Moving On Then...

Moving Beyond the Urban-Rural Dichotomy, by Tony Champion and Graeme Hugo, addresses the changing state of our perception and interaction with the world. The introduction reads:

“There is an increasing appreciation in the social senses that context is important in understanding social, economic, cultural, political, and demographic processes. An important element in context is the type of place in which people live and work (intro 1).”

The authors are talking about the existential qualities of our individual environments and how they influence our perceptions and ultimately our actions. Context is important to social sciences because it defines the parameters that have influence in any space. Our personal environments have ultimate influence over our lives. Finnish architect, Johaani Pallasmaa, describes the role of architecture in defining our reality.

The task of buildings is usually seen solely in terms of functional performance, physical comfort and aesthetic values. Yet, the role of architecture extends far beyond the material, physical and measurable conditions, and even aesthetic pleasure, into the mental and existential sphere of life. Buildings do not merely provide physical shelter and protection; they are also a mental mediation between the world and our consciousness; architectural structures essentially structure and articulate existential space. As the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard appropriately states: “[The house] is an instrument with which to confront the cosmos”. -Juhani Pallasmaa, Architect, Professor (Helsinki)

Regional and geographical contexts provide various parameters by which to design, but the context that architecture creates, that experience can be orchestrated to express anything. That has been the power of architecture through the ages. A new environment has been created though, and it threatens to undermine what little connection we still feel with nature.

It began with the Industrial Revolution. Mass production of goods began to remove the unique aspects that give our live contrast to each other. Then mass implementation of ideas, e.g. the assembly line which further blurred our individual experiences. Mass Production of cars gave everyone the same transportation environment, sub developments offered identical houses to live identical lives in. With the rise of the digital age came the Internet; the ultimate tool in streamlining the individual experiences in life to a collective life experience. We see the same exact images, hear the same sounds and songs, we view the same exact videos on near identical screens while we drink identical cups of coffee and munch on the same McDonald’s cheeseburgers. Yes, we have already moved past the urban-rural dichotomy…

The environmental quality (or lack thereof) of the internet is placeless. There is no context; no day or night, wind or weather, seasons, smells, textures. If context is important, what will be the consequences of raising the next generation in a world without it?