Monthly Snapshots
Relishing the joys of empty spaces
We at PPS often stress the importance of creating public spaces that draw users at different times of day, throughout the year. But we don't mean to give short shrift to spaces that most users find repellent. In fact, we hold them in the highest regard. This edition of Monthly Snapshots is dedicated to those rare, ethereal spaces that are completely devoid of human activity.
The elegant Cartesian surfaces of this building both frustrate and stimulate the voyeuristic impulse by blurring the distinction between transparency and opacity, lending itself a refreshing ambiguosity that goes beyond the tired object/gaze dialectical meta-trope. And when things get slow in the office, employees can play giant games of Tic-Tac-Toe and Connect Four on the facade.
If you want to minimize the presence of "undesirables" in a space, the best thing to do is to fill it with activity. Barring that, these rusty, mosquito-like sculptures seem to do a pretty good job.
What happens when you put a bus stop, a flat expanse of asphalt, a chain-link fence, and some weeds all by the same street corner? Triangulation at its most sublime.
The success of a retail storefront often depends on providing a welcoming entrance. So when you can't roll out the red carpet, the least you can do is tip over the green dumpsters.
These delightful sculptures play with the user's notions of solid and void, simulacra and "the real." Plus, every so often bystanders will enjoy the classic slapstick of unsuspecting joggers running head-on into a mirrored surface. (Not an empty space, perhaps, but a great one nonetheless.)
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