Psychology of Space explains how the society values and perceives space. Culture influences these perceptions. They often reflect the society’s beliefs and identities. Planning for space involves consideration of the behavior that space can accommodate more that the building itself. To ensure continual use and evolution of space, the planning has to cater for needs of the society. To enhance residents’ identity of space, it needs to tell a story that makes it meaningful.
The article by Owen (2013) describes the psychology of space using different spaces. The space discussed are; Oslo Opera House in Norway, Times Square new design in New York, Memorial and Museum entrance pavilion and the buildings submitted to the Alexandria Competition. The architecture firm discussed is Snohetta consisting of Kjetil Thorsen of Norway and New York’s Craig Dykers. The writer’s thesis statement is that architects’ primary consideration in their design is more on people’s perception than the aesthetic factor. The designs revolve around features which the society can relate.
The National Opera does not possess great aesthetic beauty. It is built unpromising location-old industrial site and resembles a glacier. However, these features do not stop it from being a busy public space. This is because the features in the building were designed to fit the society’s needs and lifestyle. The roof of the building allows pedestrians to walk along it and get a panoramic view of the town of Oslo. The roof is angled towards the ground. This is a lifestyle consideration since Norwegians like climbing mountains. Getting many people to climb a building and get a panoramic view of the town is therefore not hard to achieve.
Cultural consideration is also an important contributing factor to the high number of space users at Oslo. The building which is an Opera Theater was designed opera and ballet performances. The main hall has the shape of an intimate horseshoe hinting users to classic theaters origin. Its design, therefore, incorporated the expected huge audience in their plan. The structure consists of 1364 seats in the main auditorium and two more performance stages with a capacity of 600 seats.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum pavilion site also justifies the fact that public space usage has little to do with the aesthetic design but the peoples’ perspectives. The pavilion which lies at the location of the bombed Twin Towers has had a daily traffic of one-third million people. However, the site had been unfinished for eight years until 2013, therefore possessing no aesthetic beauty. Snohetta was then awarded the contract to design the pavilion. Dykers who is a member of the firm confirmed his priority to be reconfiguring space such in a way that will not make people avoid it while walking. This means that he considered their lifestyle first before the beauty aspect.
Referring to the Charging Bull statue at Snohetta’s office building, architects take into account the diverse ways through which people view design. Dykers noted that a lot of people pose to take pictures with the statute from either the front or the backside. This justifies the fact that human beings are diverse creatures with different perspectives to every aspect of life. The expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was expected to double the visitors and, therefore, its accommodation was doubled. Its initial design resembled the San Francisco’s marginal neighborhood. The proposed plans will have the illusion of a white ocean.
There exist many other buildings whose design is motivated by shapes of features well perceived by the human beings as well as their intended purpose. The Wild Reindeer Center Pavilion is a recent example. It was designed to resemble the shape of the shipping container and is also almost similar in shape. All aspects of this building revolve around the community’s activities. The wall allows visitors to observe reindeer herds while the rear wall is made of pine timber. Installing a kiosk in the middle of Grand Central to push them to the sides and ease movement of people is also a demonstration of human perception of space.
The Times Square redesign proposal further demonstrates an aspect of the psychology of space that people’s behavior and not space define the use. This space had been designed for cars. However, pedestrians account for 99% of the users. To change the perception that it was designed for cars, features synonymous with sidewalks had to be created. Changing of the paint and installing cafe helped ease traffic. This is because people move well through surroundings they perceive familiar.
Snohetta’s further transformation of the Times Square and the Duffy Plaza demonstrates the other aspects of the psychology of space. First, the identity of a location is shaped by the stories it tells. One of the young men reported not visiting the Times Square despite living in its neighborhood because he found it annoying. Redesigning it to resemble the ‘Crossroads of the World’ which New Yorkers perceived beautiful many years ago will restore the good relationship they had with the site.
The article, therefore, explains ways through which perception of space has influenced is usage. It has also shown that when designing a public space, the perception of the society and intended purpose are put into consideration before the aesthetic beauty.
References
Owen, D. (2013). The Psychology of Space: Annals of Architecture. Retrieved March 8, 2016 from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/21/the-psychology-of-space
