Bridge 2: Deconstructing and Contextualizing A public space

Week 3:

Site Plan: The site I chose was the Barnes and Noble cafe area on the third floor. If I could label this place with a flavor, I’d use terms like “tranquil but busy” “earthy” and “classical greek revival-art deco hybrid”.

I also charted my walking path from center to elevation, and east wall to west wall

 

The space in relation to my being:

Orthographic Projection:

Texture rubbings:

Week 4:

upon return to the sight, we were tasked with encapsulating the appearance of the site and the emotional response it provokes.

It houses a content atmosphere that subtly tries to foster an intellectual appearance, upon my 6th visit to the area, I wrote:

In all of my time here, there have been atleast 4 or 5 visits so far, I’ve always been able to do work for this assignment on-site with no issues. I’ve stayed over the 30 minute maximum everytime, many people do. It’s not quiet, yet I can still function as I would working at home or in a classroom. This might be because the lighting is good during both day and night, the people talk but it’s almost as if the acoustics of the room dull them, as no distinct individual is heard. I cannot deny it is a deceptively comfortable place to stay in, soft colors and the wall art. The wall art depicts various authors talking amongst one another while some are looking at the viewer, almost encouraging some sort of scholarly activity. I did say that this place was a corporate trap but I cannot deny that its a pleasant one-which is what they want.

I say that because it is the effect they’re going for, as the owners of the store want people to be comfortable as they want people to be inclined to stay and spend more money there.

Week 5:

I performed a test that would both be a recording of the sounds of the site as well as a new research method:

throughout all times of the day its common to hear indistinct voices muffling each other out to the point where it sounds like background noise. During the mornings and evenings this is more tranquil, the music even stops playing during the morning and night. The afternoon is where most of the activity happens, the food counter is loud with production, more people come to the site with friends or business partners so the voices are louder.

this hastened activity is also seen in the circulation charts, people stay for longer in the morning and afternoon to talk or meet, at night more people simply sit and leave within the next 20 minutes. I attribute this to the lack of natural light during the night.

I determined that the seats on top of the elevation and next to the windows are the most sought after seats, their popularity convinces me to think that they’re the best in the site as they remain mostly popular throughout the day. However I’ve found that the seats on the east wall with the benches are the easiest to do work on because your back is against the wall.

Another form of research I employed was hyper-empathization, where you insert yourself into the perspective of a person who just enters the site:

coming from the elevator, walked to the border to survey the area for seating, walks towards the food counter, surveys the area closer to the food counter, orders something, goes to prep area finding no seating and leaves. returns 10 minutes later still with food returns to border and finds a seat (next to mine).

 

So far, coming to this site became increasingly tedious as I spent approximately three dollars every time I entered. However I feel these visits were worth it as working on this assignment became much clearer and easier to do every time I was there in person.

 

Bridge 3: Narrative of Embodied Message

I ultimately deduced that this site was a half public half commercial space set on making a profit. These 9 panels are the evidence that brought me to this conclusion.