UNCOVERING THE INFRAORDINARY
"Question your tea spoons."
Georges Perec
Species of Spaces and other Pieces
Introduction
In his book Species of Spaces and other Pieces, French writer Georges Perec coined the term infraordinary to describe the ordinary and habitual aspects of everyday life (Perec, 1997: 206). Instead of the headline news of daily papers that recounted the sensational and the fantastic, he was fascinated with minute situations, gestures, moments and habits that we overlooked or missed. Thus the word infra- referring to what is underneath, or even inferior. Perec’s endeavor was to devise ways which the infraordinary could be revealed, and in the process shakes us from our sense of passivity and presumptuous approach to life.
The following assignment for fourth year students from the School of Interior Design at Ryerson University was based on Perec’s theory and practice of the infraordinary. It formed part of the year-long focus on the built environment as a social construction with layers of meanings and interpretations. Students in my section selected small, transient actions of day to day encounters between people and the interior environment in the Toronto underground PATH. They observed the minute and the habitual, described in words and images the actions chosen, recorded the fleeting and the enduring and interpreted the meanings and their significances. In the process, they uncovered what was latent, natural and subconscious in our everyday interactions with people, spaces and things.
The Site- Toronto PATH System
The PATH system of underground spaces in Toronto links 50 buildings in the downtown core and houses 1200 shops and services. Approximately 100,000 commuters use the system daily (City of Toronto website). It represents what T. Boddy terms as an analogous city (Boddy, 1992). These large interior rooms and connecting passages offer a comfortable, safe and convenient environment for work, leisure and entertainment, as well as supporting a large measure of public activities that one traditionally finds at the ground level city. For many city dwellers, the controlled and security patrolled environments are more desirous than those at street level, where one has to face inclement weather, fumes, traffic and crime. Despite its popularity, the privatization of public spaces raises pertinent questions on issues of public use and participation, since some sections of the population such as the homeless are discouraged and even prevented from lingering in this interior space. On the other hand, the limited range of activities supported by the PATH, such as the endless repetition of shops and foodcourts potentially reduces everyday life to work and passive consumption.
"Question your tea spoons."
Georges Perec
Species of Spaces and other Pieces
Introduction
In his book Species of Spaces and other Pieces, French writer Georges Perec coined the term infraordinary to describe the ordinary and habitual aspects of everyday life (Perec, 1997: 206). Instead of the headline news of daily papers that recounted the sensational and the fantastic, he was fascinated with minute situations, gestures, moments and habits that we overlooked or missed. Thus the word infra- referring to what is underneath, or even inferior. Perec’s endeavor was to devise ways which the infraordinary could be revealed, and in the process shakes us from our sense of passivity and presumptuous approach to life.
The following assignment for fourth year students from the School of Interior Design at Ryerson University was based on Perec’s theory and practice of the infraordinary. It formed part of the year-long focus on the built environment as a social construction with layers of meanings and interpretations. Students in my section selected small, transient actions of day to day encounters between people and the interior environment in the Toronto underground PATH. They observed the minute and the habitual, described in words and images the actions chosen, recorded the fleeting and the enduring and interpreted the meanings and their significances. In the process, they uncovered what was latent, natural and subconscious in our everyday interactions with people, spaces and things.
The Site- Toronto PATH System
The PATH system of underground spaces in Toronto links 50 buildings in the downtown core and houses 1200 shops and services. Approximately 100,000 commuters use the system daily (City of Toronto website). It represents what T. Boddy terms as an analogous city (Boddy, 1992). These large interior rooms and connecting passages offer a comfortable, safe and convenient environment for work, leisure and entertainment, as well as supporting a large measure of public activities that one traditionally finds at the ground level city. For many city dwellers, the controlled and security patrolled environments are more desirous than those at street level, where one has to face inclement weather, fumes, traffic and crime. Despite its popularity, the privatization of public spaces raises pertinent questions on issues of public use and participation, since some sections of the population such as the homeless are discouraged and even prevented from lingering in this interior space. On the other hand, the limited range of activities supported by the PATH, such as the endless repetition of shops and foodcourts potentially reduces everyday life to work and passive consumption.
The Lone Plastic Flower
Shir Ross’s observation of how several people behaved towards the planter box with a lone plastic flower reminded us of the our innate, natural desire to be close to nature, especially in an interior environment that was situated underground with little connection to the outdoors. She discovered several people in this resting area deliberately moving their chairs closer to the planter box, before settling down to their task, whether they were reading the newspaper or having a lunch break. Although the plants and lone flowers were fake, the feeling of being close to 'nature' overcame any prejudices of its lack of authenticity.
Shir Ross’s observation of how several people behaved towards the planter box with a lone plastic flower reminded us of the our innate, natural desire to be close to nature, especially in an interior environment that was situated underground with little connection to the outdoors. She discovered several people in this resting area deliberately moving their chairs closer to the planter box, before settling down to their task, whether they were reading the newspaper or having a lunch break. Although the plants and lone flowers were fake, the feeling of being close to 'nature' overcame any prejudices of its lack of authenticity.
The Newspaper Reading Relay Team
Joelene Chi and Iris Chan chosen action was the reading of the daily newspaper in the foodcourt. They had originally planned to observe only this singular action but it turned into a fascinating relay of different people reading the same newspaper. When one finished the paper, it was either left on the table or brought to the trash collection bin in the foodcourt. Another person who noticed the paper then picked it up and brought it to the table. This action was repeated by different people. In a brief period of time, the paper traveled through different parts of the foodcourt depending on where the user sat.
The Door Openers
Opening a door for many of us is almost an involuntary act as the standard placement of door handles conditioned this daily action. Chris Moss’s and Aaron Gagnon’s observation of how people opened doors revealed otherwise. Depending on what they were doing while approaching the door, the speed of their entry or their physical ability, opening a door was more than applying a physical force from the hand to the door. The action could take many forms and by using different parts of the body. In Toronto, where all public doors have automatic door buttons for wheel chair access, Chris and Aaron discovered that the able-bodied also used the button as an alternative means of practicing the courteous act of holding the door opened for the person behind. In this way, the door was kept opened most of the time during the rush hour pedestrian traffic.
Fountain Meditation
Yasmien Fadyl and Edwina Low selected action was to focus on people sitting around a circular fountain in a shopping mall within the PATH. They noticed that the continuous and repetitive patterns and movements of water had a spellbinding hold on people in this space, despite the high level of noise and activities around them. In particular, a gentleman remained motionless for several minutes while watching the dynamic movements of water in the fountain, only to be jolted out of this state of suspended animation by a sudden change in the water’s intensity. This state of mind is not unlike during meditation, where one achieves a sense of calmness and detachment through the technique of focusing on one’s breathing or a distant object. Their observation and interpretation of this action threw up an interesting question when called upon to design a place for meditation. Does a meditation space require quietude, tranquility and calmness, or can meditation occur in any place as long as one can improvise from the existing environmental conditions?
Walk, Talk and Stop
The sight of a person talking on a cellphone while walking is a common one in our current ‘always on’ era. Rosheda Wong and Elaine Tao followed a person as he walked and talked along the skywalk leading to the CN Tower south of the PATH. The skywalk is an extension of the PATH and has a high volumetric space topped by a continuous skylight and protected glazing on both sides. The students noticed that the person walked over to the light flooded recess along the skywalk and continued his conversation there, with his back turned away. As a space, the recess was a pause and punctuation space in the long corridor like interior space. The punctuation in this instant was a light filled environment where one could have a moment of privacy and be away from the gaze of other users. Why did he pause in this space? Did the light filtering through the recess factor in his decision? Or was it due to the fact that this was the only space that he could have a clear view outside? The simple and perhaps unconscious action of this person revealed overlooked micro situations such as these in the PATH.
Sensed Territoriality
We mark out territories in different ways and of varying durations in our everyday life, such as a simple act of placing a bag on an empty chair to reserve a seat for a friend. Jennifer Lem, Gee Hae and Jelena Bulajic’s took up a spot in the foodcourt to observe the behaviors of users. Their work became an emotional battle of territoriality when a group of rowdy users sat near them. Despite the chairs and tables permanently fixed on the ground, the students felt their sense of territory being transgressed by the new arrivals. The tone and pitch of their conversations, their body gestures, and the way in which they surveyed and stared at them and other users resulted in a tense and uncomfortable situation for the students.
Skateboarding and Geese Gazing
Tommy Tong and Jenny Lo discovered a group of teenagers using a part of the PATH as the site for their skateboarding activities. Although not designed for such sports nor permitted in this highly controlled space, the length and width of this connecting passage made the experience of skateboarding an exciting one as they could race and challenged one another in the process. The adjacent pond along the passage was also a habitat for a few geese. During one summer, the passage was turned into a hype of frenzied activity when one of the geese gave birth. People stopped and watched and some tried to record the event on camera. An otherwise dull and heavily monitored passage designed for the practical purpose of connecting two spaces was turned briefly into an energized environment of laughter, excitement and joy.
Light Revealing Space
Having natural light into the PATH is a rare and precious moment. Denis McCutcheon and Truong Ly’s observation of peoples’ behaviors and reactions in a part of the PATH where light had the opportunity to be brought into the interior space testified to its importance in maintaining a general psychological well being while indoors. More significantly, light filtering into the space revealed the traces of human presence such as fingerprints on showcases, glass walls and other highly polished surfaces. It also exposed the imperfect traces of the janitor’s attempts at cleaning the glass surfaces as the lines left by his cleaning attempts were seen against the light. Despite the efforts of the management to maintain an image of impeccable cleanliness and posh, nature has and uncanny way of reminding us that life is messy, unpredictable and can ruin our best efforts at designing and maintaining the perfect and ideal interior environment.
Conclusion
The uncovering of these everyday infraordinary spatial engagements diverted the design process away from superficial form manipulation and the unnecessary burden of a concept driven beginning. By grounding the process of inquiry on the quotidian and the overlooked, familiarity is amplified, questioned, overturned, re-formulated and transgressed. Paul Auster, in his book Leviathan described the rich reservoir of unpredictable and fascinating everyday events and experiences that life has to offer. He wrote:
"No matter how wild we think our inventions might be, they can never match the unpredictability of what the real world continually spews forth. This lesson seems inescapable to me now. Anything can happen. And in one way or another, it always does.” (Auster, 1993: 180)
Toronto
Winter 2006.
References
City of Toronto website. Retrieved 22nd February 2006 from http://www.toronto.ca/path/
Boddy, T. (1992). Underground and Overhead: Building the Analogous City, in M. Sorkind (Ed.). Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space. New York: Hill and Wang.
Perec, Georges. (1997). Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. England: Penguin Books.
Auster, Paul. (1993). Leviathan. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc.
