Planetology

Civil Sensibility:

Thesis Book Interim

“Life is not necessarily how matter acts within itself but also how it interconnects/interacts with interconnected system and how they perceive their surroundings.”   —Uexkull

This ‘interconnectibility’ that Uexkull speaks about is apparent and absolutely necessary in todays world. Dating back to the creation of our worlds, feedback loops, connections and associations between species have allowed the growth and advancements to create our current environments. Whether it be a local connection between the same species, similar to an ant colony, or a more global network in which different ideas and technologies are transferred, these interactions allow for the innovation and modernization to become apparent.

Interactions may be perceived on a variety of levels. Beginning within the structural makeup of the human body, interactions are relevant for the creation as well as the ability to sustain life. For instance, our heart, which is part of our circulatory system, does not beat unless our brain, which is part of our nervous system, tells it to. Our skeletal system is dependent on our digestive system for increase in size and strength. Our muscular system needs our respiratory and circulatory systems to supply energy in the form of oxygen and nutrients.

With the connectivity of all of these systems working simultaneously, human growth and development is able to occur.

Moving to a slightly larger scale, a car works in a similar way. Without power, the car will not turn on and obviously not run properly. It takes all of the gauges to co-mingle and signal to the machine that everything is working correctly to start the engine.

But could this happen at the city scale? What if buildings could actually sense each others presence and relate to its user? Architecture is actually transforms into a body that breaths, replicates and supports us with everything the inside of out body gives us. With the relationship of its user, the building could create the ideal atmosphere. But what is the ideal? Some people may argue that a building currently does this. It provides shelter, it allows us to interact with it, it allows change to pertain to what we like and what we want. Yet, to only to a certain extent does this happen. This can only happen with the inputs of ourselves and what we add or give to the structure to allow it to perform a certain way. And, no I am not necessarily interesting in ‘smart skins’ that react to the user and sustainable buildings that reduce their impact on its environment (or increase) where the building can perform by itself. But more interested in a structure that is knowledgeable and knows where one is located and adapts to humans through the use of its own senses. Can a city “talk” to one another to create the ideal?

Going back to my interest of the 5 human senses, could architecture in fact take over this notion and interact with its user in a sense where it is self-replicating, self-repairing, self-altering, self-absorbing, and self-adapting?

When sick, body temperatures rise because of the infections. One purpose of a fever is thought to be to raise the body’s temperature enough to kill off certain bacteria and viruses sensitive to extreme temperature changes. Everyone thinks a fever is bad however it is this that is killing off the diseases in ones body. This give rise the thought of how cities can benefit from devastation. Not necessarily preparing one to take on a disaster but what it means to take advantage of all of the bad things that come out of it. In a city of ruin, can destroyed architecture sense its surroundings and similar to a human body reform itself and become working again?

Then there is the whole idea of public and private (at a broad scale) that I am interested in as well. To what extend is a city considered public and when is it private? How do such devastating events transfer from public to private and vice versa. The talk about transferring diseases could begin in a private body however once you touch a door it could become public until another soul comes by and touches that same spot, transfers the disease and it becomes private again in a different persons body which may help or hurt them. Can one sense when a public entity is apparent that may be harmful to them? Can an architecture sense the same thing which then relates to its user and gives a heads up telling the inhabitant what is helpful or harmful? To what extend can architecture be created in that it gives back to its user rather than something that is given and just used by its inhabitant?

The following diagrams are a quick study about the extent of what public and private is a different scales:

Note: (Most public begins at center with more private spaces surrounding)

Public in the body:

Public in environment:

Public in United States:

Public in the world:

Public in the universe:

By doing this exercise, what delineates the public vs private is dependent upon the size of such categories it seems. However, could architecture challenge this idea and switch the roles of such entities? By knowing what delineates public and private spaces, can the architectures’ senses interact with its user and create an ideal scene for all of its inhabitants? The ‘interconnectivity’ between species definition may change, not only pertaining to the human and human interaction within such architecture but the human and architecture connection where its architecture not only becomes its habitat but becomes a living species.

I am very interested in the human brain and how we, as species, interact with our surroundings whether it be beneficial or harmful. What factors lead to what a human feels? What leads to the interaction between human and and its surroundings? What can the human give back to its surroundings- vice versa? What persuades the human to act a certain way? What is the present? What is the past? Bw knowing this, can this be presumed to predict the future?

The linkage in the human brain indicated specific perceptions. Ones memory, adaption, and the current trends leads to a persons actions. People are hesitant to go off on their own and go against the grain. It is because of ones past and present that leads people to act a certain way but what needs to happen to get to the future? There are human restrictions-what is the extent of our 5 senses- to help us perceive and understand out environment?

vision- 1/4 of human brain is involved with visual processing

hearing- vital part from communications to risk- avoidance.

taste+smell- closely related, lose smell= senses diminish

touch- different sensations in different body parts b/c more/less touch receptors. ex: more touch receptors in fingers= prone to more feeling.

immediate memory is approx 7 items, no matter how complex.

absolute judgement is limited by amount of information.

we remember things because of verbal recoding

human perceptions and memory are in turn related to 5 human senses.

How do the surrounding excite certain senses. what conditions take away, heal, influence, “emotionize” its user?

Specific use of senses allow us to experience our surroundings differently. Ex: large space, lots of sounds, resonating off the walls, might be a harmful to user and too much; small space=less sound different emotions run through human.

there is also an interconnection of spaces including how one can smell space, and taste architecture.

by use of a specific sense, this can also trigger linkages in the human brain and can lead to memorizing a condition in which it happened in the past. ex: smelling a cologne links/reminds the human of the states or person.

perception: architectural piece to be fully understood, it is necessary to combine the sequences “collected” by moving through and around the object- may be considered the “fourth” dimension. perception has to be supplemented by memory.

http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~matt/courses/cs563/talks/perception.html

The primary issues are how objects are remembered in the brain so that humans can recognize and manipulate them as well as how the information from different sense organs is integrated to create a consistent representation of the “world in the head”.

Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs. Perception involves these “top-down” effects as well as the “bottom-up” process of processing sensory input.The “bottom-up” processing is basically low-level information that’s used to build up higher-level information (e.g., shapes for object recognition). The “top-down” processing refers to a person’s concept and expectations (knowledge) that influence perception.

Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside conscious awareness. (wikipedia)

There are 3 factors that can influence his or her perceptions: experience, motivational state and finally emotional state.

Johnson “Emergence”

—cells collectives emerge because each cell looks to its neighbors for cues about how to behave.

—SimCity: uses grow their virtual cities, but the cities evolve in unpredictable ways, and control over the city’s eventual shape is always indirect.

http://www.academia.edu/2460561/The_contribution_of_the_five_human_senses_towards_the_perception_of_space_by_Panagiotis_Hadjiphilippou

“Vision and hearing are now the privileged sociable senses, whereas the other three are

considered archaic sensory remnants with a merely private function, and they are usually suppressed by the code of culture.” (Pallasmaa, J. 1994) As a result, architecture is meant to please this sense.

Open space gives us a sense of freedom and on the other hand it can be too noisy for us. Sound is a primary source of our world.

Touch can also reveal the history and the origin of the matter. “A pebble polished by waves is pleasurable to the hand, not only because of its shape, but because it expresses the slow process of its formation; a perfect pebble on the palm materializes duration, it is time turned into shape.” The skin can detect the temperature, and the foot can measure the gravity gravity with the density and texture of the ground.

According to the above information, I am currently looking into systems at many different scales- human brains and their actions (internal), humans relating to other human actions, the influence of surroundings on humans (large scale)- and how they create an interwoven connections/looping networks that may change, enhance, or completely change another system. This is still a very broad topic and would appreciate any additional lee-way to support my research.

In addition, ones senses’, singularly or combined, may enhance a condition and experience. With this in mind, how can we take advantage of this feature and how can we train/teach/adapt our minds and bodies to work a certain way with the enhancement of a specific sense. If there is one sense that takes advantage of a condition, can the other 4 follow or are they depleted?

Can architecture be the binding force between such entities including (1)‘itself’, (2)the human and (3)its surroundings? What occurs if one of the three no longer exist and become extinct? Does structure exist to further enhance this relationship or does it just serve as an equal playing ground for these ‘species’ to work together on? These are all questions in which I have asked myself throughout the course of these past two weeks to further explore the meaning of what has become of all of the readings and films we have seen.

To what degree can architecture effect and influence life, its consequences, and the processes of life (learning when a baby, adapting in mid life, and growing older). If the surroundings are difficult to live in, it may make the elderly think that they are no longer adaptive to what is around them and do no have a reason to continue to live. However, we can create architecture that can influential enough to grasp developmental issue to create an individual in that they are well rounded in all categories (physical, social, intellectual, etc.) Or can we? To what degree can we challenge ‘architecture’ as it is perceived today to create the ideal.

Furthermore, human behavior is a definite link to its surroundings. What is the effect of the environment on the user, ‘itself’/human? To be more general about the ‘species’, the linkage may be the (1)humans perceptions, how you perceive the world and how it looks back at you. In turn (2)intellect and (3)sensations arise from this and the transfer may be a physical sensation, what types of senses come back to the user when experiencing a specific world/surrounding in which speaks to them. Can they vary according to a specific time or place, or even age, in which the human is identified at? This specific situation treats the ‘species’ as an if/then type of conclusion while still paying very close attention to the relationship and ties between the user and what is being used. Can we train/program our minds to believe what we want to see rather than what is already there? or can the world train us into believing what is ‘ideal’? Are we existing to co-exist with the world are are we here to challenge and push ‘its’ boundaries’?

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Alex Grey Gallery, http://alexgrey.com/media/writing/art-psalms/the-vast-expanse/

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