Pallasmma

How can we understand and determine a person’s experience of architecture?

I think that it is vitally important to the architectural profession to try and understand personal experiences as a means for improving the way in which we design. To determine these personal experiences it is important to engage users of a particular building and find out what it is that makes the experience enjoyable and what could be improved. While there would be difficulty for the everyday person to fully express what makes a space memorable, and that individual opinions can vary greatly based on previous experience, I think that over all consensus would lead to an understanding of what makes great space. In addition, I think that through observation of these spaces an underlying pattern of what makes memorable space can be determined.

All art emanates from the body….

Works of art begin with the body and our capacity to physically experience the art. The artist creates the work through their physical interaction with a medium and instills in the art their particular experiences in life. The desire to create and express our personal experience is in our human nature and it is through our physical bodies that we try to convey this to others. The observer of art in response uses their physical senses to interpret the work and through this interaction make their own impact on the art.

Early childhood memories inform and form us as we grow up….

The memories that we have in our early childhood set up the foundation for how we interpret experiences throughout the rest of our lives. Our basis for interaction with others and how we learn is formed when we are very young and this establishes the filter that all other experiences are compared against. This ultimately determines how we feel and learn from particular experiences.

Other arts create the importance of place and our experience….

A component of all experiences is the importance of place. Our memories, especially the more significant ones, are linked the place in which they occur. This becomes the setting or stage in which our experience plays out. Art can create importance in a place and how we experience it but I don’t think the importance of place is dependent on art, it does however add to that experience.

Loneliness and silence of buildings….

The way in which we inhabit buildings gives life and meaning to the building. The building on its own cannot tell a story without our interaction and interpretation. It is through this interaction that buildings become alive. By inhabiting a building we give it a story and a purpose; in this it is full of life and collective experiences.