Thursday, January 20, 2011

18

Permeable Barriers: The Permeable barriers pose a much more complex thought challenge than impermeable barriers. It's easy to imagine that people's eyes and movements tend to drift away from large flat uninteresting opaque surfaces. Permeable barriers, however, being physically impassable but allowing some degree of visual access, can encourage wide wide spectrum of behaviours. This spectrum will primarily depend on the character of the visual access, the approach to the barrier, and what lies beyond. Examples of permeable barriers include a wall with windows, window wall, counter, railing, impassible change in level, lattice, shoji screens, glass block, and so forth. Some of these barriers are visually open, some are physically and visually open, and both can be to varying degrees. Shoji screens and a precipice are at opposite ends of the permeable barrier spectrum. The prior being almost impermeable except for ghostly impressions and silhouettes, and the latter allowing for full visual exposure and physical openness. The precipice will actively attract us towards it to be fully embraced with awe, anxiety, or delight, while the shoji screen with silhouetted figures may pique a subdued, intimate, curiosity but may not inspire us to action. Therefore, to avoid too much complexity at the moment, I'll make simple postulate that the greater the visual and physical openness, and the greater the view, the more individuals are attracted to a permeable barrier. The less of each of these ingredients, the more an permeable barrier acts as an impermeable barrier. The approach can also enhance the attractive force of the permeable barrier.