PERSONAL ESSAY

In the introduction, Augé points out that “[The individual] has instruments that place him in constant contact with the remotest part of the outside world. Portable telephones are also cameras, able to capture still or moving images; they are also televisions and computers. The individual can thus live rather oddly in an intellectual, musical or visual environment that is wholly independent of his immediate physical surroundings” (viii). This really struck me because if you look around while walking through campus, you’ll see that the majority of people have headphones in and are looking down at their phones—completely disconnected from their surroundings, traveling from destination to destination for class. Sometimes, I intentionally choose to walk without looking at my phone or headphones in order to clear my head. I also enjoy looking around at my surroundings because campus is ever changing and you can tell Ohio State really cares about appearance. The oval is perfectly groomed, the Union screams Ohio state with block O’s and buckeyes everywhere, the Thompson library looks like one out a movie, etc.. I think the issue is you can tell that Ohio State cares about all parts of campus—even planting new grass along sidewalk edges where it’s been stepped on—except for the parking garages. And that’s where this collaborative studio project comes in. 

This project is about transforming parking garages into places that demonstrates that the university cares about them just like the rest of Ohio State’s campus. If the garages are cared about, they have the ability to be places that are destinations, not simply part of a passive, campus walking routine. Obviously what prompted the project is the tragedies that have occurred in the parking garages on campus, but the class feels there is a better way to show care, and cultivate a culture of it, than the physical fences or signs that have been added to the garages in light of these tragedies. While these physical barriers have been put in place, they don’t ease the minds of people in the garage—in my opinion it actually makes the garage feel even more uncomfortable than previously—there’s still bad lighting, weird smells, dirty floors, etc., but now with fences keeping you in. This is not a place anyone willing spends any time in, and that’s part of the issue—they are relatively neglected places and the people that have to park daily, don’t stick around so there isn’t much foot traffic. 

If one of our prototypes were implemented in the garage, it would help to transform the purpose of the garage and the types of interactions that take place. For example, with the interactive wall idea, the garage becomes a place to park and play. With the jukebox, it becomes a place to park and listen to music. With the polling idea, it becomes a place to park and vote, changing the physical appearance of the garage. Right now parking garages don’t give anyone a reason to stick around because they are non-places, but our class is trying to transform them into places/destinations.