Spaces in between
(Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band 1968)
A “travelog” blog written without necessarily visiting all the places mentioned. Some I have, others are imagined. I’ve been fascinated by the diverse ways people define the boundaries of their living spaces, during my career in mental health, and subsequently. I was informed by both compassion and inquisitiveness, and maybe it's no coincidence that more than a few colleagues in the field took second jobs as kitchen designers. They worked "overtime" to enhance another aspect of people's lives. The relationship between architecture and wellbeing is well documented.
An enduring memory from Singapore is of families living in closely packed vertiginous apartments, particularly in the Chinatown quarter. Communal living but with clearly defined spaces, where residents can, if they wish, reach across the balconies to shake hands with their neighbours. They say it’s a happy place. The island nation, while only twice the size of the Isle of Wight, houses six million compared with 140 thousand in the latter. And In St Petersburg (we were friendlier with Russia then) I was impressed by the amount of “stuff” our hosts were able to squeeze into their tiny flat. The cosy kitchen/diner could seat eight, on stools either side of a slender table. While the corridor made the most of every available inch with shallow storage reaching to the ceiling, the result was so narrow it wouldn’t satisfy building regulations here.
In Nukht near Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, an upmarket western style housing and retail development was begun a decade ago. Closer inspection on online maps reveals this aspirational enclave is not what it seems. Many of the photos are artist impressions. There is nothing beyond the walls but desert and dust. It is called “The Village”, and reminds me of that fictional sanitised and isolated “village” from The Prisoner TV series. I’m with the locals who prefer their traditional ger (yurts).
This “Mongolian dream” reminded me of the popular pastime of scrolling nosily through property websites. The more ostentatious the property, the more sterile and uninteresting many are; others just chintzy. Some just don’t feel like places in which to live, compared with the ordinary working class home. I enjoy the Wabi Sabi of impermanence and flaws, for example in an imperfect kitchen. Indeed, one not destined for landfill. Just yet.
Half a century ago I stayed with a friend in the Scottish Lowlands. In a nation that always seemed to me more at ease with social housing, residents enjoyed chatting with neighbours over breakfast on their front doorsteps. I can still taste the delicious “Morning Rolls”. The experience was exotic to someone like me, coming from the reserved south of England, where being seen relaxing on one’s porch was almost indecent.
There is increasing recognition of the cultural and architectural merit of the terraced houses in The Valleys of South Cymru. The rhythmic uniformity of the rows may not offer much to those wanting to delineate their boundaries, but look behind. You will find creative diversity in “side return” gardens (for those with a rear extension) or, more commonly, in small courtyards filling the space between house and hill slope. Where once stood pigeon lofts, there are assorted sheds, trellises, arbours and gazebos in a rainbow of hues, each to their own taste. Some are in colours of the Mediterranean as if to recall precious holidays. But sometimes the only distinction is in the colour of the gutter and downpipe.
Around the world some will seek isolation and privacy, others community. I would enjoy both if it wasn't for the need to stay close to the "infrastructure" as I get older. The vast majority have little or no choice. Their walls may be of stone, brick, wood, glass, ice, canvas or cardboard boxes. The boundary between one’s own space and the rest of the world is a point of both separation and connection.
LINKS
Why in 2020 I couldn’t stop listening to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Architecture of Happiness - Alain de Botton
Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction
The Perfect Scottish Morning Rolls Recipe - Scottish Scran
Wabi-Sabi: The Japanese Art of Finding the Beauty in Imperfections - Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
I’m addicted to property websites, poking around houses that I can neither afford nor want to live in | Nell Frizzell | The Guardian
The valleys - past, present, future - Designing Buildings
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I look forward to your comments. Also it would be nice to know where you are in the world. Thanks for reading.