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Anonymous
When creating space in a 2-D medium, how do you design for the 3-D reality?
By Hannah Loomis posted on Sat, 2009-07-11 08:18 , 267 reads, 2 commentsI see people all week drawing and fixing lines, adding color, changing shapes - and the results are sometimes quite beautiful and compelling. It's one thing to work on a computer or even on trace on a table and create interesting forms, patterns, rhythms - whether it's within a campus quad, an urban waterfront, a corporate workplace. But how do you experience that space before it's built? How do you design for the people who walk through it, or sit to reflect, or have to work with someone right next to them?
In past times I did some composing of music, and I sometimes found myself feeling jealous of my acquaintances who were painters. They could stand back and take in everything they were doing at a glance. And they could listen to music while they did it! Whereas I had to sit by myself in a quiet room and try to hear sounds. And then try to capture them on paper in such a way that others could reproduce them the way I heard them. And I was trying to hear many parts at one time. How would they sound together? How would they sound together through time? I had to listen moment by moment to the progression and test things out in my head. I had some help from the piano, but many pieces of music I wrote couldn't be played (at least not by me) just on the piano.
Now, I may have been quite wrong about the ease with which painters can comprehend their pieces. Certainly creating is difficult no matter what the medium and I'm in no way implying that painting is easy. I do think it may be different to create something that unfolds as you experience it - hearing it or walking through it.
Those of you who create space in your work - what do you think? And how do you avoid the potential trap of designing a space that looks good on paper but doesn't work in reality?
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Hannah, you bring up some great points. It's always a challenge to visualize how a space will actually feel and what the experience of it will be. While 3-D modeling can give us a hint at the larger forms, the subtle textures, colors, how a breeze moves through, etc. are virtually (no pun intented) impossible to "test." Personally, I have found that creating a virtual image in my head, closing my eyes, and standing/walking through the space is the best way to test for experience. Of course, the imaginary experience is only as good as our imagination allows. Until a holodeck is available, we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way - using our imaginations and creativity!
Thanks for your thoughts, Anonymous - it would be great to know who you are! It sounds like your design approach is similar to my composing approach, and I agree that although it's possible and helpful to use computers to test creations it falls short of the reality. Maybe that's a good thing; nothing can or should replace imagination and creativity.
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