Third Places are more than a sum of its parts. Designers do not claim that their home designs (or First Place) are defined by their washrooms, bedrooms, or even kitchens; nor do designers present proposals solely on qualities such as "homely", "warm", "comfortable, etc. Similarly, students should neither be describing their Third Place as "interactive", "engaging",etc. nor defining their Third Place by generic programming such as "coffee shop", "lounge space", or "hangout area". It is the combination of programmatic elements plus a well defined design approach in creating a desired ambiance that creates a truly successful Third Place. Though the Oldenburg definition casts a wider net in its taxonomy of place to include commercial enterprise such as pubs and coffee houses, strong students are able to recall the fundamental concepts behind the Third Place.
Students in this assignment are asked to design a Third Place - not simply allocate area for one. If an architect were asked to design a house and simply rough in areas for kitchens and entryways, then one must ask whether what was proposed was functional programming or truly architecture. This is not a space planning exercise. It is incumbent on students to actually design their buildings both inside and out. An inability to understand this demonstrates a failure in an awareness of the responsibilities and tasks under the purview of an architect.
Rest assured that there will be projects that will fall prey to any one of the three criticisms I have raised in this commentary: ambiance, functional elements, and responding to the assignment. If by the end of the term these projects remain unable to properly address these issues, it is the responsibility of instructors and peers to communicate this flaw. Fortunately students spend far more time with each other than instructors so it is everyone's responsibilities, most notably students, to be critical both with themselves and each other.
"Oldenburg suggests that beer gardens, main streets, pubs, cafés, coffeehouses, post offices, and other third places are the heart of a community’s social vitality and the foundation of a functioning democracy." Here is where I struggle in defining my third space. All of the spaces mentioned bring people in for a purpose other than "put aside their concerns and simply enjoy the company and conversation around them." Wether the space is inviting enough for them to stay is another story. What is difficult to do is to create a space that brings people in for the sole purpose of being there, and have found very few successful examples of this.
ReplyDeleteHow is a place judged as a third space based on renders, plans and sections? People make the space, but anyone can make a render and photoshop hundreds of people in it to make it seem engaging.
As described in studio and beyond, the nature of Third Spaces is quite wide as per the Oldenburg model however it is far more enticing a proposition in the context of your project. That you have a specific audience (Ryerson students), programmatic themes (Grad residences, DMZ), and urban condition (Toronto's prime street, Yonge Street)allows you to have a clearer focus rather than try to encompass everything (i.e. accommodating everyone from the elderly to the homeless). If you are able to articulate a sensitivity and awareness to these specific conditions (whether verbally, or ideally graphically), then your renders/imagery of the Third Space will make sense even if the requisite Photoshop entourage is placed in the rendering. For example, I can understand the difference between a family home's dining room and a high-end restaurant not simply because of the number of people assembled in the rendering. Finer levels of awareness including volumetrics and spatial organization, materials and tectonics, and (to a lesser degree) furnishings and ornament, all are under the direction of the architect in order to present a definitive distinction. Remember that architects (and ideally architecture faculty) are capable of projecting themselves in designed spaces; this level of design empathy is critical in understanding the abstraction of what is presented in a design drawing as a representation of potential realities. This does NOT serve as a crutch for students to rely on. We do not look at renderings of empty houses in architecture magazines and anticipate a stark and dystopian environment; we understand and conjecture how people will use the spaces by looking at the architecture itself. Surely you must have developed this ability at this point in your career!
ReplyDeleteAnd whoever is adding cat imagery to my posts please at the very least let me know before your colleagues bring it to my attention...
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