Space - The Final Frontier

I know. I'm getting a little nuts about all the C. Alexander stuff. But it is so interesting. Anyway, I'm reading in Book 3 now (A Vision of a Living World). One of the concepts in that book is that the most intersting thing about buildings and other structures is the space they leave behind. It is the space that we humans actually inhabit and move through, and thus we belong in the space. The better the space the buildings leave behind, then the better we feel about the buildings.

This got me wondering. What exactly is the space in "cyberspace". Perhaps the links in a web application are the equivalent of the pedestrian space in and around buildings. It is nicer when you can walk easily from place to place in a neighborhood. An application with easy, convenient links is like that.

Another concept in Book 3 is the importance of "The Void", and "Simplicity and Inner Calm" in creating spaces for us humans to belong to. This made me think of www.google.com. If ever there was simplicity and inner calm, it is the Google site. The whole home page is the single text box that allows you to enter your search, a Google logo for ornamentation, and a few convenient links for "pedestrian" navigation to other parts of Google. The fact that the home page is stripped down to this simplicity also enables the "Echos" property to occur. That same simple text box is echoed on the Google Toolbar, and even at the top of this blog.

The space left on the home page is a visual reminder of the other spaces that the search box can fit into and therefore it enhances our feeling of belonging with that space because we can imagine it in other spaces we inhabit. The lack of other items on the page sparks creativity. It is like the difference of giving a child a crayon and a coloring book page or a crayon and a blank page. I think most children would prefer the blank page. I know I prefer the art work that comes from the blank page much more than the art work from the coloring book.

And it is all because of space.