Assessing the Roots of Layout
“The artwork aren’t solely shaped by errant genius from historical circumstances and idiosyncratic private experience. The roots of their inspiration date back in deep background to the genetic origins of the human brain, and so are permanent.” — E. O. Wilson
This quotation comes from the next chapter of Lance Hosey’s 2012 book The Shape of Green, which intends to develop principles to the joys of sustainable design. Hosey uses this quotation to argue against the rampant individualism in design, but he expands upon the notion that our aesthetic tastes are hardwired. He describes the Cambrian explosion over 550 million decades ago as the start of “the race to get eyesight,” because Earth’s thick, long-lingering atmospheric stew started to lift, providing creatures with a powerful sensitivity to light an edge over others. And even later, people developed extremely sharp eyesight over millennia of hunting and collecting.
Are Personality hardwired?
Hosey asserts that the first 98 percent of human presence was spent on the African savanna, where acacia trees dominate the horizon. Coupled with Wilson’s quotation regarding our genetic origins, people are attracted to images that unite with our hardwired taste for fractallike forms — forms which are similar at various scales, such as acacia trees. We’re also attracted to sheltered horizontal views and the “gold section” ratio. That last, a ratio of 1:1.618, has long been a factor in art and architecture, but in Hosey’s book it’s suspended from the hunter’s field of vision.
The significant word is pictures, as Hosey cites scientific research which have shown that abstractions of particular natural forms create positive emotional responses as far as the actual tree does.
What our deep history implies for design
This implies for design and interior design is that embracing and understanding this genetic predisposition may lead to environments where folks feel good and are able to relax, concentrate and enjoy life. This ideabook features some examples which parallel the findings from Hosey’s book, dividing them to fractallike, sheltered views and gold section categories.
The acacia’s branching structure is fractallike due to the repeated forms in its own branches, from big to small. Fractals are found elsewhere in character — think snowflakes — although not nearly as explicitly, or within such long periods of humankind, as in this tree.
Hosey describes fractals as “the fingerprints of character” and cites studies where preschool children of various backgrounds were nearly universally attracted to pictures of acacia trees. Looking at this picture, the appeal of the tree is undeniable, lending credence to the argument for fractallike vision.
Photo by Valerie Close Evans
G. Steuart Gray AIA
One job that embraces all three facets (fractals, sheltered views, gold section) in Hosey’s book is that the “Eastern Seaboard” job in Connecticut, made by G. Steuart Gray, AIA. The classes not be easily apparent in this view, but there’s something very gratifying about this distance, from the built-in furniture and spacious wood construction to the paint color and the gentle light entering through the windows at left. They combine to make a cohesive environment which looks quite relaxing.
G. Steuart Gray AIA
Fractallike grids could be seen from the post-and-beam wood construction (highlighted by the infilled, green-painted walls), the vulnerable ceiling construction and the fine lattice above the openings, which also is evident above the big beams at the first photograph. Gray might not have made the house with fractals in mind, however, the grid vocabulary repeated at different scales guarantees this effect.
G. Steuart Gray AIA
A demanding golden section ratio (1 unit high by approximately 1.6 units wide) may be found at the window of the dining room when the sliding screens open to show a carefully framed backyard. As Hosey discusses in his novel, the gold section’s charm is rooted in our region of focus, especially in regard to hunting. This frame is not about the kill, but about a scene of beauty. (Note the landscape painting onto the side wall, of an identical percentage.)
G. Steuart Gray AIA
The last consideration, a sheltered horizontal view, is clear in this particular bedroom, where a corner with big sliding glass walls opens to a great view with water and trees outside. The sheltering facet is also reinforced by a roof overhang that’s visible from inside and covers the occupants when they’re out.
Regan Baker Design Inc..
Not all design features that tap into our deep background have to encompass a complete environment, from the landscape and building to the rooms and furnishings. One area’s background can suffice (though it may make the owner strive for the exact same effect elsewhere). The walls of this bathroom are coated in a fractallike tree layout that’s very appealing.
Regan Baker Design Inc..
Another view of the exact same toilet indicates the degree of the graphic, which envelops whoever is seating here. It must be like being immersed in a winter woods!
Birdseye Design
A treelike fractal pattern highlights the custom metal room divider shown here. By acting as a display as opposed to as background (per the previous case), the design is visible from multiple chambers and is layered over views of the distance on the other side.
Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture
This display near an entry and small fountain is much more classically fractal, meaning that the patterns are intentionally nested. More geometric than tree-like, the display still functions to create a sense of calm.
Arkin Tilt Architects
While Hosey argues that abstract graphics are as emotionally important as the actual thing, this doesn’t mean a tree can’t be drawn inside to enhance an environment. This madrone tree doesn’t appear to serving its original purpose (is it structural? I am not sure), but its presence certainly impacts the spacious kitchen-dining space.
Arkin Tilt Architects
The fractallike part of the tree extends up the next floor, where it sits next to a rail which uses branches (of the exact same tree) For the infill. The shadow effect is particularly nice.
Kenneth M Wyner Photography Inc
This residence designed by Washington, D.C.’s, Travis Price dramatically merges the house with its landscape. Modern homes with glass walls framing horizontal views of the environment are nothing new, but designing the house around the trees at the woods is. It’s like deflected modernism, something which extends to using big timber members and wood surfaces above the glass walls. The residents of this house don’tlook in the trees so much as through them.
Mo Kaseke
An alternative to the preceding example is this more broadly modern house — the parallel, minimalist floor and ceiling sandwich frameless glass walls. Unlike the preceding case, the horizontal view is flattened, more of an image than something which the resident a part of.
Don F. Wong
I enjoy how this horizontal view is divided by the wood framing, which alternates between big panes and stacked small panes. Note how the big panes approximate a gold section (1 broad by approximately 1.6 tall), a ratio that’s roughly replicated in the tiny panes. Overall, the farming breaks the view into smaller chunks, making the landscape more romantic — fitting, given the closeness of the trees.
Griffin Enright Architects
This house, on the other hand, opens up to an expansive apartment perspective of Mandeville Canyon east of San Francisco. Nonetheless, the view is divided by columns that alternate with trees in the foreground. The sheltering facet of the view is very powerful, since the living room extends to a covered porch.
Like the custom metallic display in the kitchen earlier, this view uses a real tree to filter out the town outside. This fractallike shrub is comparable to an acacia tree, even though this connection doesn’t have to be a conscious thing for your own architect or client to take advantage of the tree through the massive glass wall.
Sutton Suzuki Architects
As mentioned, fractal- and – acacialike pictures can be subjective or actual, so in the latter case, the choice of fresh trees and utilization of present ones are significant. This lovely tree anchors a patio and a single corner of a ranch outside San Francisco. The view is enormous, however, the tree can help to shelter and frame it, scaling down the immensity of the skies and focusing attention on the green and the hills beyond.
Urrutia Design
Sheltering trees using fractallike forms could have an even more substantial impact on a house, like the huge tree shading the house and big deck. One result of trees using fractallike forms is fractallike shadows, which in a sense are abstract pictures of character.
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