CROWDS?! Try Light Shadow and materials

Program Studies

After a huge reality check, I dropped crowds like a bad habit. Onward! to Light, Shadow and Materiality. More to follow about the switch but for now here is some program development.

This conceptual diagram is showing how people react to dark spaces. More senses are needed in darker spaces- touch, hearing, and sight. The woman on the left is in a darker space. She walks slowly closer to the wall, runs her hand along to wall to feel her way around, feels the wall and the ground beneath her. She stands closer to the wall because she feels safer.

The women on the right is in bright space. She walks further away from the wall at faster speeds. She can see everything in front of her so there is no need for her to use her other senses.

Program Story Board: Coming soon when I find my camera

Read from top to bottom: Idea is that people will move from light to dark and experience different materialistic qualities.

Adjacency

UPDATE

This adjacency diagram shows how I can integrate both shadowed spaces and natural lit spaces together to work as one. Shadow can't exist with out light. The above diagram shows "spaces" separated by light and shadow. However, together they work as one whole unit. Some of these spaces are more lit or are in more shadow than others. Those spaces have a hierarchy over the other spaces.

UPDATE

Here is my written narrative of how I perceive Shadow to work in my space. This isn't necessarily a reflection of the spaces I want to design but more of a few ideas of how I want to use Shadow.

It has been a long day, it is my first time to the city and we have been walking around all day. The sun is starting to go down, I think it is time for us to find our way back to our hotel room. The city starts to take on a different feel when it turns dark. We are walking back on the same street we walked this morning however, something about being on this street when it is dark seems quite different. The sun is setting directly behind us. As we walk on the sidewalk, I start to become aware that the concrete sidewalk has a perpendicular grain to it as I walk. The grain in the sidewalk isn’t large but big enough to feel through my shoes. The noise from my son’s stroller as we walk on the sidewalk is suddenly becoming all I can hear. It creates almost a humming noise that I didn’t hear earlier. The speed of which we walk makes the humming louder or softer. This grain wasn’t noticeable before, it is not much larger than 1/32” but in darkness it is much more noticeable. I can feel it through my shoes and in my hand as I push the stroller.

The setting sun forced me to pay more attention to my surroundings, as I had not noticed the grain in the sidewalk earlier in the day. This led me to the feelings I received in my hands and feet as I walked and pushed the stroller. I also noticed the noise from the stroller after I realized there was a grain in the sidewalk, I would not have noticed the noise unless the grain had been brought to my attention.

As we walk along the sidewalk we start to approach our hotel. We step off the sidewalk and into the entrance of our hotel. The rhythmic sounds and feeling of the sidewalk grain come to an end. The entrance to the hotel does not have a rhythmic feeling on the ground but the asphalt parking lot feels very smooth. The entrance quickly and easily brings us inside. It was nice to not have to push as hard on the stroller as we approached the hotel. Some places in the city were very difficult to maneuver a stroller around. I hadn’t noticed it before but my arms and legs were feeling exhausted from pushing around my son all day. This nice smooth push into the hotel was a welcoming feeling.

We placed our things in our room and walked down to the hotel restaurant. We ate at the restaurant this morning; it was a buffet and was mostly filled with children running around throwing things at each other. I was not looking forward to eating there tonight but we were too exhausted to go anywhere else. However tonight, the hotel restaurant seemed dark and mostly calm inside. We walked in and were seated at table next to the window. The room was barely lit; I could not see the other side of the restaurant. I could hear voices but couldn’t see whom or where they were coming from, only the general direction of the voice. My son sat next to me in his highchair, he was exhausted. The moon was now starting to rise up in the sky. The dark room started to become alive as the moon slowly raised in the sky. It was a full moon tonight and it was reflecting a lot of light into the restaurant off the adjacent waterfront. I could see the ripples of the water on the ceiling above me. I had never seen this effect on a room that the moon had produced before in my life. I realized now why the room was so dark. If the space had been brightly lit then no one would have realized this wonderful moon. I noticed a heavy breathing next to me, my son had fallen asleep in his chair.

My wife and I sat, quietly eating our delicious food. This meal is by far the best meal we have had since we have been in the city. The food didn’t taste this good for the breakfast buffet. The environment was definitely more relaxing, which I feel helped make the food taste better.

As I lay in bed with a full stomach, I start to think of the things I experienced in the later part of the day and realize that they were all due to darkness. If the setting sun had not hit the sidewalk in the correct way I would not have noticed the grain. I had walked on that sidewalk earlier in the day and didn’t even give it a second thought. The rhythmic feeling of the sidewalk approaching the hotel made me realize how easy the hotel entrance was. The ease of pushing the stroller made me realize the grueling pace of city life. The hotel restaurant seemed to be two completely different spaces, literally day and night. In the morning for breakfast the space felt very open and large. I saw all the kids running around throwing sausages at each other from the buffet and could not wait to get out into the city. However at night, the darkness made the space feel much smaller and more intimate. The moon reflection off the water and made me realize how close we were to the water. The food tasted amazing, the atmosphere was fantastic and my son had fallen asleep in the middle of dinner, giving my wife and I some time to relax. I cannot wait to see what I will experience again tomorrow night.