Time Project 2

Washington Square Park Map

The research question of “how does texture affect mood?” was conceived on the first day my group visited Washington Square Park. From that question as my building block I decided to make Washington Square Park according to the different textures I experienced, how that affected the mood of an area, and how much of an area that texture affects. To represent such findings I decided to make a 3 dimensional psychogeographic model of the park.

To express texture I used physical representations of said texture. For the two different types of fences I used thin wooden rods. For the fences that were visibly wooden I used the rods in it’s natural form, tied down by a bit of wire to represent the actual way they are constructed, as seen in close up 2. While the fences that were made of metal, I used shorter segments of wood painted black as seen in close up 5. When you touch the wooden rod it is significantly rougher, and jaggid while the painted (metal) ones are smooth, representing their textures in real life.

For mood I used color to represent mood. Red for agitation, blue for safe, and green and orange for peaceful. Red for agitation because red is naturally an aggressive color. Blue for safe because blue is used in a lot of brands use blue to represent for safe and security. Green for peacefulness because green is a healing color, and spots of orange to represent the happiness I feel when I see greenery. Also to make the green more apparent on my green map.

For the surface area of the affected mood, I decided to use the width of the color. Some colors are wider than others, this is because mood carries as I walk. The span of the color represents the span of the mood.

The key was added so that I would be able to decode what I was trying to say.

I made the size of the individual textures smaller so that the user would have to slow down, and concentrate on feeling the textures.

My park’s story starts at the left of the arch, the numbers representing the corresponding the numbers on the map.

1. The couple of times I visited the park, to the left of the arch always had a trail of litter. When I touched and felt around, it made me feel grossed out and agitated both by the texture and by the people just leaving their cigaret butts on the ground.
2. The agitation followed until I was near the children’s playground. I felt relaxed near the well kept area, the leaves were soft and non intrusive.
3. and 4. I felt agitated by the sharp broken wooden fences, that was falling on itself. The  texture of the wood was just crisscrossed on itself, it was confusing and jarring to touch. I even got a splinter when I was feeling them blindfolded. Also the floor was also riddled with trash.
4. Although 5 also had wooden fences, this one wasn’t broken, and it wasn’t falling on itself either. I felt safer, and the texture wasn’t as jarring.
5. and 7. I felt relaxed near the nature. 6 had some overgrown plants but it wasn’t too much. It was soft and slightly cool to a touch and it wasn’t over riding my sensations.
6. This part was also riddled with trash, more than 1. It felt gross and grimy, especially the food particles. Also adding to the agitation, there was broken metal. The metal being the broken chain connecting the poles.
7. and 10. Was a well kept area, there wasn’t a lot of nature, but the chains weren’t broken and the poles didn’t have visible marks on them. The smooth metal, oddly, made me feel safer. Like the chains were going to protect me.
8. and 12. Had overgrown shrubs, unlike 6 where it was still soothing, the shrubs and tree was broken and un-kept and there were sharp pieces that made me feel agitated. The dried leaves also felt sharp.
9. Same reasons for irritation as 3 and 4. But because the mess of wooden structures took up a smaller area, the mood affected me of a smaller span of the park, so the color red takes up less surface area.
10. The area was well kept and clean, I didn’t feel any trash or spikes in the greenery.

15. This point made me feel safe because it was clean, and the poles and fences were smooth and well kept. The whole area around the kid’s play ground was well kept so it made me feel safe. I didn’t step on or touch anything foul.