DESIGN THINkING
A Sense of Place Is Central to Design
The Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas were certainly designed to be a spectacle.
Martin Rayala
When Howard Gardner listed the Multiple Intelligences back in the 1980s he lumped
the entire visual world under “spatial”
intelligence. Today we sort the visual
world into four domains: two-dimensional (images), three-dimensional
(objects), four-dimensional (place), and
five-dimensional (experiences).
Traditional art
programs focus
primarily on
two-dimensional
(painting and
printmaking) and
three-dimensional
(sculpture and
ceramics) domains, and most of the
treatment of spatial design in standard
textbooks covers how to use linear
perspective to represent spaces on a
two-dimensional surface. In design,
on the other hand, there are whole
fields devoted to the design of places
including architecture, landscape
design, interior design, set design,
design of parks, urban planning, and
so on. The architecture of Frank Lloyd
Wright, parks by Frederick Law Olm-
sted, Broadway sets by Julie Taymor,
interiors by David Rockwell, urban
planning by Andres Duany, bridges by
Santiago Calatrava, and theme parks
by the Disney Imagineers represent
just some of the icons and people who
influence the design of places.
Defining Spatial Design
We refer to spatial design as four-dimensional to distinguish it from the
design of objects (three-dimensional).
There is a distinction between design-
ing an object we
can walk around
and designing a
space we can walk
around in. New
skills like reading
a plan and con-
structing a model
as well as new concepts like tensile
strength, compression, and curtain
wall are introduced to be able to talk
about places and spaces. Spatial design
opens up capacities of the brain that
are not well developed by traditional
instruction.
There is a distinction
between designing an
object we can walk around
and designing a space we
can walk around in.
dimensional and three-dimensional
skills to help envision and design
four-dimensional environments, but
they must learn to think spatially and
imagine themselves walking around in
a model of a building or space. Many
spatial designers include small representations of people in their designs
to indicate scale and make it easier to
envision the space.
Spatial designers have to think
big and consider the climate, movement of the sun, and a variety of other
factors usually not considered in
standard two-dimensional and three-dimensional work. Design education
can’t just include “fantasy” projects
because designers must be mindful
of the laws of physics, the strength
of materials, the requirements of the
site, and the needs of people who will
use the spaces. Students today need
to learn about spatial design as part of
school visual literacy programs in order
to develop a sense of place and help
shape the landscape of the future.
Spatial Design in the Artroom
Redesigning a classroom, a school, a
playground, a neighborhood, a park, or
a city are typical spatial design projects in schools. Students learn to read
and create floor plans, maps, elevation
drawings, and models. They use two-
Martin Rayala teaches at Kutztown
University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
Rayala@kutztown.edu
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