Planes, Trains, Automobiles and Work Spaces

Many of us have been writing about our workspaces, commutes and living spaces this week.   We have written about how what we do as architects impacts the lives of others.  We have written about how the space we exist within and our views outward from those spaces impact our feelings, work productivity and the perceptions of others.  Some spaces we get to select for ourselves (our homes); some places we have limited choice with some influence (our workplace) and some places, we get what we get with very little influence (shopping center, church, school, hotel, airport, plane, bus, train).  The joy comes from experiencing them all!  

First Class View

How can we make a First Class experience enjoyable?  Voyeurism with hidden cameras [for people watching], total redesign [for personal comfort] and upgraded sanitation practices [obvious reasons] will all lead to a more entertaining and satisfying experience in First Class for me.  The airline industry keeps on trying to reinvent itself, yet with regulations, restrictions, the economy it will take a long time for airlines to start renovating their planes and moving out of the status quo. 

Chicago

It is invigorating to visit a metropolis once in a while.  Some would consider Minneapolis a big city, but compared to Chicago (with 3 million residents and 8 million in the region), Minneapolis is a “town” (of 350,000 people with 3 million in the region).  We have public transportation options in Minneapolis, but not conveniently located from my first-ring suburb of Golden Valley.  So I drive to work and drive home and wait at intersections through 5 cycles sometimes to get home.  Staying late has the advantage of a 15-20 minute commute, but if I leave at 5PM, it can take twice as long.  Metropolises, on the other hand, typically have conveniently located mass transit options that can take you from a major airport to just about anywhere in the city and a little beyond.  (Although I do find it a bit inconvenient that La Guardia airport in New York is not accessible to Manhattan by train). 

For this trip to Chicago, I actually arrived by car from Madison, Wisconsin.  The most notable component of the ride was the lack of snow as I drove south.  The alternative would have been a flight to Atlanta as a connection to Chicago.  Ingenious!  

Down to Earth

Coming back home, and reflecting on all of the different places I slept, sat, worked, dined, walked during the week affirmed that I actually like to be here.   Our house has a nice plan layout and a feeling of warm, cozy comfort.   I like to drive my own car and work in my cluttery space and even the greyness and beigy-ness are okay as long as there is an occasional splash of red.   Did I mention that I love the color red?  

Down to Earth Again

Back in the office today, I started to consider all of the different  environments I have been working in this week – airplanes, airports, cars, hotels, various offices, a training room at the new Madison Target, a restaurant, and then my studio/office at home and my actual office @ Target Headquarters.  It’s amazing how adaptable we can be in temporary situations. 

Regarding my workspace at Target, you probably imagine an office with lots of red and fun spaces, but our desks are grey and beige cubicles and the office decor is mostly white on beige on grey with a splash of red here and there. 

My workspace at home, in contrast,  is pretty fun and bright – we have not quite finished the remodel started last summer, but it is close to done.  We turned our spare bedroom into a studio space so I did not have to cut pieces for models on the bed anymore.  The room is pretty well organized, but I have some clutter around which I guess makes it feel more like a studio space. 

At work, I have a lot of projects, which tend to fill up my workstation with piles of project files… one of my co-workers asked if we had a lot of stuff in our house, too, based on what he saw at my desk.  But we keep our house pretty neat and tidy.  It started when my husband was running his firm out of our house 16 years ago – we needed to always be presentable if a client stopped by.  Clean and neat  was taken to the extreme when we were trying to sell our old house 5 years ago – it felt like we lived in a museum/hotel. 

Workspace (and living space) can have a profound impact on behavior – I wanted to become a psychologist before I decided to study architecture and I have always had an interest in behavior and environment.  My cluttery room at home feels creative and liberating.  My cluttery desk at work feels limiting and constricting.  I should try to figure out how to make my workspace feel more like my studio space.  It might even be easy.

 my cluttery work-surface!

my not so cluttery desk.  My concrete poetry is showing! 

Chicago

There is one thing I love about my job - I love to travel and since I am from Chicago, and a bunch of my projects are located there right now, I actually get to go "home" (even though I was only working this trip, it is still home to me!) once in a while.

In Semester 1, we wrote often about our favorite city - guess which city I picked?  Then there is my all-time favorite building - the Hancock Tower on Michigan Avenue (above).  From the observation center at the 98th floor, you can actually see portions of four states - Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.  Fascinating! 

Along State Street there are tons of historic and famous buildings - one of the standouts is the Sullivan Building (above), built over 100 years ago and recently renovated.  Louis really outdid himself.  The ironwork is exquisite and the rotunda is awe-inspiring.  Carson Pirie Scott moved out in 2007, and the department store floors have been empty now for almost four years. 

The Red Line subway runs right under State Street.  If you take it a few miles to the north, it comes out right next to the Target that opened on the north side @ Wilson Yard last summer.   For obvious reasons (think bullseye) I get a kick out of the fact that the Red Line leads to one of my projects.  By the time it gets up north, it is an elevated (or "el") train rather than a subway.  We have a 200+ foot long "spangleboard" billboard on the back.  When the trains breeze past, the spangles sparkle in the sun. 

I have traveled to New York relatively frequently over the past 5 years as well as to Chicago.  When I think about subways - in the US and in Paris (the only European city I have spent any time in), the entrances into the subterranean spaces are sometimes inviting and whimsical, but then you get down into the dirty, heavily scented spaces below ground.  Can you imagine if the actual subway passenger spaces were kept up more like an airport or even a public park space.  Would it still work?  Would it ruin the idea of public transportation for some and invite others to participate?

Consider the various back stories of typical subway riders.  There's the guy/girl who will only drink bottled water and stay in the fancy hotels and go to spas for hot stone massage treatments; and they are sitting next to a guy/girl who luckily found $1 on their way to the station so they did not have to panhandle for money to take the train home.  And then there are the people like us.  It's always fun to ride the subway or take the EL in Chicago and other cities - part of the draw is the amazing variety of people that you interact with along the way.

First Class View

So, I was bumped up to first class on my flight tonight – for 45 whole minutes in the air from Minneapolis to Madison.  In seat 1A – all by myself in the front of the plane.  My view out the window was clear and it was a beautiful (but very cold) day, but my focus was on my reading material.  The plane was relatively new, but my tray was in the pocket and it always seems a little creepy to pull it out of the arm rest – sort of sticky and not super sanitary.  I managed to get it out but when I put it back in, it banged and clanged really loudly.  I woke up a few people.  Sorry!

My view of the plane – beige walls, blue carpet, magazine holder stuck on the wall.  Maybe I’m the only person who doesn’t like to sit in row 1 – no place to put my carry-on bag.  So I stuck my belongings in a total of three overhead bins – coat in one, suitcase in another and briefcase in another.  Nothing to look at for entertainment. 

Everyone looks past the first class passengers as they get on the plane – like we are actually from a different class than them and they should avert their eyes.  Or maybe they wish they got to get on the plane first like we did.  One little girl kept telling her Mommy – “that lady is in row ONE and she smiled at me”.  She walked by and was very excited that I said hello.  Her mom never looked down as she hurried toward their seats.

Some airlines don’t have first class seats – that’s kind of nice in a very diplomatic way, however the airlines can make more money by making some of their seats special.  So why not?  What if restaurants had special seating areas?  Maybe a special view or a quiet corner or better service.  What if malls had special shopping areas?  Macy’s has their special clothing area – “The Oval Room” or something like that.  You can get better service when you spend so much money on your clothes.  You can pay a personal shopper or a stylist to help you select the clothes that are right for you.  So why not have First Class airline seats? 

I’m in the minority when I say put me in Row 10 and give me a window seat on any flight under 3 hours and an aisle otherwise.  But I like to people watch and you can’t do it from Row 1.