Outside_in

A life dominated by visual spaces

Today, most people living in urban areas spend 95% of their time indoors. Linear living patterns lead us from one building to the next, where architecture predominantly serves our visual senses, often neglecting the existence of other senses. This has gradually diminished the sense of vitality and the spiritual essence of spaces for those moving through the city, causing them to blindly navigate in the world. Our world is designed to focus mostly on what we see. Meanwhile, the rest of the sensors such as hearing, smell and touch, are relatively suppressed under an ocular centered world. Juhani Pallasmaa in “The Eyes of the Skin” mentions that modern buildings often focus on sight, making us less connected to the world through other senses. This also diminishes our ability to perceive from the inside out, leading to errors in judgment due to observation of the world solely with our eyes.

Let the Rain Leak

Like Frank Lloyd Wright said, "if the roof doesn't leak, the architect hasn't been creative enough". But today many buildings we live in have already lost the attraction and romance that we could naturally maintained with the nature. Standardized spaces drive people to seek richer experiences, whether it’s through unsustainable products like aromatherapy and candles to enhance the atmosphere and scent, or through commercialized indoor landscapes to bring us closer to nature. All of these are artificial ways to compensate for the disconnection felt by those living in high-rises. While we can live in temperature-controlled, comfortable, and undisturbed spaces, this also keeps nature and the changing climate outside. The relationship between indoors and outdoors has been completely severed. Without incorporating nature, there is no true celebration of it. Sadly, our connection to nature has been reduced to functional and digitized experiences—like virtual fireplaces in videos and rain sounds in audio—adding a layer of artificiality to our spaces.

Outside_in

The whole idea about Outside_in is to reconcile the certainty of modern living and working spaces with the natural unpredictability of the weather, thereby enhancing the authenticity of our spiritual spaces.