P4.2 “Living Needs”

Step 2 in our in-depth analysis of housing:

In this exercise, we had to host and analyse a dinner party. We looked at the way the kitchen was laid out and how the worktop led us to cook and host our dinner party in a linear fashion. Perhaps though, the most useful part of this exercise was the fact we established how open-plan layouts work in a social situation. In this instance, it allowed us to communicate with each other wherever we were in the room, whether cooking, in the living area or sitting in the dining ‘zone’. It made me realise how much actually happens at a dinner party that you just wouldn’t normally notice; the way everyone assumes roles, the way people try and move around and spend time in different places etc. It has led me to analyse everyday situations more, probably much to the annoyance of my lovely girlfriend Rach, but i guess architecture influences the way we do everything, so to make good architecture it needs to be informed by the analysis of how we naturally use spaces already.