In my thesis class this week, we spoke about hard and soft arrangements in spaces. especially in classrooms we are given a crash course in discipline and order through the arrangement of desks and chairs to eventually mould a person who will stay upright and in order even without the constraint or guidance of the chair. We use matter to assimilate individuals to the world order and anything that challenges that is seen as disruptive.

This reminds me of how objects are used by consumerist brands to drive behavior. Specifically talking about chairs in McDonald's that are designed to be uncomfortable so patrons don't over stay their welcome. In the design of business infrastructure, such strategies are often used to further push the script of consumerism. From IKEA's confusing navigation to building a whole industry around plastic bottles instead of fixing tap water conditions.

https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2012/04/09/eat-and-run-please/

As someone majoring in a course trying to find ways to fix 'wicked' problems, we can see so clearly that no work can be done from the office. It has to be on ground. It is so sad that these distinctions happen in our spaces. Rather than creating spaces where ideas and making can move in between each others, we have inherited the hierarchies of capitalism perpetuated in our buildings.

With our scale exercise do we also not do this? Objects are seen at 'ground level' and ideas as 'looking from above' But what if we changed the way we saw it? Higher is not better. Higher can also mean disconnected and far. The ground level is where we exist, must it still be the low-ranking signifier? With just ideas we would all go hungry and have nothing to sleep on as we dream.

Often we dismiss large abstract concepts as 'justice' as systems that just exist in the ether. That makes them out of our control and not artifacts and arrangements we can create. This portion excites me because it pulls ideas out of the ether and challenges us to shape and mould them. A practice that will come in handy for my major!