Article 22, Perception, Quantum Reality, Architecture and an Interview with Gazoo

"Things are not what they are; they are what we think they are" 

Perception in architecture is a fascinating thing to study but rarely done. What's so interesting is that it's not so interesting... at least not to most people and some architects I might add...unfairly generalizing? Maybe. Perception employs all of our senses, senses that we take for granted and know very little about like our suburban architect who could use some help in this area; a man barely alive, gentleman we can rebuild him, we have the technology, we have the capability to make the worlds first bionic architect, better than he was before, better, faster, stronger....he will be known as "The Six Million Dollar Architect" OK everyone please calm down, I too am a suburban architect...

We all know that perception can be easily tricked and misdirected as in a magic show but it can also be manipulated. Take marketing and advertising that can turn something negative, positive and something positive, negative. That would explain why people would buy a Snuggy, join the Navy or enjoy tobacco...no offense to the Navy.  Perception however is not fact but we often mistake it for fact or better yet make it fact. It is often a mixture of selective observation, conditioning, education, and bionics (kidding once again) Understanding perception can help architects design better buildings like the ancient Greeks, who understood how to compensate for visual illusion and make their temples look perfect. In the video above (not the bionics) no right angles or straight lines are to be found in the buildings mentioned although they appear to be straight and level.  However the perception I would like to discuss is not the visual, but the effect of social-psychological influence on perception, which in turn influences design and the course of architecture in general.

So there is no avoiding it. Our perception is formed through life long behavioral conditioning from the day we are born. It will be so ingrained in your personality that you will obey its every command which will guide you in all aspects of your life, from choosing what outfit to put on in the morning, all the way up to the big decisions in life like what house to buy or live in. The average person calls it  "preference" but what constitutes preference? Conditioned thoughts in childhood? Your culture, parents, peers, school, teachers, professors and society? It's the need to compare and keep up with others or to sheepishly conform with the majority (suburban sprawl buying) and of course reaching for the brass ring: the McMansion. These are just some of the weeds that have cluttered our garden of thought. No greater weed for an architect is that of cultivating poor perception (or the love of money but that's for another article)

Many in sprawl communities live in conformist socialistic homes devoid of creativity. They are loved and even highly desired by the average person. The perception has to be that they are living the American dream in an American house but they fail to ask who is directing this American dream and who determined what that American house should look like? Although we live in a democratic society, many of us choose not to express ourselves when it comes to our architecture. In this ideal society every house would be a unique expression of the people who live in it. OK I get it, there are many factors that prevent us from doing that, but many can and don't, instead choosing social conformity. Mr. Levitt was not building the tract home for people to live out their dream (Yes I know he did for the returning GI's, so the story goes) as much as he was building it to fulfill his own American dream. I would call that a marketing stroke of genius and builder after builder since then  has followed in his footsteps making a ton of green dreams. But hey the perception works and most who live in tract homes seem pretty content. We just don't question fundamental precepts for one reason or another. Maybe we are too busy to educate ourselves about the homes and buildings we buy and build, why would we, it's only the biggest investment you will ever make. Unfortunately some architects, like the home owners they design for, get just as easily duped.

Let's look at perception (preference) that is pasted on down from generation to generation or what I call the "indoctrinated point of view". Ah the cozy Cape, complete with white picket fence, mom, dad, 2 kids etc. This is what many people desire as a place to call home in North America, why? Because I said so...that's why! I insist you must desire to call this place home and if you don't there is something very wrong with you... I will build thousands of them that sort of look like it and you will live in that, then you will tell your kids to find such a home,  then your kids will tell their kids to live in a similar homes, and on and on, there you have it. This is the kind of conditioning that makes a culture but also propagates sprawl. It wouldn't be so bad if we were buying actual Capes like the one below but most of the time it's a cartoon rendition of traditional architecture. We perceive the world in two ways: bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing starts with your senses and builds from there, top-down processing applies assumption to the environment. Here again our perception misleads us: Bottom-up theory (using your senses): it's a gabled box, white clapboards, traditional divided light windows, center hall, center chimney must be a Cape.... Top-Bottom (making assumptions about the environment): semi gabled box, white siding sort of looks like clapboards, windows sort of look traditional, real estate agent lists this as a Cape, must be a Cape. Well one is and the other is cheap imitation made to look real.

A Cape? Well close enough....

Perception can also be toyed with very easily. For example, take a look at these buildings below, tell me what you think of them, do they please your architectural senses?

Maybe no, maybe yes, not sure? I can certainly make up your mind  by telling you these buildings were built by the Third Reich, personally supervised by Hitler. Oh OK now you don't like them, maybe you liked them before I pointed out some of the associated facts. Now they are "Verboten", Oh how awful?  By me simply telling you that these buildings are aligned with an evil regime they are perceived as bad architecture when in fact it could be great architecture (I'm not saying it's either or) Maybe you do like them, I don't know, the point is we are basing our opinion on factors that have nothing to do with architecture.  So this is not a very astute  example you say? I agree but it does demonstrate how easily your perception can be messed with. I could also give you another example more personal and maybe change your mind about your beloved Home. If I told you someone who lived in your home previously was horribly murdered in it and the blood stains are still in the wood work, (Ha! I live in a new home! OK it was built over an Indian burial ground) you may change your opinion of your beloved home based solely on a story or maybe not. I suppose someone lives in the Amityville Horror home. (no offense to those people)

We need a better understanding of perception with less manipulation. We need more objectivity and more "agreed upon facts" but how do you do that with something so subjective like design preference? Hopefully one day science will help us understand this in a more rational scientific way. The science that is holding most promise is quantum physics. What, you disagree? You don't understand how this science can help us? Well neither do I, really I don't but a dialogue needs to be started. Could Hugh Everett (Multi worlds proponent) or Werner Heisenberg (uncertainty principle)  help us? If I haven't lost you by now than I think there's something to be gained here. Now let's introduce how quantum physics deals with perception. You may have heard about the double slit experiment? No? Well in a nut shell and oversimplified by someone who is an architect and not a scientist, the Double Slit Experiment or Young's experiment was an attempt by scientists to identify whether light behaves as a wave or particle. The answer they discovered is they behave as BOTH. Yes you heard it straight. How can something be two different things at once? I'm not sure they are different but research proved they behave differently depending on your perception...amazing, don't you think? So our buildings and just about everything else we observe may not be as it seems or at least not definitively. Let's talk to our resident expert, Gazoo about this. The following conversation is a top secret confidential interview about quantum physics between myself and a persnickety little alien, named Gazoo.

AD: Me
Gazoo: Pesky little green guy

AD: So Gazoo tell us what does quantum theory have to do with architecture?

G: "Please, just one moment.... ha!ha!ha!ha! sorry, please wait...ha!ha!...hold on....ha,ha,ha...OK I think I'm done, what was your question again?" "Oh yes, quantum theory and architecture. Rather a silly question to ask don't you think?"
AD:Why?
G: "Well let me put it to you this way, as a people you still live predominately by your base evolutionary behavior, how could you possibly understand something like quantum physics?"
AD: What do mean Gazoo? We have evolved past our "lizard brain" a long time ago. We as a species have achieved incredible technical feats and have put men on the moon. We have developed our intellect and understanding of the world in spectacular ways...
G: " Oh yea? Have you ever read the comments section on any Internet forum and what about your fascination with Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and the Jersey Shore? Before we move onto quantum physics how do you explain this devolution of mankind?"
AD: Gazoo! That's not fair to judge a people like that!!!
G  "I know it's a joke, jeez get a sense of humor..."
AD: So how about architecture in general how are we doing there?
G:"Well you're a step up from caves and mud huts but you still live in structures that bugs eat and moisture rots on contact, unless covered with that fine material you call plastic...
AD: Gazoo, Please be serious!
G:"OK....all kidding aside so where shall I start.... You built the Parthenon some years ago and what have you done since then?"
AD: Gazoo, that's an incredibly insulting question to ask. Look at our skyscrapers, our suspension bridges, we have developed atomic energy and atomic bombs, major feats of engineering. How do you just discount those achievements?
G:"Oh I thought we were sticking to architectural concept....yes engineering,  you have achieved much!"
AD: OK Gazoo you're a sneaky little one aren't you...
G: "No, just telling it like it is"
AD: OK let's go with your belief that we have not achieved much since the Greeks and their Parthenon, how do we move forward?
G: "Oh my, you want to go from crawling to running a marathon overnight!" "You are still in your mental infancy as a people, mere babies that can barely articulate beyond oh and ah....let alone understand how architecture and science relate"
AD: Ha! now I got you Gazoo. As mere "babies" we have devised bombs that could end the entire world, not too bad wouldn't you say?
G: "Well, give a baby a loaded gun and it could end lots of things as well, you call that impressive?" "In any event, it's not as important as you think... if you believe you are the only living things in this vast universe you are sadly mistaken. There are millions of solar systems just like yours, go ahead pull the trigger you won't be missed much..."
AD: Gazoo, you're not nice and we are off topic here let's please stick to architecture.
G: "OK dum, dum, what was it you asked...?"
AD: Quantum physics and architecture
G:"Oh yes, but we don't call it that....."
AD: What do you call it?
G: "Sequence Engineering" "well, that is the best interpretation I can give you, I can't explain it in terms that you would understand"
AD: What in the hell is that?
G: "Oh my where to begin. We have discovered long, long ago the limits of mathematical infinity, something you clearly don't understand, things don't just go on forever, they loop back. Within this concept lie solutions to any problem that you need to solve. Since the universe and its laws are constant and unchanging it should be rather easy to calculate the procedure or sequence of any event (you can call it technology, engineering, creativity, thinking) everything is just an event"
AD: I don't understand, Gazoo, that is interesting and all but I need you to help me with architecture please!!!
G:"Well how in the hell should I know about that? I'm just a simple little space alien!, That's not my department"
AD: Sequence engineering, brilliant. I see that's going to help me design a building, really....
G: Yes it does, but we do have experts that can tell you all about it!
AD: Thanks for nothing!!! They had to send me a comedic alien...
G: "Well, I thought that was fun!!!"
AD: One last thing, do you have architects where you are from?
G: "Oh my, we don't call them architects. There really is no translation for that however the best approximation would be "Disney Imagineers"
AD: Get lost Gazoo, he wasn't even an architect!
G:"I was not making a joke. Your Disney was one of us, just saying....
AD: One last question was PROT from KPAX  real?
G:"Oh G324 (Oh Lord in your terms) get a life dum, dum...."

OK, hope you got a good laugh and maybe a twinkling of some insight until the next time over and out.

L.Portal