power on time

In the last article I outlined the importance of the consideration of the phenomenon of time in architecture in much the same way we see it considered in games in what I labled 'events'. However, in this article I will continue that discussion in bringing some examples of where we see time considered in the design process in reality. I stumbled upon an article by a student, like me, in Australia (of all places) who was interested in a completely different topic, 'architecture and anarchy.'


Now Linda Bennett was interested in how governments exploit architecture for control, how 'cities are a product of capitalism,' and how sadly architects are part of this game. Thus the 'practice of architecture as a culture of hierarchy that appears entirely at odds with the ideals of anarchy,' this is because 'architecture is dependent upon commissions and regulations; the architect must work within a time frame, budget and brief, and is restricted according to safety, money and law.'


In the last article I outlined how the developer controls the players' experience of events by considering the movement of time relative to social encounters; it seems that in much the same way we experience control in reality. What I am interested in was how this relative linearity in which architecture is designed in cities to implement a higher powers' desire, considers the dimension of time to facilitate this control and how that may affect our social encounters. Linda Bennett talks about Le Corbusier, how 'he proposed the eradication of “social chance” and “architectural wilfulness” through mechanical efficiency and regulation of city structures.' Now although Le Corbusier may have gone to the extreme of this notion of control, for example 'Plan Voisin,' a plan that called for the eradication of Paris, to be rebuilt in a very controlled and organized fashion. But, considering, Linda claims that 'city planners to this day adopt Le Corbusier’s model, in which congested streets are replaced with a combination of towers and freeways'. However, even if Linda is wrong, we still do experience organized control on our social encounters in everyday life through things like traffic lights and organized queues, this is undeniably authoritarian control. However, that isn't to say this control is 'evil' or 'bad', there is no denying that “a society has to at least in part, conform to the structure of the city”, (Rollins 2010, pers. comm., 3 June) because if we don't we may live in chaos, and thus at the end of the day 'cities are controlled by the objectives of the people who make them'-Bennett.


To get more specific to the phenomenon of social encounters and time relative to control, I would like to explain how we experience this sub-consciously, daily. Linda continues her discussion to highlight how 'research shows that you’re most likely to turn right after entering a shop, that you’re most likely to buy something on an overcast day and that you walk slower when streets are planted with trees.' Furthermore that 'every space that you pass through in the city is designed with human traffic flow and productivity in mind. The city structure is a functional and efficient system which controls the way its inhabitants move through space. Individual and social components of the city are defined by corporate considerations.' Designers are aware of this, and use this! Linda brings forth a supermarket architect named Robert Smith who uses various ways to design the aisles so that the buyer always focuses on the stock. Robert Smith explains that this as a technique that ‘endures the maximisation of time spent in store and also as a way to capitalise on impulse buying.’ This shows that design in many of the spaces we dwell in daily, affect our social encounters by physically or physcologically controlling our duration of time in places.


Furthermore, from personal experience in places; I know that these physcoligical manipulations can even affect our perception of the time we spend in places. I outlined in this in the last article by talking about how time spent in doctors’ offices may seem life forever, or that time seemed like it was moving slower. I also recall the design of glass lifts in malls that affect my perception of time by enjoying views for instance. There are ofcourse hundreds of examples that even you can probably think of, simply by just exsisting in a city!


So, there is no denying that in fact, that there are places all around us in reality affect the our perception of time intentionaly, or even physicaly alter our duration in spaces to affect or social encounters from reasons stemming from efficiency to money to even enjoyments and all these reasons shape our social encounters. Thus in real architecture these reasons could be stemmed from anything (as I have outlined), but in games it is always to support the gameplay. Nonetheless, what is so intriguing is how we often overlook these coherently designed spaces. I used to think that we often overlook the dimension of time, but I suppose I was mistaken, it is sometimes precisely what is considered in many places around us...



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