Space Code: A Designer’s Perspective
code /kōd/
a systematic collection of laws or a set of conventions governing behavior or activity in a particular sphere.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Whether as religious, behavioral, building, or language, codes abound. They provide a systematic guide, using tools unique to each application. For the writer, vocabulary, syntax, and sentence structure provide the means of creative construction. As space is the designer’s playground, the linguistic modality changes to point, line, plane, and solid, adding color and texture to enhance or contrast. A designer’s knowledge and creative use of these tools drives the richness and efficacy of the design solution.
We experience form when we know we are inside and there is an outside or when we stand in the dark and look into light. Shape can only arise when there is a physical or sensory change created by a difference in properties. Opposition creates differentiation; differentiation creates space. A coherent organization of relationships and sensual qualities brings order to the chaos of an undefined, virtual reality. Spatial definition requires, at the least, a modicum of organizing patterns, regularities that assist spatial interpretation for even the most unfamiliar user. Edges that produce circulation, hierarchies that express relationships, color and texture that define shape all help punctuate the grammar of space. While artists and architects continually experiment with the interplay of these elements, pushing their boundaries through unique vision and evolving technologies (some more successfully than others), none have been able to eradicate them completely. They are the necessary ingredients to any physical space, in combination acting as the tangible intersection of mentality with physicality.
Well-defined space presents as a varying organization of essential elements and as such, creates a language readable through experience. Just as a writer uses alliteration for poetic emphasis, the designer uses the repetition of materials, shapes and textures to punctuate the space. An author orders words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraph to pages to communicate with the reader. A designer organizes geometric patterns of space, relating parts in a cohesive and rational order that intuitively meets user needs. The essayist follows a format recognizable in arrangement and content. The designer creates predictable patterns through the manipulation of various shapes, introducing proportion and balance into the space. When we read prose, the quality of the author’s expression can enhance our understanding or enrich our lives. The designer seeks to accomplish a corresponding condition by providing space that communicates a desired experience such as beauty, visual intrigue, or restful meditation.
Whereas space is defined by changes in geometric forms, the definition of space is not geometric. It requires the sensing of phenomena, of a conscious participant interacting with the solids and voids, giving life to the inanimate through the defining act of experience. Abundant evidence of human engagement appears in even the smallest of details – a dip worn in stone steps; a frayed textile; a marred wall – creating identity and a sense of dwelling. In this reality, space not only organizes behavior, it communicates what is significant to those who create and utilize it. Through this act of participation, space becomes a place, as social memory and participatory experiences imbue the physical with mental imagery and meaning. Therefore, time, interwoven within and through physical realities, defines place and permits future users to connect with actions of the past.
The construction of space, if perhaps not the most important of humanity’s endeavor, is, at the least, one of the longest surviving. Decisions of designers today leave an imprint for millennia, as evidenced by archeological endeavors traversing the globe. This underscores the necessity of not only understanding, but utilizing a system of elements and principles, a space code, at the highest possible level of conceptual application. In only this way, can our endeavors hope to meet destiny with dignity.
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