Module 4 - Representation of Space, Information, and Design Interventions

    Of the many examples from this module’s lecture regarding “representations of space”, perhaps the most compelling to me are the many methods with which a designer can implore communication and storytelling. Specifically, comparing existing urban design conditions with new ideas, or redesigns of urban space that are intended to improve those spaces performance. A designer can effectively show how their ideas for the reconsideration of urban space can drastically improve urban life for that city’s inhabitants by utilizing before and after photographs and renderings. Such renderings allow potential viewers the opportunity to imagine experiencing such spaces themselves. This visual communication technique is especially helpful for those who are less familiar with experiential design.

    Since primitive peoples have been adorning cave walls with stories of hunting or battle human beings have been communicating visually as a method of recording and preserving their past, or looking forward to their futures. Today, we utilize visual storytelling in urban design and architecture as a compelling and informative tool for the public to more clearly understand our thoughts on how our creations can improve their lives. To me, visual communication and storytelling are the intellectual and psychological connection linking art and design, life and human sustainability. 

Two very different versions of Visual Communication and Storytelling can be seen below: 

First,an image from the Lascaux caves in France and Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending Staircase 2".

   

   These images are obviously made with very different mediums and seek to express very different stories, but are both examples of ways in which we as designers and artists can communicate intricate and important history through the visual representation of time and space. In urban design we see this same type of representation in many forms, whether it is in signage and way-finding devices, two and three dimensional public artworks, or building and spatial form, and so on... These visual materials tell us as spatial travelers where we are, where we are going, and perhaps most importantly when we are in time. Our collective history is characterized by the built and visual environment that surrounds us. This can be represented in many different ways, be it through district specific signage showing you are within the boundaries of a historic district such as Hyde Park in the northwest corner of Boise, Idaho. Hyde Park is a neighborhood that has, and continues to go through many changes as the city around it grows. The historic Hyde Park district reaches essentially the entire length of one residential street and spans out two or three block perpendicular in each direction. The area of town is marked visually by signage, but even more visibly by its historic shops and homes, and the old growth deciduous trees that line its sidewalks.

    Yet another urban space that is visually represented well is Friendship Square, here in Moscow, Idaho. Friendship Square is a modest public space complete with street furniture, a seasonal water feature, and playground equipment suitable for most ages. What appears to me as particularly memorable about Friendship Square is how the city of Moscow has placed it at what had previously been an intersection of a road crossing its Main Street. While it may be considered bold to essentially block a vehicular passage way it resonates as a shift in priority away from the automobile to many thankful Moscow pedestrians. While I am unsure of the square's age or history, I can tell that it will exist as a place for rest and celebration for many years.

The last urban space that I have examined for this module is Pioneer Square at the southern end of downtown Seattle. Over the last two decades this area of Seattle has transitioned from being a part of town most avoided because of perceived crime and danger to an active and vibrant sector of a seemingly ever-expanding city. Today, this neighborhood is home to a new multipurpose stadium, many new are galleries and restaurants, as well as updated public transit lines that have improved the areas image and activity. While pioneer square remains home to a significant transient population, improvements to the district have slowly led to a more desirable area for tourists and residents alike.