Thursday, February 3, 2011

spaces and air - Groundhog Day 2/2/11

spaces and air
On the way to Portland, the sky was clear the entire flight.  Looking down as we left Minneapolis, the earth was snow-covered and frozen, a bright white wrapper over all of the topography.   After a while, it became a quilted landscape - subtle tones of earth across the western states – circles and squares that identify farm boundaries and property lines.   I could see pale blue lakes and snow covered mountains that look as if they have just burst out from the depths of the earth. 
This expanse of air and space is infinite. The plane that I am traveling in is a tiny, tiny piece of space. 
Every mode of transport has such different dimensional qualities.  I have been in cars, buses and several buildings over the past two days.  Each space is unique – my hotel room was 40 feet deep by 12 feet wide by 12 feet tall!  For just me! 
The dimensions/proportions of spaces can give people a sense of awe, comfort, freedom, happiness, excitement, peace.  Spaces are most successful when they are proportional to the activities that take place in them.  Cars are an example of spaces that should be proportioned large enough for a person to fit, but not so large that the person cannot see the road from the driver’s seat or so that they are too big for the width of the road. 
Buildings/vehicles/rooms should be the right size for the functions they serve.  How do we discover the right size?  That is a question I will start to explore.


1 comment:

  1. I'm sure you have read this: http://www.notsobighouse.com/

    What do you think about the ideas there? Is there some ideas that reasonate that we can start to weave/underlay (draw and make) as secondary or tertiary ideas for inside/outside....?

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