Things around me
The space where I’m located right now is the balcony of my house. It is a quite long, around seven meters long and one meter deep. The width is not regular in all the gallery, it has an expansion of almost one more meter at the center of the balcony which is two meters deep. This wider part is where I’m located more specifically.
This expansion allows us to enjoy the gallery by putting a small table and two very comfortable reclining chairs from which we can see the school located behind our building and also the other buildings that surround it.
The entrance of this balcony, thanks to my mum’s botanic habilities has lots of plants and flowers that look and smell very good, creating a pleasant atmosphere and a nice place to stay and relax.
Finally at the end of the gallery we find some chairs, stools and the clothes line, this part works more as a place to stock the things that we don’t want to have at the inside and that’s why it is located at the end.
Why did you choose this place?
A few years ago I wouldn’t have chosen this place because I didn’t know yet how special it was. It wasn’t until the confinement because of the Covid-19 that I realised how relaxing this place could be. During the quaranteen, a tough time when we couldn’t go to school neither see our friends and family for months, this place took me out of my house and served as a lull from the hard times we were having.
Since then, everytime I feel overwelmed I come here and relax.
What makes you comfortable?
The comfort of this place is related to three characteristics in my opinion. The first one is the reclining chairs on where you can even sleep without knowing. The second one is the presence of plants and flowers on the balcony that create a great atmosphere. Finally, the height of this gallery, a fourth floor, matches with the height of the trees from the school, that allows you too see the top of the trees while sitting drinking your cup of coffee in the morning.
There is some disruptive element?
The only disruptive element that can be found is the cold during the winter, but if you really like the place it can be solved with a couple blankets and a warm drink.
Do you think you’d feel the same way in another space right now?
I think that there might be some places where I could feel similar but here I also have the advantage of being in my own house and that makes it a place a hundred percent accessible whenever i want and only for me and my mother.
Do you think that the conditions of this space influence its occupants?
This place can be a great change in how a day goes. It can influence in a positive way, relaxing those who sit here for a couple minutes and letting them pause their lives and stresses for a moment.
How?
I think that the main secret of this place is that there are only two chairs looking at the neighbourhood. No televisions, no screens, no homework, nothing. This place invites you to close your eyes, breathe and stop caring about the daily problems for just a moment.
-Atmospheres-
In the opinion of the architect Peter Zumthor, architecture can be responsible for the creation of some atmospheres that can be able to affect our emotions and mood. He thinks that these are some of the aspect to take in account when wanting to create an atmosphere.
- The body of architecture
- Material compatibility
- The sound of a space
- The temperature of space
- Surrounding objects
- Between composure and seduction
- Tension between interior and exterior
- Levels of intimacy
- The light of things
After having written the general list of technical characteristics, Peter Zumthor gives three keys that he, personally, finds most useful and that in my opinion are more easy to understand for everyone, even if they know nothing about architecture.
- Architecture and surroundings
“The idea of creating a building and that it becomes part of its surroundings”
The importance of a building relies on becoming part of its own environment. The objective of constructing a building is to make it look as if it belonged to the place where it was built. Architecture musn’t be disruptive with its surroundings but part of them.
That’s the best way for a building to become part of people’s lives.
“Quality is far more important than the idea that the building will still be mentioned in architectural reference works in 35 years”
“It would make me very happy to have made things wich other people love”
I think that the main objective of architecture is, not only to cover a certain need but also to make an impression on people. I agree with the author of the text when he says that for him it is far more important to create special memories of moments lived on his creations than to be remembered as a great architect but only for those few people who know about your work and understand its technical part.
From my perspective, this lies in the uniqueness of memories. If someone, for example, loves visiting with their grandmother some shopping center, someone has it’s first apartment or goes visiting it’s favorite place in the city. The memories they are going to create on those places are far more valuable than the congratulations of those who only appreciate the technical part of your work.
- Coherence
“I think Architecture attains its highest quality as an applied art. And it’s at its most beautiful when things have come into their own, when they are coherent. That is when everything refers to everything else and it is impossible to remove a single thing without destroying the whole”
I agree with what he says in this quote. I believe that sometimes, architecture is not invented but discovered. Sometimes some buildings were meant to be built in the way they were actually built. I think that architecture reaches its peak when the architect only has to connect the dots and gives a space the exact shape it needed to have. With this I’m not trying to take away the merit of the architect, indeed I find it harder because for achieving it no mistake can be made.
- Beautiful form
“If the form doesn’t move me, then I’ll go back to the beginning and start again”
Finally the most important part is to transmit emotions. If the building does not feel passionate about the building, no one will.
When a building generates a unique sensation, only made by this building and its beauty, then is when it will passionate those who see it.