Kinethetic Quality of Space

 What is kinesthetic in architecture?
 The kinesthetic experience of architecture is manifested in our ability to

move and comprehend three-dimensionally. Understanding space is the act
of moving, and architecture design is an act of choreographing the human
body through spatial constructs
 The sensation of movement or strain in muscles, tendons, joints. A good
example of a building with Kinesthetic qualities of space is the Old Imperial
Hotel in Tokyo designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It provides the Westerner with
a constant visual, Kinesthetic, and tactile reminder that he is in a different
world.
 The changing levels, the circular, walled-in, intimate stairs to the upper
floors, and the small scale are all new experiences. The long halls are brought
to scale by keeping the walls within reach. Wright, an artist in the use of
texture, used the roughest of bricks, then separated them by smooth, gilled
mortar set in from the surface a full half-inch.
 KINESTHETICS
In architecture, the kinesthetic quality of space refers to the ability of a person to
move freely in a particular space.
WHAT IS KINESTHETICS?
A good example of a building with kinesthetic qualities of space is The Old Imperial
Hotel in Tokyo designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.Provides the westerner with a constant
visual kinesthetic, and tactile reminder that he is in a different world.
 The old imperial palace, Tokyo
Walking down these halls,the guest is almost compelled to run his fingers along the
grooves. The brick is so rough that to obey this impulse would be to risk mangling a
finger. With this wright enhances the experience of space by personally involving
people with the surface building.
The old imperial palace, Tokyo
The old imperial palace, Tokyo
 THE CHANGING LEVEL, THE CIRCULAR, WALLED-IN, INTIMATE STAIRS TO THE UPPER FLOORS AND THE
SMALL SCALE ARE ALL NEW EXPERIENCES.
 • THE EARLY DESIGNERS OF THE JAPANESE GARDEN APPARENTLY UNDERSTOOD SOMETHING OF THE
INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE KINESTHETIC EXPERIENCE OF SPACE AND THE VISUAL OF
EXPERIENCE.
 • LACKING WIDE OPEN SPACES, THE LIVING CLOSE TOGETHER AS THEY DO, THE JAPANESE LEARNED TO
MAKE THE MOST OF SMALL SPACES.
 • THEY WERE PARTICULARLY INGENIOUS IN STRETCHING VISUAL SPACE BY EXAGGERATING KINESTHETIC
INVOLVEMENT. NOT ONLY ARE THERE GARDEN DESIGNED TO BE VIEWED WITH THE EYES BUT MORE
THAN THE USUAL NUMBER OF MUSCULAR SENSATIONS ARE BUILT INTO THE EXPERIENCE OF WALKING
INTO THE JAPANESE GARDENS.
 The visitor periodically forced to watch his step as he picks his way along
irregularly spaced stepstones set in a pool. At each rock, he must pause and
look down to see where to step next. Even the neck muscles are deliberately
brought into play. Looking up, he is arrested for a moment by a view that is
broken as soon as he moves his foot to take up a new perch. In the use of
interior space, the Japanese keep the edges of their rooms clear because
everything takes place in the m1ddle.
 Europeans tend to fill up the edges by placing furniture near or against walls.
As a consequence,Western rooms often look less cluttered to the Japanese
than they do to us. In America, the conventional idea of the space needed by
office employees is restricted to the actual space required to do the job.
Anything beyond the minimum requirement is usually regarded as a "Frill".
 The concept that there may be additional requirements is resisted at least in
part because of the American's mistrust of subjective feelings as a source of
data. We can measure with a tape whether or not a man can reach
something, but we must apply an entirely different set of standards to judge
the validity of an individual's feeling of being cramped.
 GIVEN THE FACT THAT THERE ARE GREAT INDIVIDUAL AND CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES IN SPATIAL NEEDS, THERE ARE STILL CERTAIN GENERALIZATIONS
WHICH CAN BE MADE ABOUT WHAT IS THAT DIFFERENTIATES FROM ONE SPACE
TO ANOTHER.
 EXAMPLE A ROOM THAT CAN BE TRAVERSED IN ONE OR TWO STEPS GIVES AN
ENTIRELY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE FROM A ROOM REQUIRING 15-20 STEPS
 • A CEILING THAT YOU CAN TOUCH IS DIFFERENT IS DIFFERENT FROM
ONEWITH A CEILING THAT IS HIGH
HIDDEN ZONES IN AMERICAN OFFICES
 People's reaction to office space reveals that the single most important
criterion is what people can do in the course of their work without bumping
into something. Offices provides different spatial experiences. One office
would be adequate, another would not.
 One example is an employee who had a habit of pushing herself away from
her desk and leaning back in her chair to stretch her arms, legs, and spine.
If the employee touched the wall when she learned back, the office struck her as too small. If
she didn't touch the wall, she considered it ample.
 An eclosure that permits only movement within the first area is experienced as " cramped".
 An office the size of the second is considered " small". An office with zone 3 space is considered
"adequate" and in some cases "ample".
 Kinesthetic Space is an important factor in day-to-day living in the buildings that architects and
designers create. Hotel rooms are too small when a person cannot move around them without bumping
into things. Comparing two rooms, identical in shape and area, the one that permits the greater variety
of free movement will usually be experienced as larger. Interior spaces should be improved in the
layout, so that people are not always bumping into each other
 Given the fact that there are great individual and cultural differences in spatial needs, there are still
certain generalizations which can be made about what it is that differentiates one space from another.
Briefly what you can do in it determines how you experience a given space.
 A room that can be traversed in one or two steps gives an entirely different experience from a room
requiring fifteen or twenty steps. A small restaurant with say twenty five small tables for four people,
when filled up will always look crowded and will give a person an experience he is eating in a popular
restaurant. While a spacious restaurant with say eighty tables for four, when occupied only by the same
number of people as the small restaurant or 100 customers will still look empty and gives an impression
of not fully occupied.
 A room with a ceiling you can touch is quite different from one with a ceiling that is high.
 In large outdoor spaces, the sense of spaciousness actually experieQced
depends on whether or not you can walk around.
 In an Exhibition room, as shown p. 279 the viewer is given the kinesthetic
experience by making the display pictures in a variety of levels, contrast of
verticals and horizontals, large and small panels, which are all done to move
the viewer's eye. Some picture frames are at ceiling heights, some are
hanging and some are at near the floor level. others are just at eye level.
 PLANNED TRAFFIC FLOW
 One example is the photographic art exhibit called " the Family of Man" -503 pictures occupying some
8,000 Feet !2. 700 meters) of wall space in New York's Museum of Modern Art Planned and executed
by Erlward StirChen . A floor Plan was made by Architect Paul Rudolph, which is a crucial step in
determining the overall arrangement of pictures.
 To give the show pace and rhythm, Steichen and Rudolph wanted to be sure that people saw the
pictures in a certain order-large Keynot pictures alternating with contemplative images, sorrowful
subjects interspersed with lighthearted ones, The existing wall space is used as well as for the
construction of supplementary panel-which not only increased the available display area but also
functioned as conduits for the flow of traffic. Further, .after the plans were moade, a reduced scale
model was made so that the planners could see a small but full version of the show.
 In the miniature laboratory, pictures were tested in arrangements. The photographs were reduced
proportionately and positioned in the model; Steichen could then see pictures 'juxtaposed' in relative
size, When adjustments were called for, the pictures could be repositioned and altered in size:
entire panels could be moved around to establish new relationships among groups of pictures.

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 What is kinesthetic in architecture?

 The kinesthetic experience of architecture is manifested in our ability to

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