Okay, this is from way back in 2005, but I find it interesting so I'm posting it. So, like, two years ago, an artist called Shusaku Arakawa created the Reversible Destiny Loft apartments, an apartment block designed to keep your brain alert by constantly challenging your spatial awareness. The logic is more or less the same as those road junctions where they take away all the road signs and make it superficially more dangerous in order to get you to drive more carefully; this place uses distorted floors, optical illusions and light switches in counter-intuitive places, in order to keep the brains of the occupants active.
Cripes (more pictures here).
Leaving aside whether one would want to live in these places (and when they first went on the market they went for about twice the normal price of an apartment that size)(which is lucky when you consider how much they must have cost to make - what a fortunate coincidence that the price covered it), this made me think. One of my most valued precepts of design is that any design should be intuitive, easy to use, and generally free up the user to think about other things... and of course, Arakawa is going in completely the opposite direction.
On one level, it's deliciously counter-intuitive, but makes a charming sort of sense - if the occupants genuinely struggle to find stimulation, then here it is, on a plate. But personally, I think this represents a triumph of materialism over humanity. Those who need more stimulation are those who are isolated from human contact - especially the elderly. Making Granny live in a psychedelic obstacle course is going to isolate her further - elderly friends will be wary of visiting such a hostile environment, and she's going to find it harder to get out the door. What's required in such situations is more human contact, rather than more artifacts put in the way. Not for nothing is the architect described as an artist rather than a designer.
I have something of a personal interest in this because I have a granddad who is suffering terribly from Alzheimers. He's unable to distinguish between reflections and the genuine article, he struggles for words, he barely recognizes even his closest family (he certainly doesn't know who I am) - and I think he finds living alone with my grandmother very difficult. And although he's a nightmare to live with, the times I've seen him relax are when there's people around. The TV does nothing - it's hopeless, he can't follow it. People - human contact - is the only stimulation that works. So when Arakawa talks about 'halting mental decline', it's him that I think of - and I can only see him retreating from this environment, spending all day in a chair.
Sure, you'd need to be a pretty sharp cookie to live in this place - but I doubt very much whether living in this place would keep you sharp. I think it would just hurt.
9 comments:
I can't even fathom it. The slightest discomfort puts me in a decline. What keeps me sharp is reading, doing puzzles, listening to music. Arakawa's idea for old people in a word, is Bollocks.
I can say that cause I'm American and I don't know what it means. :-)
What, bollocks?
What Debbie said (apart from being American and not knowing what 'bollocks' means).
I kinda miss Etherman. Hah, no one's going to invite him to Multiply?
Looks like a pain in the arse. I even hate the ignition switch placement in early Saabs.
Yeah, I drove a Saab last year. I'll tell you though Hector, the incredible comfort of the seats and turbo-zoom made me feel like royalty. I forgave the ignition arrangement. It's really all about comfort with me.
I think they'd make fun hotel rooms. It's the type of place that looks nice to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
Quite!
ah well that would be a totally different article. This was about the aged. I think the kids would have a blast and I would give it a shot too for a day or so.
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