Session 3 - June 21

[Madelyn Masterson]

It is fascinating to compare interior functionality from Chinese to western ideals. Western ideals hold the functionality of a home to how well you can interact with everyone inside. The ideal is usually  to have an open space for everyone to share, entertain, and interact with one another. The concept of Feng-Shui on the other hand holds value in the balance of humans with nature. The focus shifts from person to person interaction towards person to nature interaction. The second reading,"Feng-Shui" Models Structured Traditional Beijing Courtyard Houses” ,mentions that ancient Beijing used to hold ideals of the house capturing “social control within the family”. I feel this is the desire in western homes. Having an “open concept” kitchen or living room is what often holds value. Whereas now, in Beijing tradition, the ideal is to unite heaven, earth, and people. This reminds me of the human body systems unit I have with my students. One of the foundational concepts I teach during this unit is that each of the cells, tissues, organs, and body systems are organized to interact with one another. One cannot exist without the other. This concept of balance and humans with nature is definitely something I can bring up with my students so that they can understand the importance of balance within the human body.

[Amy Stamm]

Hi Candace,

I appreciate your comment about the shift away from the outdoors for many youth who are absorbed in social media, whose design is about propelling users into spending more time and thus buying more products or creating more data for advertisers and corporations. The space of the classroom, while often physically stable, has shifted as students spend their days interacting with their phones. When I bicycle, the majority of walkers, and some cyclists, have their heads down absorbed in their phones and miss a good amount of what is happening around them. So these small capsules of design are changing people's relationships to the spaces they are inhabiting. This makes me wonder about how technologies are changing the concept of space. The metaverse is a good example. People create second lives for themselves and new kinds of relationships that enable them to be brave in new ways but also abandon their other relationships and interactions with space. We've seen the grave mental health consequences of existing largely within and through these technologically mediating worlds, and as a teacher in a school that is packed with phones and split attention, I wonder what is happening to students' brains as they toggle back and forth at a rapid pace from the classroom to the multiple social media worlds they inhabit. And now with "smart" buildings, facial recognition, and other technologies, how are our public spaces and public priorities transforming with the massive amounts of tracking that is happening? And how will all of this interact with climate change?

[Madelyn Masterson]

In class we discussed how nature was brought into spatial compounds. The beauty of architecture was found outside in the open as opposed to enclosed spaces. As I collaborated with fellow science teachers in my department, we discussed the goal of taking our students out of the classroom more often. The pandemic has secluded us from being indoors so often and it has been a difficult adjustment for our students. As science teachers we have so much opportunity to interact with our natural world. We will be in our Ecology unit this coming fall. When we discuss biodiversity and interactions between various species, I will be sure to take my students outside to physically interact with nature.

[Nia Gipson]

Amy, what a GREAT comment! I know that technology has greatly changed the way that teaching and learning are happening in the classroom (even more so because of COVID) but I have never thought about how that impacts our perception of space. I wonder if the fact that so much of a people's lives are now reduced to a small social media screen, how that impacts their perception of space in the wider world. I wonder if this will shifts people's desires for their own living and working spaces in the future and how architects and urban planners will respond to that.

[Nia Gipson]

Madelyn, I commend the fact that you are going to bring your students outside more. I also try to do that as much as possible (weather permitting....sometimes in New England, the weather just doesn't permit...). Sometimes, I do struggles with retaining their attention when all I want them to do is experience the outdoors and exist in nature, but I get better every year!

 

[Betsy Ures]

I also found the description of Chinese and American residental structures and their access to the outdoors very interesting. Having a shared internal courtyard in dwellings shows a value system where community is more valued over individual privacy. Many of my students, like me, live in apartment buildings or in duplexes, and they might enjoy discussing the various types of design and how it affects their daily life. Students could then use graph paper to design their own dwellings.

[Nia Gipson]

I think that you bring in a good point about how in urban environments you need to bring nature into the space. My classroom is in the basement so I need more outdoors indoors for sure. But I try to do as much outside as possible because the school has a great back lawn with lots of trees. I wonder when urbanites stopped valuing the natural world? Now in an urban city some of the best views are high rise apartments that overlook the city and not nature.

[Nia Gipson]

I really love this idea, asking kids to think about repurposing abandoned or underused spaces in their community and having them think about how they can actively rehabilitate it. It could be a nice project to have the students actually pick a location, design what a park could look, do a cost/benefit analysis and propose it to the local community/legislator. 

[Madelyn Masterson]

Hi Betsy, I feel western society is starting to value more interaction within the home as opposed to out in the community. It seems it is common to look for an “open concept kitchen or living room” when searching for a house or apartment. This encourages interaction within those invited to the home. The walls between kitchen, living rooms, and dining rooms are beginning to be taken down. This can definitely minimize privacy within the home but prioritize entertainment. Whereas, the traditional asian design has the sliding doors that enables the ability to provide privacy but also the option to open and encourage interaction within the house. I feel western society is slowly adopting this because many doors to the backyard are becoming large french doors that take up the entire size of the wall. 

[Taylor Bub]

I love how you equate the ideas of Feng-Shui and balance with the structure and function within the human body.  This is a concept I would like to explore more and might be able to use in my Physiology course as an introduction.  It is great that you also relate it to nature and how it is so important in nature to maintain that balance.  This could definitely be used when discussing homeostasis in the body, as it is the maintaining of the balance within the body.

[Nia Gipson]

Taylor, I love this idea! One of the things that I tell my students when thinking about architecture is that it is a cultural artifact and a projection of a society on the ground. I think having your students analyze architectural spaces like this will really get that point across! I will have to incorporate that idea into my lecture as well!
 

[Joanna Bourque]

When thinking about the indoor-oudoor concept of traditional Japanese architecture, I was reminded of the 'self-taught' architect (I am not quite sure what that entails) Takashi Kobayashi who designs and builds tree houses. Some are sleek and modern, while some look like fairytale cottages, and they are all directly situated on the trunk and biggest branches of carefully selected trees in order to seamlessly blend with nature. He says his tree houses are a way, "To break down the feeling of separation that exists between humans and nature." When I first encountered him, I was looking for a fun lesson on architecture to do with my students, but I became fascinated by the organic designs and his use of natural materials and elements. His tree houses, made from wood and situated above the ground, make use of the traditional principles of the indoor-outdoor concept of building design and use the surrounding landscape as a backdrop like in zen garden design. While I find his structures to be ineteresting, I am concerned about their purposes and functionality. Is this a whimsical attention-getting concept, or do his structures have true long-term functionality?

 

[Betsy Ures]

I agree that the west is slowly adopting some of the concepts of the East! The shift toward open concept is liberating when entertaining guests. I would like to see more public spaces be made available such as parks, gazebos, trails, and community centers. Or at least apartment buildings could be designed around courtyards like the "tulou" dwellings of China. People are easily isolated when public spaces or shared community spaces are not available.

[Betsy Ures]

I love this idea! I recently went to Atlanta (where I grew up) and got to enjoy the new urban trail called the Belt Line. It was also repurposed from unused rail and underutlized land. It was full of people skating, biking, walking, and running. We need to utilize underutlized spaces to provide alternatives to car travel. My students love to go to the park and walk around, but traffic violence is a looming threat to safety. I woult like to see commercial buildings be transitioned to affordable housing and unused land to parks and pathways to connect neighborhoods!

LINK: https://beltline.org/

 

[Miguel Diaz]

I am interested to know to what extent East Asian aesthetics and symbols transcend social class. I am aware, that virtually everyone in China understands and appreciates the importance of feng shui, at least to some extent. However, what exactly does feng shui mean to a factory worker in Shenzhen who lives in a crowded dormitory? What does it mean to a restaurant worker in Shanghai who shares a bedroom with a half dozen other restaurant workers? I spent several months living in Osaka, Japan many years ago. When arrived in Japan, I had originally planned to stay there for at least a couple of years. But as much as I loved Japan, I had to cut my stay short due to my inability to adjust to living in an excruciatingly confined space. I had a tiny apartment with no windows.

Do people living in tiny spaces in places like Korea and Hong Kong think about feng shui daily? I've been to Hong Kong at least a half dozen times. And as with Japan, I really like to visit Hong Kong, but I find even hotel stays quite difficult due to the lack of space.

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