Interiors
& Exteriors
Your
world is made up of many places, places you know well such as your
bedroom, living room, school, and playground; famous and significant
places, such as Independence Hall, City Hall, and your church or synagogue;
the places you walk and drive, such as paths and walkways, streets
and highways. The bus you ride is even a moving place, a room on wheels.
Together these places form neighborhoods, towns, and cities and are
part of your environment.
Behind
all designs in our environment, whether simple or complex, are basic
ideas. Various characteristics -- the shape or size of buildings,
rooms, or playgrounds... the color of brick, stone or wood... the
patterns of windows and doors...the way we group buildings together
-- give places accents and make them stand out.
On your
way home look at the patterns that doors and windows on buildings
create. Notice the different shapes and colors of buildings and the
way buildings are grouped together. Observe how rooms and buildings
are used and what their designs tell you about their use. You would
never confuse a gas station with a movie theater, even without signs.
The room
you're in now is part of your environment. The walls, ceiling, and
floor enclose the room, each surface and wall is different, and one
or two walls might have windows. Doors, chalkboards, and pictures
are on the walls, and within the room are objects, such as chairs,
desks, and lamps. Everything in the room, even the people, are part
of a place and are part of your environment when you are in it.
You can
learn to see other places the same way you see the room. A school
yard surrounded by buildings and fences instead of walls is much like
a room. Sometimes the walls in an outdoor room are rows of trees.
You can see the walls of outdoor spaces as easily as indoor rooms
if you try. Outdoor rooms have furniture, too, objects such as trees,
paths, benches and sometimes other buildings.
Adapted
from Our Man-Made Environment - Book 7
by: Levy, Chapman & Wurman
