Horizon' (with L. De Boeck). 'Architecture Dust' is her new project.

  Stoppani begins the lecture by defining dust. In its literal sense, it relates to the material, but in a metaphorical sense it pertains to the relationship to space, challenging the idea of the fragment in architecture. Stoppani thinks about dust in a very literal and analytic way. She believes that it is a dissection of the very microscopic. In this way though, as such, dust is only small in relation to something else, whether that object is present or within the absence of a whole. It is about the instability of change and the disintegration of a whole. In terms of interior design, this relates to the ambiguous redefinition of the interior and the exterior.

  Stoppani uses the example of Danae to explain the metaphorical view of dust and the way its meaning changes through the context of reading. In Greek mythology Danae was the daughter of King Acrisius. She was the mother of Persues by Zeus. Disappointed by his lack of male heirs, Acrisius asked an oracle if this would change. The oracle told him to go to the Earth's end where he would be killed by his daughter's son. Danae was childless and, meaning to keep her so, Acrisius shut her up in a bronze tower or cave. Zeus came to her in the form of golden rain and impregnated her. Soon after, their child Perseus was born. Acrisius was not happy, but unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods by killing his offspring, he cast the two into the sea in a wooden chest. The sea was calmed by Poseidon and at the request of Zeus the pair survived. They washed ashore on the island of Seriphos, where they were taken in by Dictys who raised the boy to manhood. Later Perseus went to Larissa where athletic games were being held. By chance, an aging Acrisius was there and Perseus accidentally struck him on the head with his javelin thereby fulfilling the prophecy.

In the example of the Greek myth, dust is sperm and the domestic space is the tower and box in which Danae is locked. In this way the figure (woman) is used to redefine the meaning. As the woman is always trapped in the interior (tower and box) the audience views her as passive and imprisoned. She is a figure that is controlled by man and therefore is incapable of redefining herself or her situation.

Danae has since been redefined through artistic interpretation. The changing of contexts has changed the meaning behind the symbols represented in the images. During the middle ages, for example, Danae was a figure of chastity, whereas in the Renaissance, the myth of Danae took on a sexual reading. One of the first interpretations of Danae in art is Correggio’s painting made in 1531. Correggio is an Italian Renaissance painter and his style reflects that of his genre. He depicts Danae lying on a bed, while a child Eros undresses her as gold rains from a cloud. The portrayal of the gold cloud is important in the changing of context and thus reading. The way different artists portray the impregnation of Danae by Zeus is important to the reading of the images. Whilst the earlier interpretations show Zeus as a gold cloud hovering over Danae, later portrayals show Zeus physically as gold coins.

The next representation of Danae is Titian’s series painted between 1553 and 1564. Titians reading of Danae is much more sexual than the myth’s reading, and Titian uses Renaissance sensibilities and symbols to achieve this. Danae is no longer pictured as a virgin, but instead is shown as a luxury prostitute or a courtesan. The series suggests Danae’s fall from grace in a number of ways, including the presence of thunderous clouds, her complete nakedness, and the dog (sometimes used as a symbol of libertinism) curling to her left. In each work Danae is shown naked or semi naked, lying on a couch with her knees raised. Either a nursemaid or Eros is to her right, holding out a cloth to catch the gold coins spilling down from an explosion of colour in the sky which represents Zeus. This representation of physical gold coins symbolises the courtesy of exchange that occurs between a client and a prostitute. It is showing the entry to the interior of the womb. Artemisia Gentileschi’s portrayal of Danae (1612) is similar to Titians through the sexual tones as well as the use of symbols and colour.

Rembrandt’s portrayal of Danae (1636) is much more conservative than Titian’s or Gentileschi’s instead showing Danae as a chaste woman. Although she is depicted naked, her legs are shown together and her hair is tied up. The way Zeus is portrayed is also extremely important to the chaste reading of this painting. Unlike Titian or Gentileschi, Rembrandt has depicted Zeus as a golden cloud rather than a showering of coins. In this way, Rembrandt is representing Danae as a passive participant in the inception, rather than a prostitute offering her services.

Gustav Klimt also painted Danae in 1907. She was a popular subject at the time because she symbolised divine love and transcendence. Klimt painted Danae in a stylised way, and was clearly influenced by Titian, showed in the raised position of her leg. Klimt has also taken a sexualised view of Danae with Zeus symbolised here as the golden rain flowing between her legs. It is apparent from the subject's face that she is aroused by the golden stream. In this way, the changing context of the painting has influenced the reading derived from it.

Through the changing contexts and readings of Danae, Stoppani demonstrates how the meaning of dust changes across culture and time. Whilst symbolically dust can be familiar and comfortable, it can also be suffocating and obsolete. Through the metaphor of dust we are able to measure time and history across contexts. Stoppani’s careful interrogation of a single idea, explored across mediums, also creates an increased understanding about relationships, ideas and ways of thinking. This careful interrogation can be applied to all forms of design work, or artistic interpretation.

Mlahanas, Danae Gallery, Amazon.com, viewed 30 May 2011, <http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/DanaeGallery.html>

UTS Design Architecture and Building, Dr Teresa Stoppani, Design Architecture and Building, viewed 30 May 2011, <www.dab.uts.edu.au/walterbenjamin/program/teresa_stoppani.pdf>

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The Ecology of Occupation

The sixth lecture in the Interior Spatial Design Lecture series was by Michael Trudgeon. Michael is a trans-disciplinary designer and architect, as well as being a principal designer with Crowd Productions. He has 23 years experience in industrial design, architecture and media design. Trudgeon’s talk focused on the ecology of occupation, in particular the way house design has changed and the way spaces within homes are considered.

  According to Trudgeon, “form is a verb”. The ecology of occupation is both about the dynamic process and an explosion of knowledge. Take, for example, Eugene Emmanuel’s ‘History of a House’. Initially house design was all about the façade of a house; what it looked like, what it portrayed to the world. The interior space was far less important than the façade, especially to Italian Renaissance architects. The French Renaissance architects, however, began a movement of designing from the inside out, letting the insular and social forms of those spaces and volumes articulate a program. This way of designing prevails today and is notable in the client briefs for architectural products. It is important as designers to know what you’re designing for.

  French Designers also changed their views on the figure ground to the ground figure. This essentially means the building is the background and the space is the figure therefore the focus. Form is therefore derived from activity and is not static.

  Through this way of thinking, personal accommodation began to become more elaborate. New rooms were developed through new occupation and thinking about the program of spaces. Specific spaces were designed and assigned for specific activities. This way of designing lead to a change in the status quo. Women were curators of these spaces and therefore were seen as having the best ideas, the best clothes, the best homes. It was the beginning of ‘le Society-Saloon’. This presented the idea that building a rich and fascinating private life can lead to abstract thinking and therefore radical engagement. This then led to the development of hotels.

  Hotels in Renaissance Paris were not as they are today. They were instead spaces in which people could meet and, as such, acted as social stabilizers in the way they manage people. Hotels were built around a courtyard and exemplified the use of poche space, that is ‘pocket’ space. This created highly sophisticated urban environments where the ‘art of distribution’ allowed spaces to manage people.

  The idea of building from the inside out was continued into modernism through Le Corbusier’s “Villa Shodhan”. He sought to wrap space in activity, forcing the interior walls of his spaces to thrust out from the building. This created a free plan and a free façade; the space is designed to respond to the internal. This design aesthetic favors functions of spaces over the form of them, causing form to be ever changing with the function. Form is therefore a verb.

  Esther Zandburg, July 2010, Surrounds/The forced ecology of occupation, Haaretz.com, viewed 30May 2011, <http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/surroundings-the-forced-ecology-of-occupation-1.304696>

Crowd Productions, Who We Are, viewed 30 May 2011, <http://crowd.com.au/c_team.html>

Matt Blanche, February 2006, Creating Planar Distortions, Architecture 120, viewed 30 May 2011, <http://blache87.blogspot.com/>

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Hyperart: Thomasson

The fifth lecture in the Interior Spatial Design Lecture series was done by design journalist Adam Jasper. The topic of this lecture was hyperart, in particular Thomassons. This art form was created by Akasegawa Genpei in the late 1970s through Genpei’s estrangement from the institutions and practices of high art as an open-ended, participatory project of searching the streets of Japan for strange objects that denied the industrial functionalism of modern cities.

When an urban structure loses its usage, but remains standing attached to the property it used to serve, and still being aesthetically maintained, Genpei, his colleagues and students termed this a Thomasson.

The term Thomasson was formed because of the American baseball player Gary Thomasson. Thomasson had been recruited in 1982 by the Yomiuri Giants to play because of his status as a star player in America. Unfortunately in Japan, Thomasson failed to even hit the ball despite being paid a huge amount. Genpei thought of his as the perfect, living hyperart as he served no great purpose, yet was still maintained.

Genpei developed this idea with his colleagues and students and eventually brought it to the public notice. In the mid 1980s Genpei had a column in Super Photo Magazine where he accepted submissions of Thomasson photographs and descriptions. He published these and discussed whether or not they were indeed Thomassons, why and what kind. The columns eventuated into a book which became a cult classic among Japan’s youth. What was interesting was how the phenomenon had flowed internationally. Genpei begun accepting submissions from France, America and even in Australia. There are now internet groups set up so people can post photos and discuss the merits of individual Thomassons. In this way, Genpei hasn’t simply observed the world around him, he has begun to form a new form of art that translates across the changing landscape of our urban communities. Hyperart is therefore art without an artist.

There are specific criteria that a Thomasson must fufil in order to be a proper Thomasson:

·         Object found must be a find of ruin – once functional, now useless.

·         Object must be sealed off – you cannot reach it

·         Object must be maintained

Through this artform, Genpei is really exploring the notions of changing landscapes, especially within the urban environment. Genpei is able to connect with the past on a present level and see how it changes the future of the landscape. Thomassons also force people to observe the world around them, as well as their actions within that world and develop opinions and ideas on why certain choices or impulses are made.

  The Japan Foundation Sydney, April 2010, pickups from new acquisitions, The Japan Foundation Sydney, viewed 29 May 2011, <http://www.jpf.org.au/library/newitems-april2010.html>

  Matt Fargo and Bill Lee, Hyperart: Thomasson, Kaya Press, viewed 29 May 2011, <http://www.kaya.com/books/25>

  Anonymous, March 2010, Hyperart:Thomasson, Nihon Distraction, viewed 29 May 2011,

<http://nihondistractions.blogspot.com/2010/03/hyperartthomasson.html>

  Claire Light, December 2009, Hyperart: Thomasson, viewed 29 May 2011, <http://clairelight.typepad.com/atlast/2009/12/hyperart-thomasson.html>

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The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

Week four of the Interior and Spatial Lectures was not by any one particular person: instead a discussion was held between tutors, students and guests. Many different things were shown: TED talks videos (http://www.ted.com/), interesting artworks, even student works, and all these combined to create discussion points for the group. One of the clips we were shown was William H Whyte’s The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces which mapped the activity in the Seagram Plaza in New York City. Whilst we were only shown 10 or so minutes of the hour-long film, the content fascinated me and, as such, I will be discussing it.

The film documents different plazas and parks throughout American cities in order to determine what makes an effective and usable public space. New York City had been giving floor space bonuses to builders if they provided their building with a plaza. But many of these were underused and simply became empty spaces in the city. Other spaces however, like Seagram’s Plaza, were extremely popular and well used. The New York Zoning Commission told Whyte and the American Society of Landscape Architects that if they could discover what it was exactly that made these spaces work and backed it up with fact; they would draw up a new zoning resolution for open spaces. The documentation was completed through the use of cross section time lapse cameras, as well as well as direct observation. Through this observation, maps were able to be drawn, graphs made and correlations connected. In this way, the observers were immersing themselves in the plazas and parks themselves.

The initial hypothesis of Whyte and his team is that people will sit where the sun is. Whilst this is correct at the outset, further observation and mapping shows that the sun isn’t the only, or even most important, factor in the success of plazas. Through the first sets of observations a number of patterns begin to form. The diversity in plazas is astounding. The many different activities people perform (reading, eating, conversing, watching) is matched only by the diversity of people. There are young, old, blue collar, white collar, male, female, groups and individuals. In this way, the degree of sociability of these plazas becomes increasingly apparent. One of the most interesting observations made by Whyte is “The most used plazas tend to have a higher proportion of people in twos and threes than the less successful ones. But the most sociable plazas also have, in absolute numbers, the greatest number of individuals. A busy place, for some reason, seems to be the most congenial kind of place if you want to be alone”.

The number one activity is people looking at other people, and Whyte feels that this aspect is overlooked in many designs. Using Seagram’s as an example, he points out its features that make it so successful, particularly for this activity. The ledges allow for people to sit and to observe people on the street, though this was not the original use designed by the architects. These ledges allow for comfortable conversation as well as observation, and so are reasonably popular. Another popular gathering space is the steps leading up to the plaza, particularly the corners as they are good for the meeting of groups. This uncovers a slight issue as the corners are where “the main flow of people to and from the building can be found”. Usually, however, this isn’t much of an issue and during non peak times, the density of people lessens. Another junction is the street corner, which Whyte describes as “having a life of its own”, particularly as it connects the city with the life of the plaza. The street corner is where many impromptu conferences occur, and Whyte explains the curious placement of these conversations, “When people stop to talk, they don’t move off to one side, they move smack into the middle of the traffic stream. This corner … has a very high frequency of such meetings and the number one spot for them is the geographic centre.” These conversations happen in areas of high traffic flow and they are precisely the reason why so many chance encounters occur. In addition, the movement of people in, and more specifically across, the plaza is quite fascinating. The choreography of the movement of people throughout the space is so precise and well timed; never do they collide. One of the more interesting aspects from the observation of the choreography of people is that often they will not stop and converse in open spaces. Whyte elaborates: “They like to find places, steps, edges, flagpoles”.

The question then is, why do some plazas work and others do not. From observation, Whyte was able to compile a check list. The first and most important aspect is to make the space “sitable” as “people tend to sit where there are places to sit”. The minimum requirement should be one linear foot of sitting space per 30 square feet of open space. At Seagram’s this was achieved by leaving the space sitable. Ledges and steps should wide enough to accommodate people easily, not to allow double the amount of sitters but to give them more choice and this is important for their perception of crowding or not crowding. Sitable space should not be too high, and it should be hospitable, flat and comfortable. Another aspect of a successful plaza is its connection to the street. As mentioned earlier, people watching is the number one activity for people to do in these sorts of places, and by isolating plazas from the main traffic flows it makes it increasingly difficult to watch other people. Plazas that are high up or sunken into the ground tend not to be so successful. There are exceptions to the rule. The Rockefeller plaza is sunken but is a highly successful plaza with many visitors. However, through observation it is noted that many people remain on the street level and look down into the plaza, and so still remain part of the streetscape.

While Whyte’s initial hypothesis was that people will sit where there is sun, through continued observation it was discovered that this was only necessary in winter, where the sun was able to warm people allowing them to be more comfortable. The most important aspect of the sun is to bring light to plazas. The absence of light can hurt a plaza more than the absence of sun. Direct sunlight isn’t even important. Many plazas in the city have their sun access cut off by larger building, but reflections, bounces, even third and fourth bounces, brought enough light into the space to make it comfortable. Another aspect was the inclusion of water in a space. Running water creates a calming, white noise, which in the city is excellent for drowning out the sounds of the street and other peoples conversations. With the inclusion of water in a space, Whyte laments signs that forbid people to touch and interact with the water. This interaction, he says, is vital, as water ought to be used. Another inclusion into the design of plazas should be trees and greenery. There are many reasons to include them: microclimates, shade, transpiration, cooling, beauty and to combat the increasing glare index in cities. “The new zoning commission requires builders to plant far more in the way of street trees and more trees within the plaza itself. Where possible, they oughta be planted in groves, quite close together, as this produces a fine canopy.”

Food is another aspect that Whyte feels is important in the design of plazas (though this aspect of their research was not included in the new zoning resolution). Food, Whyte argues, attracts people, which in turn attracts more people. Vendors also provide a service people want, and they sometimes perform a social function within the space. The final aspect of a successful plaza is what Whyte calls triangulation. By this he means “that characteristic of a public space that can bring people together. It is usually an external feature of some kind.” One of the examples Whyte offers is the observation of people observing police searching two caught bank robbers. This event causes strangers to talk and interact with each other. A more typical example is that of a mime who attracts a crowd, or simply a statue, which can stimulate conversation and thought, as well as adding visual interest to the plaza.

From these observations, some of Whyte’s findings were incorporated into New York City’s zoning code. These included:

         Sitting space

         Close linkage with the street

         Trees

         At least 50% of the buildings frontage must be for retail activity

         Access for disabled people

         The plaza must be no more than 3 feet beneath or 3 feet above street level

Whyte’s final conclusion is that the plaza coexists with the street. “The street is the river of life for the city. People come to these places, not to escape, but to partake.”

      The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, viewed on 13th May 2011, accessed from <http://land8lounge.com/video/the-social-life-of-small-urban>

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The Century of the Self

The third lecture of the Interior Spatial Lecture series was actually a documentary by Adam Curtis: The Century of the Self. The documentary focuses on the family of Sigmund Freud, particularly his daughter and nephew, who influenced the way corporations and governments throughout the 20th century have thought about, and dealt with, people. The first episode Happiness Machines focussed on Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays, and how he used Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis to control the masses.

Edward Bernays is almost completely unknown today, but his influence on society is almost as great as his uncle’s as he was the first person to take Freud’s theories of human behaviour and apply them to manipulate people. Curtis describes, “He showed American corporations for the first time how to make people want things they didn’t need by linking mass produced goods to their unconscious desires. Out of this would come a new political idea of how to control the masses. By satisfying people’s inner, selfish desires, one made them happy, and thus, docile. It was the start of the all consuming self which has come to dominate our world today.”

In 1917, America entered World War 1. The president at the time, Woodrow Wilson, had announced that America was entering the war, not to restore the old balance of power, but to bring democracy to all of Europe. Bernays was employed by the American government to promote the war efforts in the press, both in America and internationally. He was so skilled at his job that when Woodrow entered Paris after the war for the peace conference, he was heralded as a “liberator of the people; a man who would create a new world in which the individual could be free.” Seeing such positive results of his propaganda during wartime, Bernays began to wonder whether he could use the same type of manipulation during peacetime.

Returning to New York from Europe, Bernays set up a “Public Relations Council”. It was the first time this term had been used. America, at the end of the 19th Century, was a mass industrial society with millions crammed together in the cities. Curtis explains “Bernays was determined to find a way to manage and alter the way these new crowds thought and felt”. In order to do this, Bernays looked to the writings of his Uncle, and wondered if he could make money by manipulating the unconscious hidden irrational forces inside human beings.

Bernays began to experiment with the minds of the working classes. “His most notorious coup was breaking the taboo on women smoking by persuading them that cigarettes were a symbol of independence and freedom.” By using a simple formula of a symbol and phrase (“tortures of freedom”) in a staged situation that could be communicated to the masses, Bernays was able to convince the public that smoking was a symbol of how you wanted to be seen by others, and therefore shifted the perceived power balance from male to female. Another of his dramatic experiments was to eroticise the motor car. Bernays realised that if goods and services were sold to people’s irrational needs and desires it was much more effective than selling it to their practicality and rationality. Paul Mazer, a Wall Street banker working for the Lehman Brothers in the 1930s summed up the shift in the way people thought about goods and services: “We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs.” Bernays insinuated an emotional connection to a product or service that would, therefore, make the consumer happy: “That you ought to buy an automobile, but that you will feel better it if you have this automobile”. As such, Bernays was able to manipulate the psyche in order to favour him financially

In 1927 an American journalist wrote: “A change has come over our democracy, it is called consumptionism. The American citizens first importance to his country is now no longer that of citizenship, but that of consumer.” With excess consumerism being heralded as “American”, a stock market was created, and Edward Bernays became involved promoting the novel idea that ordinary citizens should buy shares too, borrowing money from banks he represented. In 1928, President Hoover came to power. He was the first president to agree with Bernays and to physically articulate that consumerism had become the central motor of American life. After his election, Hoover told a group of press and public relations men:

            “You have taken over the job of creating desire and have transformed people into constantly moving happiness machines, machines which have become the key to economic progress.”

“What was emerging in the 1920s was a new idea of how to run democracy. At its heart was the consuming self, which not only made the economy work, but was happy and docile, so created a stable society.” From this Bernays saw that to keep the masses happy by continuing to stimulate the irrational self, leadership could continue unhindered. Bernays became rich and powerful and, in a way, famous as he was able to bring people together and make magical things happen. However, Bernays’s power was soon to be taken away through a type of human irrationality he could do nothing to control.

On the 29th October 1929, the American Stock Exchange collapsed. The effect of the crash on the American economy was disastrous. “Faced with recession and unemployment, millions of American workers stopped buying goods they didn’t need.” As the era of consumerism was over, the public had no need for Edward Bernays or the public relations profession, and so despite the consumer boom Bernays had done so much to engineer, they fell from favour.

The effect of the stock market crash had been disastrous in Europe as it intensified the growing economic and political crisis in the new democracies. From this dissatisfaction about democracy, politicians, such as Adolf Hitler, emerged. “The Nazis were convinced that democracy was dangerous because it unleashed a selfish individualism, but didn’t have the means to control it.” In America too, democracy was under threat from the force of the angry mob. The effect of the crash has also been catastrophic and in retaliation the working classes turned to violence and vandalism. In 1932 President Roosevelt was elected, who aimed to use the power of the state to control the free market by strengthening democracy.

Roosevelt began what is now known as “The New Deal”. He assembled technocrats and planners and told them to plan and run giant new industrial projects for the good of the nation. Roosevelt was convinced that the crash had shown that capitalism could no longer run modern economies; instead it should be the job of the government. This new plan was celebrated by the Nazis, especially Dr Joseph Goebbels who said “I believe that President Roosevelt has chosen the right path. We are dealing with the greatest social problems ever known. [...] It is the government that must tackle the problem.” Roosevelt, unlike the Nazis however, believed that human beings were rational and were able to be trusted to take part in government. He believed it was possible to explain his policies to ordinary Americans and take into account their opinions. He did this through opinion polling run by Dr George Gallup and Elmo Roper, who based their polls on the idea that people could be trusted to know what they wanted. “They argued that one could measure and predict opinions and behaviour of the public if one asked strictly factual questions and avoided manipulating their emotions.” In this way Roosevelt transformed citizens from irrational consumers who were managed by sating their desires, instead they were sensible citizens who could take part in the governing of the country.

In 1936 Roosevelt stood for re-election and won in a landslide victory. The big businesses had had enough of what they called a “dictatorship” and decided to fight back for power in America. At the heart of this would be Edward Bernays and the profession he had invented: public relations. Through the National Association of Manufactures, big business launched a campaign that was designed to form emotional attachments between the public and big business. The campaign set out to show explicitly that it was business, not politicians that had created modern America. In response, the government made films that warned of the unscrupulous manipulation of the press by big business, and the central villain was the new figure of the public relations man.

In 1939, New York hosted the World Fair where Edward Bernays was a central advisor. He insisted that the theme be the link between democracy and American business. The main attraction of the fair was a huge white dome called Democracity within which was a vast working model of America’s future. Bernays saw the World Fair as a way to balance the status quo. That is, capitalism in a democracy; democracy in capitalism. He did this by manipulating people to think that democracy couldn’t be found in anything but a capitalist society. The World Fair was an extraordinary success and captured the imagination of America. The vision it portrayed was of a new form of democracy in which business responded to people’s innermost desires in a way politicians could never do. This was a form of democracy that depended on treating people as passive consumers because this was the key to control in a mass democracy. In this way, Bernays was able to successfully use the ideas and findings of his uncle, that inside every human there is irrational, uncontrollable forces and desires, to manipulate the masses.

BBC, 2005, Century of the Self, viewed 10th May 2011, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml>

Information Liberation, 2006, Century of the Self, viewed 10th May 2011, <http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=8339>