SCRACE ARCHITECTS

Adding a fourth dimension to our clients dreams

environment

The Power of Dominoes

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Recognising #Fridaysforfuture and a need to acknowledge climate change and the world around us the practice and friendly collaborators took some time out recently to see what might be required to accomplish more meaningful change.  Fresh from the IGNITE Climate & Cocktails event my head is still spinning with realistic optimism.  Here are some ideas to get us started:

One Domino …

First up we heard from Martha (11) who, inspired by Greta, in turn encouraged Elon Musk to “concentrate on sorting out our planet before starting on another??” Be sure to listen out for Martha’s contribution in an upcoming Architecture Made Simple episode.  Sophia then spoke about small changes we can all make in our homes and in our lifestyles which together contribute to bigger actual shifts.

Two Dominoes …

One of the key benefits of the IGNITE workshops is that we take the time stand back strategically from the business of our day-to-day lives and refocus.  Eva offered us the opportunity to join her and other stakeholders to join the Eco Hub, which serves to …

In this instance our presentations were interspersed with related activities and kinetic games. Rich Lloyd observed the potential we have as an individual’s (dominoes) to effect change. The group creation of a marble run (our own Rube Goldberg machine) encouraged us to recognise that, as a collective, all heading generally in the right direction, we might all eventually reach a connected and purposeful destination.

Three Dominoes …

Activities and discussions helped support the belief that in each of us making a positive change (no matter how seemingly futile) might lead to a positive outcome. Indeed, the biggest lesson of the day was in identifying the potential of geometric growth. The theory and assertion that in each of domino there is the potential to knock over a bigger domino, offered the hope that our little voice might someday become more powerful.

In connecting people and ideas we have the power to realise the unrealistic.  If we, as individuals, are being asked to change our lives dramatically, the least, we can expect is that larger companies, who often pretend to make good on their legacy, are held accountable for their actions as well as their inaction.

Time for a New Game

Whilst there is a clear positive impact from an individual response to meet our own net zero and balance our carbon footprint, Tim observed that it should not rest on us alone.   It is in the commercial power of companies where significant mitigation lies.  Rather than the individual we should be focusing our attention on the bigger players.  In reality, with just 90 companies responsible for 66% of historic carbon emissions (Heede 2016), we should be targeting their responsibility and wealth as a means of combatting the damage they have caused.

Playing Big

The question now is how to get to the policy and decision makers at the top to effect a change in ethos.  Perhaps the answers lie in dominoes?  Let us start by approaching and educating the closest domino to you on the effect they are having.  In time we will reach the shareholders and investors who can then lobby these companies to balance things up and encourage them as bigger dominoes to make the right choices.

Asked to add some positivity to proceedings Armin Ganguly assumed a realistic perspective. The question as to how to save the planet is not a fair assessment of the things “we should focus on has to save half the planet’’.  There is still time, we should see what we can do! As the great man says, #alwayslookup!

If you know someone who has power and influence then they are your next step to make that change.  Begin with the closest and biggest domino you can find.  Knock them over with the facts and offer them ideas about how they can help us all save what is left!

Make sure you don’t miss the next IGNITE event scheduled for Friday 16th September.

In-Between

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We often overlook our environment as we pass by.  However, it is the spaces in-between that form part of our journey which tend to be the most interesting.  The adventure of architecture is not in making one-off beautiful buildings, but seeing how they relate to the landscape and to one another.

It is the spaces and shapes of the in-between that tantalise, the sculptural play of light from object to object, the collective coming together of design and effort.  It is the conversation between two forms that makes the architecture.  This is most prevalent in the city, where the history of a place is captured in a moment.

A compressed medieval passageway leading to a meteoric, manmade skyscraper is what makes the built environment so exciting.  The in-between space is encapsulated by the cobbles underfoot coupled with the glint of light of a unitised glazing system.  The surging symphony of the shapes around, the touch of a damp old walls, a steep level change, the weather, the sound, all bubble over to speak of an architecture of sensation.

Much like a still life, architecture is the meeting of objects and forms that connect in their similarity by arbitrary arrangement.  It is in the shadow, and in colour and contrast that their relationship to one another is expressed.  “Half shut your eyes” I was told by my art teacher, “… take in the outline, the silhouettes, the shadows, then turn to draw textures.”  If you want to see space differently, now is the time to take the magic potion.  Imagine yourself 1/100th of your normal size, walking amongst the old lantern, the pepper pot and the baseball bat.

You are now experiencing the architecture of still life.  Time to explore what the in-between space feels like.  Large and foreboding, or intimate and cosy, what factors are at play?  I suspect you will find they are the same factors that define our built environment: surface, light, natural colour and form.

It is all very well defining the contained spaces inside, but a real place maker looks outside their box to the shadows of the past, to the collective consciousness of a place, and to the meetings of these buildings.  When you are next out and about, take a moment, half shut your eyes, look at the in-between spaces, look up and you may just begin to see space differently.

Frame a View

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Our connection with outside seems to be entrenched in our experience of the world.  The great outdoors has a natural hold on us.  We are compelled to seek out natural light, fresh air and green from within our internal environments.

Whilst we enjoy the comfort, security and shelter of indoors it is often at odds with our nature.  Just as we are disorientated when we don’t recognise our setting, it seems we do not want to forget our roots.  When internalising a space, there is a need to create opportunities to remind ourselves of this connection.

There is more to an opening to a wall than meets the eye.  Whether a window, a gate, or a door, their treatment and definition vary widely in colour, frame, finish and use.  Where a door provides a threshold, a transition to the outside, a gate provides a defence.  A window seems to offer the visual connection to the natural world we seek.

The desire to create sight lines in modern design emphasises this need.  So as not to take away from this link, we find that the simpler the opening treatment, the more successful the effect.  A more modest approach to finish leads one to look beyond, back to where we came from.

The only question left then is: what we are looking at?  The subject of the view is fundamental to good architecture.  Whether a window’s function is simply letting in the light or having a clear shot at the church tower, both connect us to context, orientation and place and, accompanied by the body of our shelter collectively contribute to our subconscious understanding of place.

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Comment – FRAME A VIEW