What kind of architecture can be key in rebuilding our sense of security in public spaces? Does security have to mean isolation? Who is a conscious architect?
Dreams and imagination are as necessary in this profession as their seemingly opposite sense of responsibility - Stefan Kurylowicz.
Architecture is the primary tool that places us in space and time and gives these dimensions a human measure. It is architects who allow us to tame limitless space and infinite time. Thanks to architecture, humanity can understand that it is not enough just to "live" on Earth, but that it is necessary and worthwhile to "inhabit" it.
Architect's consciousness
To "understand and inhabit" we need the right conditions. The most important of these is, often unfortunately subconsciously downplayed, a sense of security. When thinking about it, we should discover its physical dimension as well as its psychological dimension - both of which were coherently captured in the 1940s by Abraham Maslow. He described the need for shelter and a sense of security as one of the most important foundations of our well-being, standing at the top of the so-called pyramid of conditions. Since then, over the years, the communities of psychologists, anthropologists and social scientists have been analyzing this "pyramid" and the interrelationships. Publications in the renowned American Journal of Psychology present an up-to-date study by Taormina and Gao1, which confirms that the better a lower-order need was met, the more a higher-order need was met. This only proves that when thinking about human well-being and happiness, we should ask ourselves fundamental questions - do we feel safe in the space around us? What makes us feel safe? What role does a conscious architect play in all this?
Q22 skyscraper, Warsaw, proj.: Kuryłowicz & Associates
photo: © Echo Investment
Does safe design mean isolation?
Nowadays there is an increased social desire to spend time in an environment we fully accept, with people similar to us and only in familiar, comfortable surroundings. In practice, there is a demand that people be protected from anything that could harm them, physically or mentally. Architects face calls for safe homes, schools, offices, public spaces. The above expectations actually result in the fact that we can talk about the phenomenon of commonly lobbied isolation. Space, which makes us feel not only physically, but also mentally and socially, is as important as many of life's other needs. Nevertheless, does this mean that we need architecture that is a bastion? Isolation in any form only leads to deepening what we do not understand. When participating in public space, we should be part of the open, fluid and heterogeneous community through which we define ourselves. Sooner or later we have to leave our "homes."
Anna Lorens, winner of the first edition of the TEORIA competition of the Stefan Kurylowicz Foundation. Stefan Kurylowicz, in her publication "The Phenomenon of Feast Places in Poland," developed the topic of security and very precisely pointed out the fact of the important interrelationship between the need for a sense of security in architecture and the physiological needs that occur in it (which are the basis of Maslow's hierarchy of needs) - that is, meeting and "feasting" of various types of small and large communities. "Just as the primary function of architecture is to provide shelter for man, so the ritual relating to the basic human need of satisfying hunger is feasting. (...) The need to build communities is all the more important for human beings as modern culture becomes globalized and computerized, building a sense of loneliness in the crowd."
An interesting question is how can we make people feel safe in public space without using barriers and various forms of isolation? How can we design, for example, schools or universities to make it clear that these are places where we belong, while at the same time feeling part of an open and evolving community? Is it still possible to resurrect this feeling in the current time and place?
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews,
proj.: Lahdelma & Mahlamäki, cooperation: Kurylowicz & Associates
photo: © Wojciech Krynski
New routes
There are already well-established rules that make any building provide us with physical security. What we need, therefore, is to search for new solutions that also guarantee our psychological security. Architects should combine both forms and images in which the user has the opportunity to "discover" himself and feel safe. Speaking of images, one should firmly point out that it is the sense of sight that has taken over our world. Perhaps an escape from this dominance could show designers new paths? Is moving away from the "visual" treatment of architecture a way to improve the quality of safety while rebuilding our sense of connection and attachment to a place and community?
Architect's cognitive process
Searching for new paths, interdisciplinary communication, recognizing changing social needs, taking into account the age, gender or fitness diversity of users of a given space are the basis of good practice for any conscious architect.
The primary goal set by the Stefan Kurylowicz Foundation is to initiate a broad conversation about the social role of architecture. Through the implementation of competition programs, the Foundation provokes young architects to a professional discussion. These activities have already resulted in 7 years of winners of the THEORY and PRACTICE competitions. Every year, in cooperation with an interdisciplinary jury, the most talented architects are selected, and their concepts, thanks to the activities of the foundation, are publicly presented and published.
I am convinced that the vision of the city and public space will not be created by officials. They are there to manage the space, not to create it. The vision must come from imaginative people who can look to the future. Nonetheless, in order to change space for the better, one must first of all want to and deeply believe that it is possible - Stefan Kurylowicz.
You too can have an impact on how the world of architecture will look like. It is necessary, above all, to want and believe.
Apply now as part of the new call for Stefan Kurylowicz Foundation programs and play your part in shaping the future of public space.
Footnotes:
1. Taormina, R. J., & Gao, J. H. (2013). Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: Measuring satisfaction of the needs. The American Journal of Psychology, 126(2), 155-177.
More information at: Stefan Kurylowicz Foundation
