The Influence Ecology - Architecture

[John Patterson]

This is a series of talks inside an abstraction I call The Influence Ecology.

[see primer for more definition]

Tending to the 'water' or ecology rather than simply tending to you requires an awareness of forces that shape and impact the You that you are.

That you were born in a specific place, time, country, race, culture, religion has obvious implications. The additional forces, or 'water' that shape your fish is a long list. Below is #3 in the series.

3. Architecture

Architecture is one of the most overlooked, yet powerful forces in the ecology of influence.

By Architecture, I am including the entire built environment in which you live. City Planning, Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Interior Design, Industrial Design - all things put in place by people...a world of objects, structures and spaces.

This is clear with the following anecdote:

"so I get out of bed...and every morning I avoid tripping on a tear in the carpet, which I resent because it reminds me that I don't have the money to repair the thing - and my day begins with a reminder of how my life doesn't work...and the checklist of the someday-I-will-fix-it-items begins"

The ecology of architecture is not separate from you. It is a world of objects that create a larger context that, like it or not, gives a playing field for your experience and effectiveness. It creates a realm or context that shapes the content within that context and as such, all contexts are either limiting or liberating...especially when the context is not obvious.

At the micro level, if your desk is a clutter of notes to yourself, stacks of untended to papers and incomplete stuff. The context could be: unfinished, overwhelmed, uncertain plus a concern for your own dignity and reputation with others (did I follow through when I said?).

Going out towards the macro, your home or office. The neighborhood. The Community. The architecture of a place, history, culture, practices and ethics is embodied in the designs of objects left by all those before you. If you live in Europe, you may live in a home older than the United States. If you live in the United States, you may live in a home not older than my dog. The context of living in a home older than the United States shapes your sense of place in history, your place in the scope of human history perhaps - and gives a whole set of content that can not be sourced by a different context.

Noticing and then tending to this ecology has enormous impacts. Linguistically, you live in a world of objects that you can do with what you will. The point of any of this babble is simply to shed light on the enormous power of a context that you may not know is shaping you. Instead of it shaping you...you can shape it; and if tended to powerfully, can yield remarkable results.

What was possible in Bedford Falls that wasn't in Pottersville - or vice versa?

John Patterson