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Functional impact of Spaces

i.

“Acceptance of a space by its user makes it much more successfully functional.”

The relation of a user to a space can be understood by an example of a relation between a student and
the school he attends. Interesting flow of closed, semi-open interactive spaces and playful open
spaces would definitely create a scope of interest for students. Such impact of spaces will make
students accept it making it functional. Here, the experience of space as a factor of designing it is
more significant than the aesthetical value.

May it be a city or a building; it does not works as an isolated entity. A space within a building might
have to serve a function, which needs to be isolated in nature, but the space itself is always in
transition with the other spaces around it. Hence, while designing spaces the effectiveness of cluster
of spaces should be taken care of. To create spaces, the roots of the functions to be carried out there
must be studied.

The simplest example to understand this is –

The early men who started to build shelter for themselves only thought of the need and not the
aesthetics. However, it worked for the user itself. Later on, when the communities got involved in
the process of building shelters, they started combining the open and built spaces for providing
spaces for daily chores, celebrations, festivals, etc. This automatically led to giving efforts for
building appealing shelters, or at least giving distinctive character to one’s own shelter.

Still, the need and satisfaction of functional space was the priority.

ii.

“Buildings are not meant to please the outside world of it, but to comfort the ones who breathe
in it.”

Moreover, if a building can serve both, then the process of creating it requires the balance of
functional and aesthetical analysis. Thinking of designing a space is like thinking of wrapping a gift.
The excitement of opening the gift is enhanced by the very style of its wrapping. Similarly, the
experience of moving or working across a space is enhanced by the way it is treated from outside so
as the user is tempted to walk further into it.

As far as the research methods are considered, understanding the requirement of the user is the
ultimate aim. Hence studying the successfully designed spaces or buildings as well as failed attempts

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of space design is important. As a former architectural student and presently an Architect, I have
relied on live case studies of buildings for understanding the possible pros and cons of built
structures and then avoiding and implementing them in my own design. During the architectural
thesis of B.Arch. I visited Bharat Bhavan designed by Charles Correa. It made an impact of play of
open and built spaces such that they were functional and interesting too. It made me look forward to
feel the very essence of architecture – “belonging to a space”. Aiming to serve as an interactive hub
for artists, this complex, which is designed around two major courtyards, and a large open entrance,
which descends to these two courtyards, it creates a perfect example of creating suspense of
upcoming space in front of the user or visitor. In addition to this transitional flow of spaces, its
façade is appealing too due the exposed brick construction. Again, the material used for façade add
up to the climate responsiveness of the building as the exposed bricks are much lesser heat
conductive than the plastered bricks and hence the courtyards function successfully by providing
cool air to the circulation area.

Analysing different planning styles of art centres, concluding, and comparing the aspects such as
ratio of built form to the open spaces, connectivity of internal and external spaces, balance of
artificial and natural ventilation inside the building helped me to formulate the design brief for
my own project. Excerpts from the analytic process for my thesis:

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Concluding on the above-mentioned aspects of space planning and designing a building, I formulated
a concept of circulation, which binds the different functions such as display of arts, interaction of
artists and visitors and manufacturing of artefacts. I tried to include different courtyard layouts: semi-
shaded, water body in courtyard, sitting under tree, and clustered the galleries and workshops such
that the movement of visitors is through the courtyards where they could occasionally witness the
process of creating artefacts of Chhattisgarh state. In addition, the traditional inhabitation typology of
Chhattisgarh is courtyard houses, which was reflected in this tribal art and folk centre making it
relatable to the visitors and artists working here.

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Maintaining the interest in circulation was continued from outside of the building to the inside.
External courts were created for the visitors to roam around in a defined manner but still be able to
connect to the function of the building with respect to its site.

iii.

The space that we move in, should be aligned to our own scale.

If we aim to create sensitive design in any scale, there are primarily two ways for proceeding –

First, to approach the design freshly with your own criteria or ideas and not much of external
references. Second, to study the various existing typologies of spaces and built forms and conclude
or extract factors for your own design. Both the ways could result in a user-oriented design, if
enough considerations of their space requirements are taken.

The opinion about the functionality of forms that we use may also differ. Whether to consume a form
completely for aesthetics (façade of a building, or surface of space) or to give it a usable value is
crucial. The principles of design should always be in alignment of human scale to make a design
work for humans. For instance, when you walk across an aisle inside a cathedral, its high vertical
expansion makes you feel the divinity of space itself. The experience of that volume naturally
connects you to a divine source. Similarly, walking through a colonnade where the vertical
expansion is to the human reach, we feel more interactive with the crowd moving with us.

Transitional relation between spaces, studying the background of function of space, and relating the
space to human scale makes it more functional.

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References

Bill Hillier, Space is the machine, Chapter 1: What Architecture adds to building, 10-11/ 13-18

Bill Hiller, Space is the machine, Chapter 1: What Architecture adds to building, About space, 19-20

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