Prospectus - Prospect Refuge & The Anesthetizing Built Environment

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This thesis cross-examines human instinctual behavior and its affects on our environment along with the built environment’s

affect on our human behavior. The main human behavioral condition discussed throughout the following sources addresses the

theory of prospect-refuge, a human instinct that provides us with a situational awareness of our environment. Conversely, authors

speak of the built environment as generating replications of symbols, through signs that aid us in direction, better known as way-

finding and advertisement logos and images. These pre-conceived replications dictate unconscious actions that are not formulated

by original thought. The aim of this thesis is to clarify architectures role in creating meaningful environments for all users through

utilizing spaces that demonstrate both prospect and refuge. These conditions allow one to engage the environment with increased

awareness and observation that then allows one to formulate original thought to inform meaningful beliefs, decisions and actions.

an·es·thet·ic edge - con·di·tion pros·pect - ref·uge

spec·ta·cle tem·pered - dif·fer·ence

way - find·ing

A substance which induces a numbing or insensitivity to stimuli.

A circumstance where two differing environmental types are interfaced.

The theory first surmised by Jay Appleton which outlines our human desire to seek spaces that retain both shelter from and outlook upon the environment.

The ability to changed to change or manipulate two contrasting environmental conditions such as hot and cold, to ones liking.

A visually striking or noticible display.

The study and method in which people familiarize, orient and navagate themselves through physical space

RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT

DEFINITIONS

OBJECTIVES

Human Behavior & Prospect-Refuge Identify the human behavioral affects on our environment. Identify the qualities and purpose of human behavioral desire to seek places of both prospect and refuge. Identify the benefits of utilizing spaces of prospect and refugeThe Anesthetic Built Environment Identify the built environment’s creation of spectacles. Identify the affects of spectacles on human behavior.Legibility in Architecture Identify architectures role in communicating meaning and use to observers and users. Distinguish an approach to the use of legibility in the design of this thesis project.Action in Architecture Identify the role of architects and users in design. Demonstrate architectures role in providing service and ability to harbor program. Thesis Goal To come to an understanding of how architecture can become a site energizer, increasing use and cognitive awareness.

RESEARCH ESSAY

To ensure our own survival, human instincts have been developed throughout time that pushes us to seek or create ideal

habitat conditions. Environmental psychologist David Kopeck outlines specific human behaviors that effect environmental and

spatial conditions. On the other hand, geographer Jay Appleton identifies a particular human drive to utilize spatial conditions that

he calls prospect-refuge. This basic human instinctive trait explains why people admire what we know as “edge-conditions” or areas

of “tempered difference”;1 namely places that allow both opportunity to view the world before them while being in a sheltered space.

It is then certainly plausible that architectural design could immensely affect its success by borrowing ideas of Prospect-Refuge by

creating an architectural language that reads as a place of opportunity and sanctuary. In The Wright Space – Pattern and Meaning

in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Houses, Grant Hildebrand argues that Frank Lloyd Wright’s works were successful for his employment of

spaces that retained properties of both shelter and outlook. It is these spaces that offer sanctuary that then become the most ideal

place to look down upon the environmental condition.

In today’s day and age, we come to find that our built environment has slowly anesthetized us from internal drives that allow

us to create original thought and conscious decision from our observations due to the rampant productions of symbol. French writer,

theorist and founder of the Situationist movement, Guy Debord wrote Society of The Spectacle, where he confronted the reader with

the idea of the symbol and its ability to visually and psychologically engage individuals. Debord presents the idea of the spectacle

or symbol, which becomes devoid of meaning when over reproduced. Debord states that spectacles, visual cues, are a product of

society’s reinterpretation of the past.2 Since these works are a work of the past, they become meaningless in the present context.

1 David Kopeck. Environmental Psychology for Design. New York: Fairchild, 2006, 83.2 Guy Debord. The Society of The Spectacle. New York: Zone, 2006, 2.

Debord’s aim is to critique the socio-psychological effects of the spectacle. He claims that this infiltration of the mind

proves that symbols can skew our perspective on the world. Neil Leach, author of The Anaesthetics of Architecture, supports

Debord’s investigation, confirming that the reflex developed overtime due to these reproduced symbols devalue or anesthetize

our experience of our built environment. Leach points to the action of “image making“ as the primary factor numbing our cognitive

ability to understand and engage our environment. Leach further expresses his discontent in the approach Robert Venturi takes for

disassociating image from formal content. Leach believes that form and symbol both have the same inherent qualities in contributing

to sensory overload. Leach states that we live in a “Culture of images and a culture of post-modernity, where everything is corrupted

into images and commodities [which] is a danger that we aestheticize… …We see things as images and we lose sense of the

social, political and economic content of these images”3 In response to these conditions this thesis proposes a strategy grounded

in theories of Prospect-Refuge as a way of creating a conscious level of understanding of our environment.

Human Behavior and Prospect-Refuge

In David Kopeck’s Environmental Psychology for Design, key features such as gender roles are identified with our human

behavior and its effects on our environment. Our varying gender roles have provided a platform in which men and woman behave

and act upon our environment specific ways. These differences of gender, culture, tradition and history skew our perspective of the

world.4 In the case of gender differences, Kopeck claims that women are content with high spatial density, while men would rather

be in low-density spaces. Men require more personal space while women like to be close together. Men like distant visual expanses

and are more territorial. These opinions or natural drives push and pull the boundaries that create the built environment we know

3 Neil Leach. The Anaesthetics of Architecture. MIT, Cambridge, MA, 1999, 14.4 David Kopeck. Environmental Psychology for Design. New York: Fairchild, 2006, 83.

today. It is this evidence such as this that supports our varying effects that we impose on our environment and how one must design

flexibly for all people, not just one specific group.

Jay Appleton proposes a specific drives that is ingrained in all people’s nature in what he calls Prospect-Refuge Theory. This

theory hypothesized that human instinct drives people to utilize edge conditions or circumstances of “tempered-difference”. Having

the ability to attain a vista or clear line of sight upon the landscape (prospect) and the safety of shelter (refuge) address the qualities

of tempered difference very specifically. It is pointed out that there is a particular human desire to obtain these habitat conditions due

to our survival instincts. Early human civilizations, for example, sought shelter in edge conditions such as the cliff dwellings in Mesa

Verde, Arizona. Edge conditions provided the opportunity for hunting or shelter from oncoming threat.

In search for evidence of man’s behavioral effects on spatial and architectural elements, I have come across a noteworthy

piece of literature that details Frank Lloyds Wright’s work, verifying man’s instinctive drive to create desirable spaces through prospect

refuge. Grant Hildebrand’s Wright Space – Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Houses, seeks to identify underlying

themes and patterns often seen in Wrights architectural composition and argues that instinctive human desires are the driving force

in his works.

One important theme Hildebrand highlights is Wright’s use of what is known as complexity and order, prospect and refuge.

These themes are tied to landscape and nature. Hildebrand attempts to examine the relationship of, “Wrights pattern and the

characteristics that we now believe human beings, pre-conditioned by nature, select their habitations.”5 Hildebrand cites numerous

biologists, geologists and philosophers and their capability to relate nature to the arts and our built environment. This evidence is

5 Grant Hildebrand. The Wright Space: Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Houses. Seattle Univ., Washington Print, 1994, 28.

Figure 1.1 - Landscape design study demonstrating examples of both prospect and refuge seen in our built and natural environment. Source: J.J. Meyer

Figure 1.2 - Diagram demonstrating environmental conditions of Prospect and refuge and its edge affinity. Source: Olson Kundig Architects

an abstraction of what we as humans conceive as pleasing or desirable. The art people have created over time is described as a

search for what we as humans instinctively find pleasing. It is on these terms where we can find architecture and art’s relationship

to the environment as evidence to what we as humans find desirable or beautiful in its most basic, pure and primal form.6 The

observation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s spaces along with Jay Appleton’s Prospect-Refuge theory verifies the psychological and physical

human desire of place.

Hildebrand’s discoveries of Prospect-Refuge characteristics in Frank Lloyd Wright’s projects are seen as a tool to create

desirable habitats. The way Prospect-Refuge is employed in Wright’s works are within spaces that retain spatial properties of low

ceilings, walls on all but one side and small dimensions that open, or release the user into spaces that retain expansive views and

corner windows.7 Most of Wright’s spaces that demonstrate these qualities are living and study spaces. It is evident that spaces that

demonstrate prospect-refuge are sheltered places of observation and contemplation to analytically reengage the environment. This

is contrary to the post-modern society of anesthetics, whereas reproduced images inform users with little or no thought. To create

spaces of prospect-refuge in such an environment could greatly increase cognitive awareness, furthering our ability to understand,

critique and utilize our world.

6 Grant Hildebrand. The Wright Space: Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Houses. Seattle Univ., Washington Print, 1994, 28.7 Ibid, 32.

Figure 1.3 - Frank Lloyd Wright’s Tarantino House. Study space retaining architectonic elemnts of both prospect and refuge. Source: www.inhabit.com

The Anesthetic Built Environment Though we find these spaces of prospect-refuge to be contemplative spaces, David Kopeck continues to explain the human

perception of our world to be a reflex or what he calls an “effortless attention.”8 The reasoning behind this concept is the supporting

evidence of the evolutionary adaptation that ensures us to focus on significant issues or phenomena that occur in our hostile and

unknown environment. For example, we are drawn to fires, bright lights or loud noises as well as many other stimuli that we may

consider strange, beautiful or frightening.9 Though these occurrences of stimuli have occurred throughout our evolution as a survival

instinct, the modern environment we have created for ourselves begins to compete for our attention thus rendering these stimuli

meaningless.

In Robert Venturi’s Learning From Las Vegas, we learn of the profound attributes of a cities representation in modern

architecture. Various architectural forms from the gothic, renaissance and modern eras are compared in their meanings and

representation, as well as his idea of “the duck.”10 His findings lead him to advocate for architectural forms to be designed as

“decorated shed’s” which in theory could enhance a buildings meaning and visual representation. This is in reaction to the competing

signs and contrasting forms that buildings retain in the city of Las Vegas. Venturi reports that the competing signage consequently

recedes into the background fabric of the city, thus rendering the building as benign as the next. We begin to see that within our

built environment, we are given information to follow in the form of signage and advertisement. These numerous stimuli can cause a

sensory overload, and the meaning of the symbol thus becomes meaningless to the observer.11 Our actions have therefore become

reflex to an unknown purpose in this context. Kopeck states that our thoughts consequently lack a mental focus, which he feels

prohibits us as humans to accomplish our purposes.

8 David Kopeck. Environmental Psychology for Design. New York: Fairchild, 2006, 83.9 Ibid.10 Robert Venturi. Learning From Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural form. MIT, Cambridge, MA, 1977, 1311 Ibid, 53.

Figure 1.4 - Las Vegas and the competing environment of sign.Source: Learning From Las Vegas. Robert Venturi

Figure 1.5 - Venturi’s study of building form and conveyd meaning.Source: Learning From Las Vegas. Robert Venturi

Unlike the built environment of symbol and advertisement, places of prospect and refuge allow for the observation, reflection and

projection of the environment. This meditative thought allows for a heightened critical awareness of the environment in which users

are submersed. This consequently allows for an effective action and execution of projected tasks through carefully thought out

decision-making.

In analyzing the reproduction of images and its psychological effect as an “effortless attention” noted by David Kopeck, the

research of Neil Leach delves deeper into the idea of the symbol and our reflexes that are attributed to their meanings. Neil Leach

speaks to the phenomena in design that is known as “image making.”12 The reproduction of symbol leads to an anesthetization of

our true feelings and senses because the reproductions exceed our cognitive ability to give meaning to the symbol.13 In contrast,

a study of what is known as way-finding by Michael Large, declares the validity of how sign and symbol interact with us on a daily

basis. The signs produced are representations of physical meanings or actions that then inform our own thoughts and actions. This

type of reflex signifies our unconscious awareness of our environment. Leach’s belief that our society’s, “…is corrupted into images

and comedies [which] is a danger that we aestheticize.”14 This greatly degrades our experience of our built environment. Leach calls

on the theories of Walter Benjamin, Jean Buadrillard and Guy Debord to support his claim of the devalued meaning of the symbol.

However, he expresses discontent in the approach Robert Venturi takes for disassociating form from content. Leach believes that

form and symbol both have the same inherent qualities in contributing to sensory “overload.”15 It is under these conditions where this

thesis proposes Prospect-Refuge be employed in order to come to a conscious level of understanding of our environment, and then

take decisive action within that environment.

12 Neil Leach. The Anaesthetics of Architecture. MIT, Cambridge, MA, 1999, viii.13 Ibid, 33.14 Ibid, 14.15 Ibid, 72.

Figure 1.6 Figure 1.7

Examples of wayfinding and the conducive effects symbols have upon understanding direction and meaning.

Source: www.ainslegn.blogspot.com

Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle is an illuminating poetic prose on the concept of the spectacle. It is drawn

out point-by-point of how the idea of the spectacle, or a visual impact of an idea, and its effects on society and societies effects

on it. A point is made on how visual impacts and readings strike a chord and its conduciveness with its observer. The idea of the

spectacle is the visual impact on its users and how individuals can conceive a message through these representations. It is stated

that, “Everything that once was has receded into a representation.”16 It is understood that spectacles, visual cues, are a product

of society’s reinterpretation of the past. These reproductions of works and symbols have been given meanings that have been

interpreted and ingrained into the fabric of society.

Although no direct reference is made to architecture, architectural elements such as the lintel and portico have been

reinterpreted throughout time yet retain the idea of their function. Society has also found new ways to present symbols and signs

through various graphic media. It is also evident that architecture utilizes symbol, advertisement, way-finding and seductive form.

For instance, we can find a slew of signs, symbols and advertisements represented through LED screen technology in Times

Square. Many of these screens are integral to many of the buildings façades. While symbols and the way we represent them have

changed throughout time, it is understood that the icon is a representation of a certain meaning. The production and reproduction

throughout time demonstrate “omnipresent affirmation of choices that have already been made.”17 This validates the reasoning of the

object, symbol or space where meaning is conveyed in its represented function. Though these reproductions meanings have been

ingrained in our mind, our reactions to them become thoughtless, or reflexive to their presence. This lack of thought diminishes the

actual meaning and awareness of the environment thus rendering us incompetent. This thesis however, encourages an environment

that is thought provoking and provides one with situational awareness though observation.

16Guy Debord. The Society of The Spectacle. New York: Zone, 2006, 1.17Ibid.

Legibility In Architecture The clarity with which something can be understood is known as legibility. Architecture itself has varying degrees of

legibility in which a building’s functions and meaning are made clear to the user. When asked the question, “what is the meaning

of architecture?” we are presented with a vast variety of answers trying to capture architectures quintessence. Witold Rybczyński,

author of The Look of Architecture, simply states that, “architecture is difficult to define.” Citing several answers to this question,

Witold ultimately favors Sir Henry Wottons definition of architecture stating that, “In Architecture, as in all other Operative Arts, the

end must direct operation”18 From this example, architecture is exhibited as a vessel which people dwell within and utilize to project

their needs or creative desires. Witold notes the writings of Sir Henry Wotton were founded on Roman architect Vitruvius who had

highlighted three specific purposes that architecture demonstrated; sheltering human activity, the ability to be durable and withstand

external forces, and capability of being a beautiful object.19 Architecture’s ability to perform in several ways greatly alters the way in

which architecture looks like. This disconnect of function and form separates architecture from having specific forms or meanings.

The ability for architecture to adapt to use and creativity is allowed because of this, so long as architecture allows for the appropriate

parameters of function to take place.

One particular architect’s style demonstrates the disconnect of form and function. Frank Gehry creates seductive forms that

many find to be playful. This can be seen in his Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, with its diving curves and windowless metallic facades.

(Figure 1.8) Though Leach states that form such as this can be viewed as distracting and uninformative, we must acknowledge that

seductive form has the ability to inspire. I whole-heartedly believe that if architecture can read as a seductive and inspirational object

(or set of objects), it can then encourage utilization of a space while setting itself apart from the environment that it sits in.

18 Witold Rybczynski. The Look of Architecture. New York: Oxford UP, 2001, 319 Ibid, 4.

Figure 1.8 - Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao. Source: www.guggenheim-bilbao.es

Reading Architecture by Beatrice Galilee provides us with a physical example of how legibility in architecture actively en-

gages society and creates desirable and accessible spaces. It is stated that the legibility and appeal of a building can create a civic

purpose.20 An example of a refurbished library remodeled by FAT Architects. The building overtime faded behind the fabric of Main

Street with its dull facades, deteriorating conditions and inaccessibility. While other buildings in the vicinity fought for competition

with signage, it was recognized that the building had no context with the rest of the street. It was then proposed that a pavilion to

be added on. It was to read as a glass box, visible and accessible from the street. This reading of the building would in turn be

perceived as a space as a public reading room for all to use. This new physical manifestation emphasized its use through carefully

chosen placement, transparency and accessibility. The glass box and placement of the pavilion caught attention of passersby’s. The

library’s interior conveyed the idea of the space to be of active engagement between its users and its books as well.21 (Figure 1.9)

The shelves were flexibly rearranged to save space and to create new spaces. Certain shelves provided as reading nooks, actively

drawing the library’s users to delve into literature. The building as a whole read as an engaging place of literature due to its archi-

tectural language. These attributes of form and clarity translated for a successful understanding and thus a much more engaging

utilization of the building.

In today’s environment, we are constantly bombarded by images. Passersby consequently respond reflexively to these

visual stimuli with little or no thought. It is important to find sanctuary and seek vision and clarity in what is significant or meaningful

in our environment, for our current built environment has failed us. I believe that in an environment such as this, architecture must

set itself apart from this condition and read as a safe haven amongst spectacles. This may prove to be the biggest challenge due to

20Beatrice Galilee. Reading Architecture: Legibility and Allure Foster Civic Purpose in FAT’s Thornton Heath Library Refurbishment. Architecture Today (211) (09), 2010, 78.21Ibid.

the distractions these stimuli pose for all of us. Both architecture and the user must be able to articulate and project function within,

as well as be able to demonstrate original thought created. Users must be able to directly compete with the environment of sign

through the utilization of spaces that allow outlook and shelter. The meditative thought which can materialize from these spaces

can allow people to draw upon a certain understanding or clarity of their environment. Architecture must clearly communicate this.

Figure 1.9 FAT Architect’s renovation of the Thorton Heath Library. Source: www.thisislondon.co.uk

Action In Architecture Concurrently with the study and understanding of prospect-refuge and our anesthetizing built environment, we must question

the dynamics of how users utilize and inhabit our architectural forms. In Jonathan Hill’s Actions of Architecture: Architects and

Creative Users, the role of the architect is questioned. It is argued how architects should consider the affects users have on a space

that is designed for a specific need. As a profession, Hill notes that to obtain a certain social and financial security, Architects retain

a defined area of expertise with, “precise contents and limits” where their knowledge can be solidified.22 The idea of form follows

function or functionalism, supported architects reasoning as a professional qualifier as building designers during the modernist

movement. Larry Ligo clarifies the use of what functionalism in architecture should entail, “Forms of buildings should reveal honestly

their structural roles and instill moral and ethical ideals in those who see and use them.”23 Hill however recognizes that users of

architectures have the ability to be creative and do not stick to the subjective “moral and ethical ideals.”24 This attitude towards

modernism and the idea of form following function is highly criticized by numerous other architects such as Peter Eisenman and

Daniel Lisbeskind. They further isolate the “project of modernity” due to functionalisms limiting constraints upon users and events

that do not assimilate to the space’s intended use or meaning.25 This idea of form following function implies that architects can

predict use but ultimately denies social utility flexibility.26

No matter the case, an architect takes part in the design and creation of architecture. Users are a vital piece of information

to the design process. At the same time, Hill acknowledges the fact that the user’s actions soon are a part of the design process,

and no longer can the architect take sole possession of the creation of built architecture. Hill cites Ellinor DeGory in capturing the

substance of how architects should perceive the task of creating flexible, non-conforming space. DeGory states, “A flexibility in or

22 Jonathan Hill. Actions of Architecture: Architects and Creative Users. Routledge, London, print, 2003, 3.26 Ibid, 11.27 Ibid, 56.28 Ibid, 52.29 Ibid, 10.

within the built environment increases its exchange value. The ability to produce flexible buildings increases the values of the

architects skills.”27 Within the creation of flexible buildings, it is inferred that only then can there be a “social emancipation”28 of

architecture by means of the creative will of its users. Hill encourages the creativity of the user and the architect to play an active part

in the creation of architecture. Maurice Culot clearly articulates how architects and their users should utilize architecture. Culot states,

“We do not force our own architectural tastes on people, but follow the advice of the people involved.”29 In this social architecture,

architects should be providing a vehicle in which users can best inhabit and utilize space to its greatest ability, accommodating user

creativity. My thesis seeks to create a place of refuge from the overwhelming place of sign and symbol that dictate meaningless

action. Within this place of refuge, users should be able to perceive and formulate original thought and observation and then project

their thoughts and feelings via graphic media, debates and study.

27 Jonathan Hill. Actions of Architecture: Architects and Creative Users. Routledge, London, print, 2003, 11.28 Ibid, 52.29 Ibid, 56.

Figure 1.10 - Form and space utilized as a device for creativity.Source: Chris Brennan

Conclusion

The world we have created for ourselves is full of distractions. The built environment is often flaunting its ability to communicate

with passerby’s via signs and advertisement. Symbols that have been recreated and reinterpreted have had a numbing affect on

our perception of their meaning, especially when they compete with one another. The built environment however anaesthetizes

and promotes reflexive actions and thought contrary to human intuition. Have architects corrupted the built environment, distracting

our users of meaningful thought? This essay has shown how natural human instincts drive us to seek places that allow refuge

from the environment while still being allowed to observe it. These qualities of space allow contemplative thought of the immediate

environment. Spaces that particularly demonstrate prospect and refuge have a profound affect on people in coming to terms

with situational awareness. The built environment however anaesthetizes and promotes reflexive actions and thought contrary

to human intuition. Have architects corrupted the built environment, distracting our users of meaningful thought? The questioning

of the architect’s role is needed, especially when we begin to realize that people themselves are the creators of all architecture.

Architecture must read and act, not dictate, as dynamically as the creativity of each user within the space. This move is a counter

measure towards the built environment of anesthetizing spectacles that designers have created. More emphasis should be placed

on the users ability to utilize their creativity in the spaces they inhabit through observation and original contemplative thought and as

well as be able to compete with the overwhelming environment of symbolism and visual derivation.

VISUAL STUDIES“Things I Can’t Live Without” www.clarkitect.tumblr.com

Figure 2.1

On one of my recent day trips to Manhattan, I had visited the new MoMA instillation called Talk to Me. It was an interactive exhibition that investigated how technology enables people to engage everyday information, objects or people. Design is an integral part of technology and the Talk to Me exhibition demonstrates how it improves the way information is conveyed to the user. The image seen above (Fig 2.1) is one-piece example of how technology and design can communicate information or awareness to its observers. The concept is a mood reader that is used for family members within a household. Each family member would correspond to their own “mood dial” which would be displayed along other family members for all to see. The idea is that the design of this product would further enhance awareness of how their loved ones are feeling, and to perhaps enhance the overall livelihood of the family.

Figure 2.2 - Visual AbstractProspect-Refuge & The Built/Natural Environment

Figure 2.3“The Fine Line” - Edge conditions - Earth meets Sky.

Figure 2.4 - Mind Map Study.Central theme of human behavior and prospect-refugeand their relationships between the built and natural environemnt

While researching the topic of the theory of Prospect-Refuge, The Gardens of Versailles (Figure 2.5) came across as a good precedent of design where this theory can be clearly demonstrated. The Gardens of Versailles, retain pock-ets of refuge while vista’s upon large open plains. It is however noted that these spaces have been forged by man.

Figure 2.5 Source: http://thlandscapedesign.blogspot.com/

Figure 2.6

The photo edit (Figure 2.6) of the painting of the Gardens of Versailles is my own interpretation of architecture’s relationship between man and nature. My inversion of this painting attempts to describe how our natural habitats

and essentially, our human instincts, are foremost in creating a successful built environment.

Figure 3.1 - Visual Abstract

Prospect-Refuge is a human behavior ingrained into our psyche by our natural environment. This behavior has been seen

as an explanation to how people like “edge-conditions” i.e. places that retain both shelter (refuge) and visible opportunity (prospect).

Primitive examples demonstrate how tribes have utilized this “edge-condition” to seek shelter in the forest at moments notice, or

seek opportunity in hunting or foreseeing danger having a vista upon the landscape. This human behavior is still evident today in our

architectural designs. The whole notion of a building screams “refuge” and a window “prospect.” However, we find that Prospect-

Refuge behavior is a survival technique, to separate or isolate oneself from the world and to contemplate about future decisions.

The duality of both protection and opportunity is where we tend to find ourselves most at peace. These conditions are ideal

for studying our world.

Duffy Square, just opposite of Times Square in New York City, immerses its constituents within a canyon of advertisements

and media. This unnatural environment, the environment of symbol and advertisement, is a repression of our needs and wants.

It is rather the opinions and desires of others that consequently make Prospect-Refuge no longer a viable instinct to rely on in

determining our own desires. Our actions become reflex in response to the symbol.

An Approach to Site & Program

Figure 3.2Duffy Square, New York City

S I T E

Duffy Square lies in the heart of the environment of sign and advertisement. The diagram depicted here (Figure 3.3) portrays the essence of Duffy Square. IN an environment of sign and advertisement, our true environment fades into the background. We however remain focused on lights, movement and symbols that pop out amongst the setting.

The vibrancy that Duffy Square retains draws activity. Its unique and active qualities can be seen in the convergence of circulation that breaks from the normal structured grid. (Figure 3.4) It is also noted that within this intersection, sign and image saturate themselves within the inward facing facades in the square. (Figure 3.5) This condition immerses its inhabitants in an aestheticizing environment.

Figure 3.3

Figure 3.4 Figure 3.5

Figure 3.6

The reaction to the phenomena of what is known as

the spectacle can be seen in this physical model (Figure 3.6)

which demonstrates the activity and movement in response to

drawn attraction to the sign.

In creating spaces that demonstrate prospect and refuge

within in areas saturated with aestheticizing graphic media, I

postulate that one should create learning environments where

users may observe, contemplate, meditate and transcribe

ideas of their environment. The use of social-media that already

exists within the environment can begin to demonstrate ideas

and bring active public debate over various issues through this

open forum. The introduction of research labs and studios for

the development of various graphic media would also aid by

providing the technologic ability to communicate issues and

ideas that are being created within the facility. The diagram

seen here depicts the sequence of informative process

utilizing prosepect and refuge. (Figure 3.7)

Figure 3.7

PROGRAMATIC RELATIONSHIP AND WORKFLOW

PROGRAMATIC RELATIONSHIP

Approach “The Cross Roads of the World”. You have been led you here in search of something. Whether you came to buy goods, to work, or play tourist and experience the sites and sounds, this dynamic and engaging environment

is for you to explore. You approach from the edge of Times Square with the sense of rising energy and movement. Not only do the numbers of vehicular and pedestrian traffic increase but also the cascading images

and colors. They begin to build upon each other, gradually stacking skyward upon reaching threshold of Times Square below. Each sign flashes different symbols, texts and colors. But you notice something interesting

about the signs front and center above Duffy Square. These signs display images of art, infographic data, quotes and news articles. Your curiosity draws you in further where you then begin to notice that there are people

inhabiting the space behind the actual signs themselves.

NARRATIVE

Entry and Circulation The signs have led you to the entrance of a public walkway. The threshold itself consists of passing under the occupied signs to create a partially sheltering public canopy. The transition from street to walkway is fluid as

the sidewalk begins to rise above the street level to meet with the array of competing signage. Since entry and circulation will read as a public walkway it would allows them to be utilized by anyone. The public corridor

begins to act very much like street. Along the way to our users are encountered with newsstands, food vendors, art vendors, coffee shops, and restrooms. These accommodations support the observation/studio pods

so that they could be used and utilized at all times of the day much like Time Square itself. Along this circulation path, you are encountered with various rooms with lights illuminating vacancy.

Utilization / ActionThe observation studios that offer shelter are off the main circulation path. They vary in room size to accommodate from any where between one and 8 users. Within each studio suite, one can find an observation and exhibition deck directly behind the semi-translucent LED panel. Within this portion of the studio, there is seating and unobstructed views out onto the urban environment. From here, you look down upon your environment and able to observe and contemplate. For now, you are seen behind a lifeless sign. You want to make your voice heard, make a statement and take action with your ideas and show the world. From the Observation deck, you retreat to a room of isolation and consultation by yourself or a small number of people. It is here where you are removed from the immediate urban environment of symbols and advertisement. There are no views of the exterior environment, you loose all sense of place. Your senses become deprived of over stimulation. The studio space becomes a place where you gather your inner thoughts, feelings and desires. Once your observations, thoughts and research are framed and mentally digested, you are then ready to communicate this newfound information to be displayed for all to see. This action of creating a communicative display of meditative knowledge is not only conveyed to the observers on the street below but then engages them to contest or validate information. This active social discourse can then be engaged in larger groups within these observation studios. The pavilion becomes an active social forum within the urban setting, critiquing and improving the existing environment.

Programatic Spaces Programatic Criteria

Possible other sites that would be comparable to Times Square, New York would be Piccadilly Circus, London and Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo. These sites would satisfy the site criteria because they too are immersed in an environment of full of sign and advertisements. Each site also remains active at all times of day, year round much like Times Square.

PICCADILLY CIRCUS, LONDON SHIBUYA CROSSING, TOKYO

METHODOLOGY

Possible Original Work/Projects

Interview/Tour of the MIT Media Laboratory. - Projects occurring within the lab. - Programmatic relationships - Study of buildings architectonic relationship with program

MoMA “Talk To Me” Exhibition - Documentation of site visit. - Documentation of possible design-technology applications.

Design Method

The approach to design in my thesis must take precedent in architecture that demonstrates prospect-refuge to their most

extreme levels. Prospect and refuge qualities must be studied in relation to the programmatic function that they each foster. It is

understood that spaces that demonstrate both prospect and refuge, are well suited spaces for observing and understanding ones

environmental condition. In order to clearly communicate that my architecture exhibits the function of these “observation pods”, it

is necessary to take precedent in architecture that acts similarly. The Salk Institute, by Louis Kahn will be one example that will be

further researched due to its programmatic arrangement of study pods and shared laboratory space.

Since my project will also partake in research and development programs to aid in communicating original thoughts and

ideas via graphic media, the need to carefully examine a similar facility would be necessary. The MIT Media Laboratory hosts such

functions and would be a vital resource to study. Interviews with technicians and scientists can clarify workflow, explain current

projects, and define programmatic relationships. A study of the buildings architectonic relationship with program should also be

done to clarify its communicative properties. To further solidify my buildings communicative ability to user and observer, a series

of models, site diagrams and research will be needed. Since the building must stand out amongst a field of spectacles, signs and

advertisement, this will be an important task. Various methods of communication via architecture and user must be able to clearly

project function and action being performed within. This can be done via a scaled physical site model as well as digital models.

Digital models will prove to be important to convey night settings, for the signs in Times Square take on life during this time.

DECEMBER 16TH, 2011 PROSPECTUS

JANUARY 6TH, 2012 NEW SITE DOCUMENTATION

JANUARY 20TH, 2012 PROGRAM DIAGRAMS / RELATIONSHIPS NARRATIVE SOLIDIFIED

FEBRUARY 3RD, 2012 FIRST REVIEW

JANUARY 13TH, 2012 M.I.T. MEDIA LAB DOCUMENTATION / INTERVIEW

JANUARY 27TH, 2012 FIRST ITERATION MODELS / DRAWINGS

T I M E L I N E

MARCH 2ND, 2012 SECOND REVIEW

APRIL 6TH, 2012 THIRD REVIEW

APRIL 20TH, 2012 ? FINAL REVIEW

EVALUATION CRITERIA

CONCLUSION / IDEAS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

VISION

Within the environment of spectacle, we are bombarded by distractions. Amongst the canyons of sign and advertisement in

Times Square, an object stands out and against these symbols. The form and language it communicates clearly articulates the inhabitants’

actions and thoughts reflected upon the environment. The laboratories within further enhance the communicative process of articulation

provided by the users, providing new ways to express thought and action. The building becomes a place to gather, discuss and debate

these formulated ideas. Times Square slowly evolves into a hub of meditative original thought instead of a place of ideas dictated by

advertisement through the use of art, technology and human creativity.

ARCHITECTURE & TECHNOLOGY

Is technology further distancing architecture from humanistic values? Can technology aid in addressing human values?

PROSPECT-REFUGE Do qualties of Prospect-Refuge contribute positive effects in facilities such as churches/laboratories/jails?

COMMUNICATIVE FORM Can architecture articulate meaning, direction and use? Does technology enhance architecture or deminish it?

1. Appleton, Jay. Simple, or simplistic? Landscape design no. 232: 46-47. Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals,1994.

This scientific exploration by Edward Cornell, is a study of what is argued as a cognitive human instinct of wayfinding. A data analysis was formulated to understand

what visual cues and stimuli, if any, most accurately aided in guiding direction an individual to their destination by memory. This information measured the cognitive and physical

abilities to identify and recall directions and landmarks. Data recorded included, distance estimation, path choices, scene recognition, and anticipatory recall. These data points

highlight the importance of wayfinding and its adverting relevance toward our built and natural environment. This information can be used in developing successful icons and

spaces that allow for a more clear understanding when navigating an area. This article confirms the capability of iconic figures, landmarks, and other graphic stimuli that inform

our actions. Robert Venturi would argue that in our built environment that these images in the forms of signage, are competing with each other for attention. David Kopec would

add that our perception of such repeated visual cues to become part of a reflex or what he calls an “effortless attention” to these iconographic images.

2. Appleton, Jay. Experience of Landscape. John Wiley & Sons; Revised Edition, 1996.

3. Arthur, Paul, and Romedi Passini. Wayfinding: People, Signs, and Architecture. New York: McGraw-Hill Book, 1992.

4. Cornell, Edward H. Human sense of direction and Wayfinding. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 93 (n): pp.399-425, 2003.

5. Debord, Guy. The Society of The Spectacle. New York: Zone, 2006.

Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle is an enlightening but dense poetic prose on the concept of the spectacle. The idea of the spectacle is the visual impact

on its users and how individuals can conceive a message through representation that conveys meaning. Debord is a founder of the situationist movement and French Marxist

theorist. Many of his works debate present-day issues of modernity, capitalism and life in the 20th century.

In The Society of the Spectacle, Debord discusses the idea of the spectacle, or symbol, to be devoid of meaning when over reproduced. These reproductions of

works and symbols have been given meanings that have been interpreted and ingrained into the fabric of society It is understood that spectacles, visual cues, are a product

of societies reinterpretation of the past. Since these works are a work of the past, they become meaningless in the present context. Debord’s aim is to critique the socio-

psychological effects of the spectacle. This work solidifies my understanding of symbols and icons ability to be ingrained into the human psyche. This infiltration of the mind

proves that the symbol can skew our perspective on the world. Neil Leech, author of The Anaesthetics of Architecture, would agree with Debord’s investigation, confirming that

the reflex developed overtime due to these reproduced symbols devalue or anesthetize our experience of our built environment.

6. Galilee, Beatrice. “Reading Architecture: Legibility and Allure Foster Civic Purpose in FAT’s Thornton Heath Library Refurbishment.” Architecture Today(211) (09): 74, 2010.

REFERENCES

7. Gibson, David. Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places. New York, NY, USA: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.

8. Grant Hildebrand. The Wright Space: Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Houses. Seattle Univ. of Washington Print, 1994.

Grant Hildebrand’s Wright Space – Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Houses, seeks to identify underlying themes and patterns that are repeated in

Wrights architectural composition and argues human behavior is a driving force in his works. One of the underlying themes Hildebrand highlights is Wright’s use of what is known

as complexity and order, prospect and refuge. Hildebrand cites numerous biologists, geologists and philosophers such as Thomas Reid and Jay Appleton to support his claim of

Wright’s architecture retaining themes of prospect and refuge. Hildebrand cites Prospect-Refuge Theory, first surmised by Jay Appleton, which has outlined our basic character

of why people admire what we know as “edge-conditions”. These places allow both opportunities to view the environmental landscape before them while being in a sheltered

space. Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural designs were highly successful by borrowing ideas of Prospect-Refuge. Elements that read as a place of visualizing opportunity while in

sanctuary aid one in coming to an understanding of the local environment. This would also prove to be a useful architectural tool in the context of the anesthetizing environment

of replicated symbols as Neil Leach points out in his works.

9. Hill, Jonathan. Actions of Architecture: Architects and Creative Users. London: Routledge, 2003.

10. Jesus, Sergio Correa de. Environmental communication: Design Planning for Wayfinding. Design Issues 10 (3) (Autumn): pp. 32-51, 1994.

11. Joncas, Richard. Pedagogy and “Reflex”: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hanna House Revisited. Source: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 307- 322, 1993.

12. Kopec, David Alan. Environmental Psychology for Design. New York: Fairchild, 2006.

In David Kopec’s Environmental Psychology for Design (2006), it is revealed that instinctive behavior has had an immense impact in both our built and natural environment. This reading could be found of particular interest to those in the field of psychology, sociology and architecture due to its implications of human behavior and built environment interactions. This is material is supported by numerous human behavioral studies and our interaction with our constructed environment. When Kopec clarifies our human behaviors, we are then allowed to conceive the reasons why we have constructed our own environment as what we all see and know today. David Kopec explains our perception of our world to be a reflex or what he calls an “effortless attention.” The reasoning behind this concept is that, due to an evolutionary adaptation, we are ensured to focus on more significant stimuli or phenomena that occur in our hostile and unknown environment. I find it evident the repetition of signs and symbols and the unconscious comprehension of the repeated images inform our actions and thoughts due to this reflex of effortless attention. This article validates my reasoning that the overabundance and use of sign and symbol distract the user from any real informed thought of the local environmental situation. Guy Debord’s, Society of The Spectacle, would parallel David Kopec analysis, citing the overproduction of these images to become void of any true meaning. The reproduction of works and symbols meanings have been interpreted and ingrained into our society and that we respond to the reproduced symbol with an unconscious reflex.

13. Large, Michael. Communication Among All People, Everywhere: Paul Arthur and The Maturing of Design. Design Issues Vol. 17 (No.2): pp.81-90, 2001.

In Michael Large’s reiteration and study of Paul Arthur’s of “Communication Among All People, Everywhere: Paul Arthur and the Maturing of Design,” notions that

design and design processes are not only a physiological, psychological and cultural culmination of information that constitutes the needs of the users but that users are

additional forces in the design process. This article is an important piece of literature, demonstrating how designers must become active mediators in assessing design between

its representation and its users through “inclusive and modest design.” Signage, or symbols were analyzed to determine their universal legibility through series of pictographs to

determine how effective signage is in terms of way-finding by informing users of their active decisions.

The relevance of this article pertains to the validity of how signage and symbols interact with us on a daily basis. The study demonstrates attempts to most accurately

associate signage with certain demographics. This development and reproductions signs would parallel David Kopec’s interpretation of “effortless attention” due to our reflex

and familiarity of the signs to a society. This reflex is a signifier that points to our unconscious awareness of our environment and how the image of the symbol can dictate our

thoughts and movements.

14. Leach, Neil. The Anaesthetics of Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999.

Neil Leach speaks to the architectural issue of recent preference in design that is known as “image making”. Neil makes the point that these recent developments

have led the numbing of the senses as the reproduction of symbol exceeds our capacity to give meaning to the symbol. These reproduced symbols devalue or anesthetize

our experience of our built environment. The theories of Walter Benjamin, Jean Buadrillard, Guy Debord support his claim of the devaluating meaning of the symbol. However,

he expresses discontent in the approach theorist such as Robert Venturi and Scott Brown for disassociating form from content, whereas Leach believes that they both have

the same inherent qualities in contributing to sensory “overload.” This article is proven to be useful in my research in understanding that the built environment has become an

anesthetizing environment where symbols and signs dictate our thoughts and actions. It is under these conditions where prospect and refuge needs to be redefined to come to

a realization of our environment.

Guy Debord’s, Society of The Spectacle, would parallel Neil Leach’s analysis, citing the overproduction of these images to become void of any meaning. The

reproduction of works and symbols meanings have been interpreted and ingrained into our society. It is understood that visual stimuli, are a product of societies’ reinterpretation

of the past.

15. Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA, M.I.T., print, 2008.

In “The Image of the City” by Kevin Lynch, three cities in the United States (Los Angeles, Boston and Jersey City) are analyzed under a critical lens. This analysis

results in a maturing of the concept what is known as legibility. The extent of which something is made legible, in this case, our built environment, is dependent on an individuals

capability to create a cognitive map of this environment.

Though the concept of legibility is not new to the world of architecture, it has allowed for analyzing a city under a critical lens. This study has resulted in becoming

an important design tool in understanding to human perception and behavior in a city. It becomes evident that form qualities, and quite literally images become important when

reading and understanding a city. Elements such as paths, landmarks, districts and their definition lead to the overall quality of understanding of the city itself. It is then deduced

that then clearly discernable architectural forms that display function or program only enhance the users experience. It would be contested that Robert Venturi’s Learning From

Las Vegas only goes to understand a city’s ability to compete for attention through signs and symbols while Lynch goes further to explain that our attention is also drawn to built

form.

16. Passini, Romedi. Wayfinding in Architecture. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992.

17. Seamon, David. Review of “The Wright Space: Patterns and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Houses” Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences 2.1, 1992.

18. Venturi, Robert, Brown Denise Scott, Steven Izenour. Learning From Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural form. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1977.

19. Virilio, Paul. Bunker Archeology, New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.

Robert Venturi sets out to study the ongoing urban sprawl of Las Vegas. In the process of analyzing parts of the city, Venturi makes comparisons to Gothic,

Renaissance and Modern architecture, as well as his idea of “the duck”, all which gave meaning and symbolism to a buildings representation. Their findings led them to advocate

for what is known as the “decorated shed” which could ultimately, in theory, enrich a buildings meaning. This was learned from the strip of commercial buildings in Las Vegas,

and how their signage competed each other in their symbolic value.

Guy Debord would agree with the overproduction of these images to become void of any meaning. These reproductions of works and symbols have been given

meanings that have been interpreted and ingrained into the fabric of society It is understood that spectacles, visual cues, are a product of societies’ reinterpretation of the

past. Since these works are a work of the past, they become meaningless in the present context. It is also understood through Robert Venturi’s analysis that our constructed

environment has begun to speak to us and compete for our attention. While it is noted that building can attract attention through signage, Kevin Lynch would argue that building

form itself could inform inhabitants of certain information pertaining to function and location to the greater context of a city.

20. Rybczynski, Witold. The Look of Architecture. New York: Oxford UP, 2001.

Douglas N. Clarkwww.clarkitect.tumblr.com

Prospectus - M.Arch 2011

Wentworth Intitute of Technology