Equal value & Equipotential spaces
The establishment of order often relegates design to a process of optimization and regulation. Each space that serves the same function must be equal to every other space of the same function. The volume, access and benefits to the occupant must be equalized to provide a flexible platform for operations. In short, no one has it any better than any one else. Well, except for isolated senior positions, and even they have a restrained structure. It seems that heirarchal structures provide clauses for equality of any given level. The fewer the better. The most accomodation for the top in terms of personal space. I’m not going to write about any person’s influence on a company’s bottom line. I’m writing about providing maximum personal benefit from a finite space.
Building structures are divided by design. There are floors, walls, columns and doorways. There is a regular pattern to provide convenience and simplified design accomodations. Regular patterns usually provide cost savings and provide for a space that can accomodate other regular pattern planning methods. This approach is used throughout the construction industry and in fabrication. This is about efficiency and mass production. In our choices about efficiency underlies the principle of equality. We either believe or are led to believe that equality is a good thing and part of some higher principle of justice. It’s about being fair. This ideaology pervades other systems that are used in our present social structure.
This approach provides little or no opportunity for reward or uniqueness. The mass appeal of architecture is coupled with economic strategy to provide equipotential spaces lacking any unique or identifying quality. Quality is a word not often muttered. Maybe if you talk about ISO, LEAN or Six Sigma systems and mass production methods. You also have quality control, quality systems, and QMS (quality management systems). This is not quality, so much as consistency. The meaning that I refer to is an indication of value and not of properties. Quality is imbued into an object. Someone values its presence and unique properties. It is about craftsmanship and care. It has personal meaning and provides a unique experience not found any other place in the world. Nature’s architecture is this way. How many people do you know that would drive out in to the middle of the desert and gape at a big hole in the ground? Ask that of the visitors who travel to the Grand Canyon each year. I wonder how many people would drive out in to the desert to gape at a building made by man?
I enjoy visiting new places and experiencing what each has to offer. The places to seek out are not what I would call modern structures in any sense. Architecture is about making a statement with unique spaces that have qualities that inspire us to remember them and our joy at experiencing them. They embody culture, history, forethought, and innovation. Architecture endures in our minds and has longevity. It is used over and over. Clearly architecture is not about technology. Architecture is about putting your quality into a space that can be valued by other people.
If all of our spaces are equal, why seek out any other? Why make an effort to have a corner office or bigger cubicle? Is space really a status symbol?
