Patrick Lynch
(P)lace
Globalization will continue, however within this social
change will be an inevitable counter cultural need for the localóa return
to the genus loci. How can architecture begin to facilitate again the needs for
the local, the needs for community? It begins with the individual. It begins
with the rewriting notions of what place is. (p)lace is space, however (P)lace,
true communal place, is created in the individual psyche. It is the emotional
connections that an individual has with a certain space. Sustainable invested
community begins to form when individuals discover similar connections in others.
I explored the social relationships between a black
box theater and a public market and how these two destinations facilitate meaning
in fundamentally different ways. It is through this difference that the space
becomeís uniquely engaging. The design does not define action or use,
rather the flexibility of the spaces reinforces space based around individual
meaning. An individualís understanding of the spaces will be continually
revealed and redefined through connections spatially and atmospherically.
Whether an individual comes to see or be seen to engage or disengage, the
creation of (P)lace will continue to strengthen the Grand Haven community.