Last week we discussed various aspects and issues of the definition of Latin America and Latino America, and how they relate to architecture. Excellent posts, everyone!
In your comments, you agreed to disagree on some of these aspects and issues, but you all agreed on one crucial point: Latin America refers more clearly to a geographic area, while Latino America refers more clearly to the peoples and cultures that populate this area both North and South of the US/Mexico border (NOT boarder, folks!).
Hence, this week we are going to focus on culture: what is culture, what is cultural difference, what is cultural diversity, and two concepts that will help us us understand nuances of architecture seldom discussed: imagined communities and Proxemics.
What is cultural diversity? What is cultural difference? What are imagined communities? Homi Bhabha and Benedict Anderson have devoted a great deal of time, energy, and focus to these questions. I want us to consider this week what bearing do these three questions have on experiencing and discussing architecture? And how, in turn, can they be better understood with the deployment of proxemics and its importance in understanding human beings, movement, environments, and cultural distances and proximities.
For your blogpost next Friday (due at 5pm), consider one of these variables (cultural diversity, cultural difference, imagined communities, or Proxemics) and rehearse one way in which that concept can help you better understand ONE of these buildings at Emory: Cox Hall, Callaway Center, Carlos Museum, Woodruff Library, Canon Chapel, Atwood Chemistry Building, Math & Science Building, Rollins School of Public Health.
I think the concept of proxemics allows for a deeper understanding of the Atwood Chemistry Building. This building is very complex not only because of its structure, but also because of what happens inside the building. To begin with, this building is an extension of, or rather connected to the Emerson building. This emphasizes the importance and newness of the building immensely. This building also contains classrooms and laboratories, where students and teachers feels they are accomplishing something beyond the walls of the building. Whether it be learning something knew or teaching a new concept, the space feels much bigger than it actually is. Another instructing aspect of the building is the cafe in it. Because of this, people are able to eat with each other and converse, which is a very intimate activity. Without this cafe and the tables around it, there would not be nearly as much socialization, which again carries over to outside the building. These spaces of learning, teaching, and communication define this building, and each person that uses this building has a unique relationship with it.
An imagined community is a term coined by Benedict Anderson to describe communities that are socially constructed and formed by people who consider themselves to be members of that group. This term generally refers to politically constructed nations and the nationalistic beliefs held by the members of these nations. He explains that these nationalistic beliefs lead to self-imposed separation from the citizens of other nations. One building where many imagined communities exist, while perhaps not in the traditional sense as described by Benedict Anderson, is the Woodpec, or otherwise known as The Woodruff PE center. Although there are not different “nations” in the Woodpec, one could argue that there are many imagined communities. The two main imagined communities are the varsity student athletes and the “NARPS” (non-athletic-regular-people). The student athletes have a sense of identity and community within each other because we understand the sacrifices made for the love of our various sports, while at the same time undergoing the same academic rigors as everyone else (aka the NARPS). Proxemics also comes into play here because there are areas of the Woodpec where the NARPS go and areas where only the student athletes can go. There are locker rooms, weight rooms, and a study lounge for the student athletes and there are weight rooms, workout rooms, and locker rooms for the NARPS. In addition, within these imagined communities there are even more imagined communities. Within the student athletes we have various sports teams, which are in a sense their own imagined communities. We are separated from each other by proxemics in where we workout, where our coaches offices are located, and where our locker rooms are located. Furthermore, even within my team, Track and Field, there are even more imagined communities, for example, the distance runners, the sprinters, the jumpers, and the throwers. We all separate ourselves from each other based on our different training and the different nature of the events in which we compete and this leads to changes in how we interact with each other socially. Overall, the Woodpec can be seen as a microcosm where many different imagined communities exist and interact with each other.
Cultural difference is described by Bhabha as the “enunciation of culture as ‘knowledgeable’, authoritative, adequate to the construction of systems of cultural identification”. The internal structure of The Carlos Museum takes the shape of a maze-like series of winding corridors and hallways. It uses this structure to assist its visitors by helpfully guiding them through the museum so that they can see as many exhibits and artifacts as possible. Occasionally, large rooms are used to help set the scene for the cultural events that would take place with some of the artifacts. For example, on the second floor, several tribal gowns are lined up in the center of the room facing the gown of the bride, which can be easily distinguished from the rest. The Carlos Museum’s usage of space allows for the more full effect of the cultural practices and environments that are relevant to the exhibits they showcase.
Cox Hall is a communal space that houses three different styles of space. The first floor is a dinning area, the second is a computer and study lab, and the third is a ballroom. This complex structure balances three completely different cultural spaces. Within these areas there are unwritten social rules that the majority of student follow in order to not cause any disruption. The prime example is not sitting at a place where personal objects have been set down. Along with other cultural norms these spaces embody personal and public space. Cox’s food courts have a range of diverse cultural foods, the labs are communal spaces where anyone can come and work, and the ballroom is a formal space that hosts different events for different communities. This entire space is an interrelated human experience that develops into an environment of cultural exchange. In fact, there is such a saturated amount of interaction that when the clock hits 12:30 and you are on the first floor; your best bet is to put your head down and split the crowds of people just so you can get to the check out line. Maybe this situation is a floor plan layout failure but it’s just how it’s built. The second floor on the other hand is very spread out, relaxed, and isolated in the sense that every section has some form of borders. The third floor is just an open ballroom that provides a significant amount of space for individuals to move around and interact on a professional level. However, often times the individual itself has to express a formal identity in how they work and interact. One can say that all of cox is an ‘imagined community’ for the Emory community of students and professionals. This identity and sense of community thrives in the flow and interaction of people within this multi level space on campus. The theories of proxemics just assist in breaking down this human space. Without this building Emory would be a lot different.
Imagined community, as defined by Anderson, is an imagined political community that is both sovereign and limited; in its essence, it is nationalism. As we discussed in class, this can manifest in a multitude of different ways depending on a person’s cultural or ethnological background. For me, an imagined community is religion, and for this reason I am applying this to the Canon Chapel. Inherently, there is a imposed imagined community due to the historical significance of the chapel as it ties into a past of religious context. This imposition alters the entire perception and foundation of the building itself. For one, it is built in the traditional Chapel style and includes aspects directly for religious service, to be used as a sacred space. This purpose is fused into the very walls of the building, as it is built with high ceilings and resonance for services. The imagined community is the cultural influence that carries forth an expectation on the building and the visitors.
I believe the definition of proxemics helped me develop a different view of Cox Hall. I understand that proxemics is how the human race use space to refine their culture. On the first floor, the dining hall is divided by typical foods from different backgrounds such as Indian, Mexican, American and others. This reminds many people of their daily food back home, thus letting them fulfill the imagined communities they hold. On the second floor there is a type of social, technological library which defines today’s generation’s culture and specifically Emory’s culture. Almost every day I go play Fifa with my friends because soccer is an important sport for Latino Americans. Cox Hall developed a system for students to feel as if they where back home and also incorporating Emory’s culture and system into many different backgrounds found in Emory’s alumni. As for space, people often study in groups and even classrooms there, making a social environment that promotes education. On other floors, I have also attended activities for the STEM program and the Latino Student Organization. They provided the third floor for such activities and allowed students to form a community; we talked about our cultures, we ate our typical foods and we heard people from every country. Cox Hall shows how proxemics is developed and how it helps construct a new culture among students that come from other cultures but this new culture also makes them feel as if they never left the other one and this is why it is one of my favorite places here in Emory.
The concept of proxemics has given me a greater understanding about how people use the library. Proxemics is how people use buildings and space to practice their culture. This is seen in the library where the different floors have different purposes. If people are looking for a more social library experience the first and second floor are good places to study where the environment is a lot more social and laid back. Or if students are looking for a more serious work environment, quiet rooms like the Matheson Room and seventh and eighth floor are usually where people don’t talk as much and just use the space to study. The way the floors are set up are also very indicative of the environment on each floor. On the first floor there are many big tables, booths, and more tables made for study groups or for more social studying. However the way the seventh and eighth floor are set up are a lot more designed for independent studying with individual tables made for just one person. The stacks are made for just one person and are everywhere in the seventh and eighth floor which create a more serious work environment. The way people set up these tables on these floors impact the different environments on these floors and therefore impact how the people interact on every floor.