Describe and Analyze the Notion of ‘Spatial Agency’ in relation to the potential for Interior and Spatial Design to make positive Contributions to the Conditions and Wellbeing of People, Cultural Practices and Environments.
Spatial Agency
Spatial agency is a very new method of looking towards the ways of constructing buildings and producing the space within the building. There is a difference between the concepts of spatial production and that of building or the construction as the space is temporal. On the other hand, the construction or the building is just static in nature; it is something that constantly refined through the taste and the techniques. One of the most important things that the architects must keep in mind while constructing the buildings is the aspect of social responsibility. Another thing that is to be kept in mind is that there is a kind of shift or a transformation in the responsibility as it gets transformed from the architects to the clients. One of the important aspects of this spatial agency is that the agent is always someone who has to empower others. Here, the concept of empowering means allowing others o be capable enough of taking control over the environment. There are different ways in which the architects must design the buildings in order to make sure that the clients or the persons who will be staying inside the buildings can enjoy a healthy and safe living. In other word, the architects have to keep in mind that in order to keep the clients healthy and happy, the houses need to be constructed in a way that is different from just the normal parameters (Gómez-Baggethun & Barton., 2013. There is however a very strong and intrinsic connection present between the architecture that is building or the design of the architecture and the physical and mental well being of the clients or the inmates of the house who will be staying in them. The architects must be made aware of the fact that they have some or the other kind of social and ethical responsibilities while designing or constructing any buildings. The architects must make sure that there are some of the very basic needs that they need to focus upon while constructing the buildings. The most important aspects that they need to emphasize upon is that of the social, psychological, ecological, physical and several other such basic needs that will enable to human beings to have a happy and safe life (Diener et al .,2015).
Henri Lefebvre’s view
As far as the opinion of Henri Lefebvre, a space is something that is made up of a large number of fragmented parts of the nature is located at so many different sites. However, as far as the modern day construction system is concerned, the natural space is becoming much more congested and over populated because of the huge political forces coming into it. Absolute space is something that does have some
About space given by Henri Lefebvre’s assertion that space and the political organization of space, expresses social relationships. One of the important aspects is representational spaces. Representational space happens to be one of the most important aspects of construction and architecture because of the fact that representational space is something that is living. It is almost like a different entity (Reese & Kohler., 2015). It is a particular kind of space that lives. It has a kind of affective centre or a space of force that is the storehouse of all the different kinds of emotions like that of ego, anger, dwelling, and house. The Representational space as the very name suggests is something that acts as the representative of the human emotions (Diener et al., 2015). It embraces the loci of passion, of action and of the different live situations and thus implies time immediately.
Another important aspect is that of the social space. The social space is a social product. It can be said that there are two kinds of spaces that is the social space and then physical space. Social space is something that incorporates the social actions. So in other words, it can be said that social space is something within which the social being that is mankind has to survive. This survival definitely will comprise of all the actions and reactions that a human being has to perform as he is a social being (Diener et al., 2015). Space rather social space is a very important part of the existence of each and every individual because it is the same space where they are born; it is also the very same pace that will give them the expressions to all their actions and the reactions. It is also within this same space that they will gain different feelings and different emotions, it is also within this same given social space that they will die they will perish and will be buried. So, it is the same given social space that will witness all the important life functions and activities of their life. Hence, it is also very much evident from this fact that social space is something that tool for the analysis of the society or the way in which the society works. Hence the architect has to keep in mind the concept of the social space and design the house accordingly.
Another important concept is that of the true space and real space. True space is the mental space and the real space and the real space is the social space. Both these are very much essential for the proper growth and development of the people living within the space (Diener et al., 2015). The other important concept that the architects must keep in mind is that the buildings that they construct is not only for the mere purpose of providing their clients with a suitable home to live in. However, this house is the very space where their clients will come into contact with the different emotions and experiences of their lives. Hence the house must be designed in such a way that the in mates of the house can enjoy all the different realms of emotions within the space. There must be enough space accommodated by the architects so that all the members of the house can have a safe and sound place to live and interact with all the different activities taking place in and around them.
Construction of shelter for refugee women and girls
In order to make a shelter the architects have to keep in mind all the important aspects of space that might be needed in order to provide the inmates of the house (Korsunova, Halme & Goodman, 2015). Particularly, if the house is to be designed for women and girls, then the person constructing the house has to be very much sure regarding the proper division of space. This must be done in order to provide the social, physical, psychological balance (Chan, 2015). If the student has to construct a house for providing shelter to the refugees in Australia, the first and foremost thing that needs to be done is to provide proper safety and security to the people. However, here the one important thin g that has to be kept in mind is the fact that the refugees are the female folk. Females are the ones who are doubly dominated here. This is because of the fact that the persons in question are refuges. Secondly the fact is that these refugees are females. Hence, the first issue of concern for them is that of safety and security. While constructing this shelter, the division of the space must be made in such a way so as to see that the location of the house is in a safe place. In other words, the house must be located in close proximity to the police protection areas (Gómez-Baggethun & Barton., 2013). They must be given accommodation in such a place that will keep them emotionally and physically safe. The space allotted to the refugee women must be such that would provide them enough ways of socializing with the people. As they are refugee women, it is a known fact that they have been detached from their social ties for a very long period. In a way, because of various reasons they had to cut off almost all ties with the external world. Hence, their social contacts have to be rebuilt. They must be kept in such a place that will give them easy and quick access to the legal, medical and psychological ties. These spaces may take different names like women safe spaces, women shelters and many others
As they are refugees, they often suffer from several healths relayed problems as well. Hence, the shelters constructed for them must be sufficient to provide them with a large and open space in order to supply a fresh and clean flow of air (King et al., 2014).
They must not feel suffocated or congested within their shelters. There must be sufficient amount of sunlight and air flowing in and out of the room. There must also be sufficient informal space around the physical space in order to make the refugee women more actively participate in the mainstream social activities. In the words, there has to be sufficient allotment of space for public gatherings and public meetings. There must be an open courtyard with free and fresh air all around where the women can conduct regular meetings of with other women (Koyama, 2014). Apart from this, there must be proper furniture present in the house that would enable the refugee women to refresh themselves as and when needed. The furniture that are to be, made present within the house are cabinets with proper lock system, there must also be sufficient amount of tables and chairs so that each and every women can use it for their own personal as well as private activities. There must also be proper access to all forms of social media so that the woman can easily stay connected to the outside world. Some of the refuge women can also be physically wounded or disabled, hence proper facilities are also to be kept for that. There must be sufficient provisions made in order to let the disabled women live proper lives. There must be accommodation made for home gyms as well (Chan, 2015).. It can so happen that these refugee women are suffering from some or the other health related issues or any particular physical condition that needs thorough exercise sessions. There must be a large open room or open courtyard where the gym equipments can be used.
There must also be sufficient accommodations made for proper health and medical facilities as well. Apart from that, sufficient arrangements are to be made in the house so that the women can help themselves with sufficient amount of first hand medical help as and when needed. There must be proper means of communication available in and around their location so that they can easily go and seek for medical help whenever in need (King et al., 2014).
Apart from this, there has to be library as well. This is because of the fact that the women are to be provided with proper facilities that would enable them to acquire education and knowledge. Women are to be given a space of their own. Being refugees, they have been deprived from all the educational facilities so long. However it has to be kept in mind that providing shelter or accommodation to the refugee women must not only mean that they are to be given a physical space. However, the other spatial agencies must also be properly kept in mind apart from the physical space. There has to be enough accommodation made for the representative space as well. It is for this reason that the space is something that will represent their very existence and the way they react with the various Aspects of their environment. As spatial agency is very much associated with the concept of empowering others. It is the responsibility of the architects or the designers to make sure that the shelter they are building for the accommodation of the refugees must be such that it would contribute sufficiently towards the personal development of the refugees as well (Ricci, 2017). The aim of the designer must be to provide the refuges with a shelter that will not only look after their homely needs but their educational, social, psychological needs as well (Sanyal, 2014). It is for this reason that the designing of the shelters must be done is such a way that the refugees feel very much at home (Chan, 2015). The construction of the refugee woman shelter must be done in such a way so that the women and girls can also get a separate identity of their own. There must be a social agenda associated with this project of constructing a woman refugee shelter (Jones et al., 2017). The agenda must be aimed towards the construction of a social identity of the refugee women and girls. The main aim must be to provide the women with sufficient means of leading their lives independently. The division of the space or the spatial agency must be such that it should always help the inmates of the shelter to develop a secured identity of their own (Oesch, 2017).
I really feel that it is a great opportunity to be able to undertake a project like this. This is because of the fact that I am not looking forward at this job with the perspective of only designing a building. However the greater part of my interest here is the fact that I am trying to provide a shelter to the refugees. In other words, I am trying to provide a home to the homeless ones. I will always try to keep this in mind that whenever I am designing a building for the refugee women I have to provide them a space of their own. In other words, I need to keep in mind that whenever I am trying to provide a space to the women and the girls, a greater emphasis must be provided at the safety and the security of the women. This is because of the fact that these refugee women are the ones who have been detached from the world for a very longer period of time. So, it is through the construction of the shelter or a space that their connection with the world has to be rebuilt. I will also make sure that there is ample amount of sunlight and air flowing within the house so that the inmates of the house can lead a fresh and disease free life. Apart from this, the refugee women and the children are to be provided enough medical aids so that they do not suffer from any severe medical condition (Oesch, 2017).
However, according to me the most important aspect that I will try to maintain while designing the house is that these refugee women and girls can breathe freely within the society as well. There must be ample open space left in the house for holding public gatherings or any regular meetings of NGOs or any other meeting of the woman parties. There must also be enough toys and books kept for the refugee children and also for the other refugee women and children. This is an attempt to bring in the women into the mainstream marginal social activities
References
Chan, J. (2015). Moral agency in architecture? The dialectics of spatializing morality and moralizing spaces. Architecture, Materiality and Society: Connecting Sociology of Architecture with Science and Technology Studies, 198-214.
Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2015). National accounts of subjective well-being. American Psychologist, 70(3), 234.
Gómez-Baggethun, E., & Barton, D. N. (2013). Classifying and valuing ecosystem services for urban planning. Ecological Economics, 86, 235-245.
Jones, R., Johnson, C., Brown, W., Popescu, G., Pallister-Wilkins, P., Mountz, A., & Gilbert, E. (2017). Interventions on the state of sovereignty at the border. Political Geography, 59, 1-10.
King, M. F., Renó, V. F., & Novo, E. M. (2014). The concept, dimensions and methods of assessment of human well-being within a socioecological context: a literature review. Social indicators research, 116(3), 681-698.
Korsunova, A., Halme, M., & Goodman, J. (2015). Understanding stakeholder engagement in sustainabilityoriented innovation processes of business enterprises. In EGOS Colloquium. Athens.
Koyama, J. (2014). Constructing gender: Refugee women working in the United States. Journal of Refugee Studies, 28(2), 258-275.
Oesch, L. (2017). The refugee camp as a space of multiple ambiguities and subjectivities. Political Geography, 60, 110-120.
Reese, K., & Kohler, T. (2015). Agency of Access: Public Architecture in Mesa Verde National Park. In The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Ricci, D. (2017). Building a More Trusting and Caring Society: Surveillance and the Evolving Role of Architecture in Developing Positive Community Spaces.
Sanyal, R. (2014). Urbanizing refuge: interrogating spaces of displacement. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38(2), 558-572.
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