It reminds me of a concept that I used to teach my students
in my freehand drawing and architectural studios at Texas Tech: Positive and
Negative space. Here, the positive
and negative does not take on biased
attitude - they are simply a pair of complements, in order to define each other
through their drastic contrast. Some examples of complementary pair in this
manner that I can think of are:
1. In still-life drawing, the bright side versus dark side
of an object: the side that the light casts on versus the side that is in
shadow;
Light vs. dark on still-life (author's diagram) |
2. In typography: black text (positive) on white paper
(negative);
black text on white paper (author's diagram) |
3. In figure-field of urban study: solid black for buildings
and blank of all the spaces that's outside of building in an urban area;
buildings along the streets (author's diagram) |
4. In architecture design: main function spaces as voids (negative)
while the servant spaces as solid (positive);
main function rooms and service rooms of a building (author's diagram) |
5. In Chinese Yin-yang philosophy, the Taichi Symbol
consists of two interlocked parts: the solid black for Yin and white for Yang;
Chinese yin-yang symbol (author's diagram) |
6. Of course, man and woman, day and night, etc.
It is simply a matter of complementing each other, and there
is no right or wrong, good or bad.
This short line reminds me that as my main job duty is to plan, it is also important for me to
respect and appreciate the unplanned.
The unplanned defines and complements
the planned. Thus, the unplanned
could be equally valuable as the planned. Just like the "accidental
playground" in Brooklyn, which is a vacant waterfront surrounded by
heavily developed districts in New York City, became a heaven for kids (Campo,
2013).
The unplanned is
not the underplanned. The underplanned
is a space that is not wisely used (in today's language, I assume you would say
"unsustainable") and is adversary to human needs. The underplanned is
what we do not wish to see or let happen. However, the unplanned, as oppose to
the planned, inspires me to see them from a negative versus positive space
point of view - let the unplanned boarder the planned, and let the underplanned
nowhere to be found.
The nature, the woods, for instance, is an example of the
unplanned. We have plenty of opportunities to deal with the nature in Hot Springs
Village, or in Arkansas in general. So from this point on, I need to pay
attention to how our planning projects are physically defined by the unplanned.
As I continue to plan, I need to give credit to the unplanned.
negative vs. positive space (author's diagram) |
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