A Design for the Eternal Present
Our perspectives our limited by our perception. How can we as architects design spaces to be used by people we will never meet; in places we may never go? With this, how can one singular design be suitable for all case scenarios in the near and distant future? A four-dimensional approach to architecture is proposed to respond to these differences in perceptions and change in activity over time.
Situating time as a means of generating perspective, architecture becomes the design of systems. Emerging from initial design requirements, a repertoire of responses is developed knowing that the requirements of the space can and probably will change.
The process starts with the documentation of existing spaces and activity and subsequent analysis of what is required of the space to facilitate activity. These live interactions with space are layered to develop responses to correct deviations from anticipated use. Each response becomes a layer that enables the tendency toward a four-dimensional architecture.
A four-dimensional architecture as a concept is built on the assumption that it can facilitate any activity that happens within a specific space. Therefore, to test the limits of this approach, the designated function of the space is stripped away leaving a space that has no purpose other than to facilitate activity. This is then populated with extracts from contrasting activities and environments, all within one durational space.
The creation of a single space for multiple uses becomes exponentially complex with each additional response. As such, the investigation necessitated an optimisation and alignment of fundamental material aspects of space and the appropriate responses to activity.
Approaching architecture in this way generates wider perceptions, allowing for more versatile spaces through the development of base level reactions to activity and subsequent hybridisation of responses.
