Deprivation of the New
“The variety of all things forms a pleasure.”
Edifices may demonstrate technological prowess, like the Eiffel Tower; or inspire through the sculptural quality of a Calatrava. The experience of place can be informed by a Serra sculpture exploring boundary and enclosure; or the three-dimensional expression of the environmental installations of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. However, environments where people reside or work to have a different purpose.
These built environments are for people to spend significant periods of time in assorted activities on a repeated basis. These environments should not consider the needs of people as an afterthought, as if they are mere occupants to a monument celebrating structure or cost efficiency. People should be the center of effort and interest, and their needs – as multifaceted and multivariant as they are –should be considered and supported. The plethora of articles on the office today postulate that the primary need for people is social – collaboration, interaction.
I suggest another need, more nuanced – for the New, the changing. And – for the best reasons - we have not been getting it. We are, in this technologically connected world, deprived of the New.
The New is variety, diverse in all forms, that provides an environment rich in texture and color and sound. Three-dimensional variety akin to the visual density of a Rembrandt or Matisse, or clarity of a Diebenkorn.
When we commuted to offices, and worked in them, there was a dynamic of movement, an unpredictability of color and form– that we often screened out and sometimes became frustrated because of its distraction. People we knew, or did not, moved through the same space as we did. And like it or not, it was alive. A level of stimulus. As we navigated the commute, we scanned and determined what was relevant, allowing us to, as Winifred Gallagher said, “focus on this and suppress that is the key to controlling your experience, and, ultimately, your well-being.” In a known environment, albeit with activity around you, the rich environment may feed the current of your flow rather than hijack it.
Video calls do not provide that three-dimensional rich environment. People move on their screens (sometimes unintentionally and informatively), always in the two dimensions of the screen. Meetings are planned, encounters scheduled – and then interrupted through IM and text and chat and a host of distractions. But these distractions are not of the street traffic, or the office workplace – rather than movement which our radar and peripheral vision sense and allow us to respond to they are direct, granular, and demand attention.
We are deprived of a stimulus of form and color which we can absorb on one level and filter on another, providing a level of variety that, as Joni Mitchell says, “Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone.”
Conversely, before the pandemic, too much variety, too much demand and too little choice or control set us up for silos and multitasking and poor health. The demand perceived was in some cases actual – to maintain employment. Requirements for checking social media could establish the Neural addiction described by Daniel Levitin.
On the other hand, the ability to focus may have been enhanced – if we are in control of our environment when working at home. Going to a specific place triggers specific focus (work, or not work) and many have appreciated these signals and occupying a single environment eliminates them. When those signals do not exist – the balance of our lives may be disrupted – and some grieve their loss. Balance in life can be managed with two primary strategies – integration or separation. Place can support those strategies – for separation, one place for home, one for work; for integration, delineated spaces if available, or at least scheduled space allocation. As Daniel Levitin describe, “The neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks goes one further: If you are working on two separate projects, dedicate one desk or table or section of the house for each. Just stepping into a different space hits the reset”. Location and activity form associations in our mind and they matter.
It remains to be seen – and will for years to come – what the impact of this very necessary quarantining on behavior. Will introverts fare better than Extroverts? Will we all learn we have both capabilities? Will we relate to others better? Are there those who have just shut down completely and wait for “return to normal” better off?
The great news is that this week the first vaccine shipped, vaccinations started, and a second vaccine was approved. Light in the tunnel – while we continue to learn the details of the tunnel and its impacts.
So, the “end” – the next – is in sight. And at that point, where we had deprivation, we may have abundance. What does that mean for the built environment?
What changes need to be made so we do not overwhelm but celebrate? Who will we have become and what will we then need? How will the fixed elements – the built structures – of our world respond?
Science is incredibly important, but that does not mean that algorithms are all serving, and that everything important is known. Answers are not forthcoming to new problems, but methodologies are. Great minds are moving past the threshold of safety requirements – and into Daniel Pink’s Whole New Mind. Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning.
Place can help assimilate. Place can heal. The specifics remain to be created.