Experiential Manifesto: The Impact of Human Beings

Presently, as technology develops and becomes much more innovative, there are numerous variables that contributes to having an impact on space including lighting, sound, color and etc. However, nothing is more important to space than human beings themselves. Architecture has always been based on people, whether to design something functional for people or to accommodate people. There is always a relationship between people and space. Do you ever notice the power of people in space?

Human beings have the ability to alter space in everyway. They activate space. Some space does not even exist without the presence of people. Is a nightclub still a nightclub without people? Will it create the same atmosphere and experience if it was an empty space that replaces the presence of people with a surrounding sound of people instead? Similarly, Plaza Mayor Madrid would not exist without people. The historical usage of Plaza Mayor Madrid till the present day has always relate back to people, whether it serves as a space for public execution or even a space where people come regularly to relax. As static as the architecture is, people make the space dynamic.

Even the slightest thing people do like their facial expression, gesture, body movement, and etc. can change space. Imagine an empty space with a man chasing a little girl like some pedophile. Now, imagine seeing the smile and hearing the laughter from the little girl, the atmosphere instantly changes to the happiness between a father and his daughter.

There are rules established to help define the questionable boundary between the relationship of human beings and space. The limit to when people decide to break the boundary in space varies according to each individual as well as the spatial quality of the space. This is why this topic is extremely challenging to designers and architects all over the world in creating space that presents certain boundaries to people in different ways in order to guide them through space or create a certain reaction. What must be considered in order to create a people- based architecture?

Boundaries come in various forms to direct people. If you think about everything that surrounds you such as cigarette trays, seats and etc., it is all designed for people. It leaves human traces. Those objects define where people would be for certain activities. In addition, human beings, spatial qualities, and each individual’s mental judgment also have great impact on an individual's certain action. Imagine walking across Siam and the Thai national assembly came up. Everybody around you stood up to show respect to the kingdom of Thailand. How would you react? Moreover, would you ever brush your teeth while shopping at Siam Paragon? A ground made up of grass and concrete, which material would you choose to walk on? Stating the obvious, people are guaranteed to conform to their boundaries when it comes to something physical like walls.

The boundary between the relationship of people and space might cause people to conform to it or it might result in people breaking the boundary. The real questions are to what limit do people conform to being restricted and controlled by space and how do they react to it?



                                                                                                              Pimlada Bunluthangthum (Cake)

Capriccio Sketches

A diagrammatic formation of a perspective to show the static space and the dynamism of people that activates the space. This sketch also portrays the different rules relating back to boundary and the relationship between people and space including the "Invisible", "Object", "Activities", "Visible but not physical", and "Physical" rules. 

This is a sketch to show in which ways do human beings impact space (atmospherically and experientially) such as the effect of dress code, body movement, action, facial expression, and even when a great amount of people does something as a whole together (wear same shirt color). Without the presence of human, a space does not exist.