Studio spaces should be psychoanalyzed

Originally Posted:
Saturday, April 28, 2007
11:10:00 PM CDT
Feeling Happy
Hearing House


If I was a psychology major working on my dissertation or thesis, I would target architecture and design students to study their studio spaces.

I love walking around the studio spaces to see the context in which people work. Everyone has their own method of organizing their space, how they mark their territory, how they protect their work, what "extras" they bring into the space, and so on. Right next door to my studio is one of the architectural grad thesis studios. Paul, a guy I had class with last summer, and PITA live in the studio next to mine. (When I say "live," I'm not exaggerating). Paul is very tall (by my standards) at about 6'-6" and has set up a pulley system of suspending his drawings to keep them out of harm's way. The thing is, the way the system works, only Paul is tall enough to release the drawings without going to all kinds of extra trouble to reach the cord.

Downstairs in the undergraduate architecture wing, there is a foursome of girls who totally intrigue me. Every time I come or go from the building I can see at least two of the girls through the window as I pass by. They have several plants, their own task chairs, and about a million fashion magazine pages ripped out and pinned to the moveable walls of their space. What piqued my curiosity about them was the layering on model cutouts on their windows. As the days have gone by, I've seen their windows fill with the remaining positive space of their model templates which have changed into various forms as time passes. On my way to the interior design resource room the other day I walked past their space and poked my head in. It is even worse on the inside than what I can see in my passing glimpse from the outside. Oh my word! Their space is covered from the floor on up. And it's not just one layer of stuff. No, it's layer upon layer of inspiration, drawings, models, pieces of models, notes to themselves, notes to others, plants, scrapped boxes that will be used to make models, scarves, blankets, and I don't know what else. Oh yes, and plenty of "DO NOT TOUCH" notes attached to anything that looks somewhat important. Amazing. I know there is a saying about an organized space reflecting a sick mind, but holy moly, this is pushing the "creative mind" thing a bit too far.

The tackboard that makes me smile the most belongs to a girl in the architectural grad thesis studio at the end of the 2nd floor of studios. She has an origami-a-day calendar which, once her daily folding creations are done, she pins the pages-turned-into-a-something-or-other up on her tackboard. She has a growing little menagerie of folded paper animals in happy colors watching over her space.


This entry has 2 comments:

#2 Comment from tracypace
5/1/07 7:16 PM
It's getting better, now that you've bought a safe to protect your fabrics. Okay, it's a pie safe, but it's a safe none the less. Yes, that's open to psychoanalyzation.

#1 Comment from kp627
5/1/07 4:49 PM
I'd hate to think how you'd psychoanalyze my quilting workspace!Your big sister....Kelly