Species of Spaces

Currently, I have been doing a lot of research into phenomenology within architecture as part of a opted seminar study into different types of spaces. The seminars covered three basic species: place, power and play; the focus being on the psychology and sociology that influences these concepts. Bachelard's The Poetics of Space is a cornerstone of the phenomenological movement in architecture, that rebels against the onset of consumerism and modernism and suggests designs should adhere to the same basic ideals as a bird to a birds nest or a sea creature to a shell. He persuades the reader that visuals are not everything; eyesight is not the only sense we have and we should appreciate spaces on the wider sensual experience.

Above: A space that doesn't rely on the visual: Jewish Museum, Berlin.

Michel Foucault conned the term of heterotopia to describe places of difference within society. These traditionally included sacred, forbidden or privileged places in a settlement, whist in the modern era our places of deviance can be seen as prisons, hospitals and mental institutions. Generally a heterotopia is anywhere that social values are mirrored but not actually possessed. Other examples include museums and libraries which reflect the idea of 'constituting a place of all times.' Contrasting those are the spaces that present the precariousness and fluidity of time such as carnivals, parades or fun-fairs. Foucault also looks at Panopticism and the exercise of power through architecture. Especially noted is Bentham's Panopticon prison where the inmates were subject to constant fear of being watched by their guards due to the layout of the building. It ensured that all cells could be visible from a large central guard tower and that from inside each cell the prisoner had no idea whether he was being watched or not. Though at the time this idea of control through imposing paranoia and self-awareness was a revolution for surveying heterotopia's, we now live in a country where panopticism is a part of daily life almost wherever we travel. Parallels are always made to George Orwell's 1984 in that we are constantly in fear of being watched and recorded by the cameras around us (because shops and councils just can't trust us not to do anything naughty). 

The play aspect of the study is perhaps best seen on the borders of our society. Rob Shields book Places on the Margin looks at these spaces where we let loose and break our usual conventions. His study of Brighton looks at the development of the royal spa town into a hotbed for independent, break-away citizens that escape to the coast and as far away from the norms as possible. The towns history starts with Georgian spa- goers hoping for purification in the sea water and develops into a town where Victorian families of all classes go to relax and turn there backs to their jobs and stresses that lie inland. Maybe this is what attracts so many tourists to coastlines today. The study finishes by looking at the Mods and Rockers groups of the 60's and how the beach became a battleground for these very closed, unconventional groups. The central theme throughout his writing is that social deviance and play tends to thrive on the limits of society in quite a geographical way. Other examples could be made from Las Vegas, the casino town in the middle of the western desert or Soho in the outskirts of central London.  

The species I have focused on for my essay is that of power. I think its interesting to study how spaces can be exploited by those looking to exercise there authority over others. I think it should be a principal of modern architects to recognise then rebel against the designers who only wish to trap people into conventional, overly-controlled lives. It could be seen as a transition from power spaces to play spaces or, as Bachelard might argue, an design revolution against modernism, industry and capital.