Spatial Manifestations of the Human Psyche

Visual Arts School for SKETCH

"...School space should open material connections 'between what [the student] does to his environment and what it does to him,' so that 'his acts and the things about him acquire meaning . . . [and he] learns to understand both himself and the world of men and things”

"Otherwise, the school’s walls simply enclose the student’s world, constricting and thinning (rather than 'expanding' and 'thickening') the sphere of experience to the point of near-irrelevance."

 - NEIL GISLASON

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Canada

In reference to  John Dewey’s writing on educative spaces

In reference to John Dewey's notion of educative spaces, our learning  spaces should be made more flexible in order to support dynamic educative processes. Dewey refers to an environment, the world of experience, as a constantly growing entity, that "grows larger and, so to speak, thicker”

As an architect, how can we design educative spaces that understands this growth and flexibility? If an educative building shares a reciprocal relationship with its occupant, it will understand its needs and allow an individual's growth to transpire. 

So...

How can spaces become adaptive to the individual needs and desires for a student? How can we design for an increase/decrease of stimulus levels for spaces that are conducive for inspiration, collaboration, work and/or relaxation in an educational environment?

With the foregoing in mind, I decided to design a school for the arts, where stimulus levels are vital for focus, inspiration and interaction amongst emerging artists. 

Typology: Visual Arts School for SKETCH on Queen Street West

What is SKETCH? (Project-based initiative working with 'street-involved' small groups of youth in visual arts)

Currently, this group of individuals are moving to Shaw and Queen in a former warehouse facility. After taking a look at their floor plans, it became apparent that the spaces were not flexible and defined by traditional classroom standards. I felt it was necessary to experiment with a space for young artists that is more flexible in nature and reflects the individuality of each artist.  

The site chosen remains within the Art & Design District on Queen Street. It is located on the corner of Queen and Fennings St. where currently resides an abandoned repair shop and parking lot. Its conveniently located across from Paul Garfinkle Parkette. 

The following  are my refined architectural strategies and tactics for Project #2. (With the same architectural position as shown in P1)

Strategy 1: The Empathetic Building

The building must be designed as a living organism, one that adapts to its users and enhances their spatial experience and wellbeing through empathy.

How is this relevant in this educational context?

Architecture can foster an educational environment that empathizes with the user's psychological needs including adaptability for inspiration, focus and collaboration.

How?

Tactic# 1: The building will change shape in correspondence to the inhabitant’s current physiological and psychological state, with the intention of stimulating the senses and inducing a healthier mind and body.

Tactic# 2: The building will vary in material tactility in correspondence to the inhabitant’s current physiological and psychological state, with the intention of stimulating the senses and inducing a healthier mind and body.

Tactic# 3: The building will vary in light intensity in correspondence to the inhabitant’s current physiological and psychological state, with the intention of stimulating the senses and inducing a healthier mind and body.

All three tactics act in a symbiotic relationship with the intention of enhancing the user's spatial experience and wellbeing through empathy on both a macro and micro level.

Strategy 2: The Utilitarian Building

The building must be ever-changing in program and adapt to the user's functional needs, as

opposed to being predefined by a single application.

How is this relevant in this educational context?

The artists' space must be adaptive in nature reflecting their idiosyncrasies and individual needs.

How?

Tactic #1: The building will re-configure into appropriate environments for the sculptor, painter and fashion artisan.

Tactic #2: The building will re-configure itself to provide environments for individual work, collaborative work, exhibition, relaxation and socializing.

Sculptor requires:

- More Sq Ft the better

- Multiple Surfaces

- Easy entry & exiting

- Natural lighting is essential (overhead)

- Natural ventilation

- Access to sinks

Painter requires:

- Natural lighting is essential (overhead)

- Multiple Surfaces

- Space to hang reference images

- Space for easel & storage

Fashion Artisan requires:

- Storage Space

- Space to hang reference images

- Large table for sewing or crafting

- A table for sketching

All Artists Require at Times

- A space for relaxation

- A space that is conducive to collaboration and socializing

- A space for focus

- Access to the outdoors

- High Ceilings

Strategy #3 - The Neuroplastic Building

The building will learn from the inhabitant and evolve accordingly over periods of time; eliciting

the user's stimulus through building variations and thus establishing dishabituation.

How?

Tactic #1

The building would be comprised of neuromorphic control systems that would be able to learn

from the occupant and evolve in real-time.

(At this point, I will showcase how the building could reconfigure for different artist studio set-ups over time. I will define probable "what if" scenarios)

Stay tuned for visualization! 

Neuromorphic Architecture

 

(Please Note, do not expand video it won't be shown in high quality. I would suggest to visit this link below on youtube for higher resolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAAoLArwEyc&feature=youtu.be)

Testing the Site...In progress..

 Responsive creatures bring life to our sedentary buildings that fail to do so.

I've been trying to avoid "plopping" this responsive creature just anywhere. Trying to avoid falling into the trap of it becoming an "architectural gimmick." What if this space could begin to 'infect' our sedentary buildings, educate others about its importance of embodying empathy in response to an individual's wellbeing.

As a universal room, let it infect our city skyscrapers both condos and office towers. It will become a space that caters to an individual who ever so needs an environment that perceives, adapts and changes in relation to his/her emotional response and needs, within a building that is merely a static insensitive object.

A spectator - both within the building and on street level - would be able to witness the narrative of movements and experience motion's emotional contagion ("inner mimicry"). When unoccupied, the responsive space returns to its minimum state, blending into the existing structure. 

Please note these are just quick renders beginning to illustrate the concept. (Users would be able to enter the space from the interior of the existing building)

Neuromorphic Architecture - A Development of Strategies

Either we “play dead,” and become inanimate like our surroundings,

or we animate those surroundings, and make them like ourselves" 

- Neil Leach

Neuromorphic architecture. When buildings are no longer objects but living organisms that can perceive, adapt and change in relation to the inhabitant. As an architect, how do we begin to design these 'living organisms'?

We may begin to design by adopting these three strategies:

The Empathetic Building

The building must be designed as a living organism, one that adapts to its users and enhances their spatial experience and wellbeing through kinesthetic empathy. 

How?

The building will change shape in correspondence to the inhabitant's current physiological and psychological state, with the intention of stimulating the senses and inducing a healthier mind and body. 

(i.e. Emotion to be achieved = Interest

Building Form to achieve emotion = Ambiguity)

The Utilitarian Building

The building must be ever-changing in program and adapt to the user's functional needs, as opposed to being predefined by a single application. 

How?

The building will re-configure into multiple uses for work, play and dwell scenarios for the occupant.

and...

The building will re-configure itself to provide surfaces for rest, sleep, work and entertainment. 

The Neuroplastic Building

The building will learn from the inhabitant and evolve accordingly over periods of time; eliciting the user's stimulus through building variations and thus establishing dishabituation.

How?

The building would be comprised of neuromorphic control systems that would be able to learn from the occupant and evolve in real-time.

_____

The architecture would embody a reciprocal process of adaptation with the human. 

How do we embark on the tectonics and materiality of such an architecture?

(See Images, Watch Videos Below)

Kinetic Components: Tensegrity, Hinges, Folding Geometry, Scissor Trusses

Soft Architecture - Skin: Textile, Polymers

(Courtesy of Behnaz Farahi) - Hylomorphic Canopy

(Courtesy of Unconventional Computing)

(Courtesy of Behnaz Farahi) - Alloplastic Architecture

(Courtesy of Unconventional Computing)