Environment

      The lights are bright and fluorescent; the table in which this paper is being written is wooden, rectangular, and plain. The floor is a cold tile, there is a chilly draft from the fans, and it is almost two am. The smell of a cheap yet strong cleaning product wafts through the air. It was utilized to cover the stench of mildew that engulfs the basement, and still seeps through occasionally. There is no sense of time in the incandescent dungeon, and the sounds of the jingling keys and flip-flop from the hall director’s sandals break the flow of concentration at every chance it can grasp. Had this paper been written in perchance a dimly light room, amongst a bevy of potted flowers, with no unwelcome distractions or guests, would it have turned out differently? Would these feeling of isolation and anxiety be present if the environment was more appealing to my senses? Can architecture of a space or situation have that big of an impact, that it would have the ability to make writing a paper pleasurable? According to the writer and architect Juhani Pallasmaa the way in which the world “touches us” can be molded and shifted by the architecture that surrounds us in moment. The human experience, interpretation, and the lasting impression of a moment can be dramatically effected either subconsciously or consciously by the environment that it is submerged in, making it more likely to for people to spend large sums of money or travel many miles to be in the presence of said environment, and can either enrich or tarnish the quality of the end result or memory.