Weekly Works

I am tired.

Am I?

I am tired being creative.

I am tired feeling non-creative.

I am tired of seeing artistical ego indulging a creative mind.

What does it mean to be an artist?

Do I want to be an artist?

An artist who is blinded by the reality of this world.

wasting our time creating this fantasy

but we see dying children, caged men and women. 

And paints do not feed their belly.

Text by Nabiha Zaid

During the field research,

We start to take a closer look on the social behaviour of the community, we notice that there is an existence of social barriers here. Whether it is group age, language barrier or beliefs difference.

From there, we interviewed several inhabintants of Afrikaanderwijk. The questions were being asked to see whether social barriers exists in the neighbourhood, if there is how strong will it be? And who gets affected the most? We also asked about how the local inhabitants really feel belonged to the community.

Here are some main findings we get from the locals,

One of the interviewee mentioned on the age group that is not connected to each others such as the age group between 14 and 22. However, being compared to the elderly  they have are much more connect with each other.  

Another findings, that we have is the interviewee, which is a Hindu, mentioned that he does not specifically feel belonged to a group or ethnicity. Manly because, he finds that there aren’t much people who share same religion and ethnicity with him. From the research analysis, Turkish and Morrocan community covers the most percentage of the demographic.

Due to the lack of space, the grouping of seats were not conventional for the interior. Some of the various plan was opposed on the drawings, however, the feeling of oneness was lacked.

The idea of having a centralized space has always been a notion in a lot of architecture features. One of the building that made use of the circle within a square building was the Palace of Charles V, Granada Spain, designed by Pedro Machucha in the syle of Renaissance. 

Therefore, I proposed the structural idea of centralized space for every visitor. In a way where the user could experience the wholeness of the space without forming a segregation between groups of people.

The location of the bar is in Kerkstraat 303a, Amsterdam. The selection of the venue is influenced by the already existing structure of an open roof. As sunlight plays an essential qualities to a tranquil space. The venue covers only 200 m2 as small-scaled space provides more privacy for this bar.

Floor Plan - Drawn on REVIT

The initial idea of seating area was meant to be grouped. Every hub has its own center seat. There is also a proposal on maybe people should be placed in an enclosed canopy/structure. 

Engulfed and Center point 

In the midst of a fast paced world, people have developed a reliance upon nightlife to escape their life problems. 

While people need avenues such as clubs and bars to detox and release some of the stress from their daily lives, the effect of hanging out in these areas can have a negative impact on our bodies, which in turn exacerbates some of the same problems that led them to these venues in the first place. Loud music, dark spaces, intense and harsh lighting, cigarette smoke filled hallways, loud glass clinking sounds, all go a long way to affect how a person would behave in these surroundings. Some types of music can also cause the brain to lose its symmetry between its right and left halves or hemispheres leading to a reduction in work capabilities among adults.  

Does this mean one shouldn’t have a nightlife? No. My solution: the Mindful Bar. 

Mindful Bar is where nightlife meets tranquility. Think about a healthy socializing space where the spatial factors could bring emotional immersiveness to the visitor, helping them to freshen up their minds. This space will diminish some of the bad side effects of the current clubs and bars while still maintaining some of the fun activities.

Mindful Bar’s composition  has the ability to affect a person’s frame of mind once they are in the space. How they walk, talk, socialise and even think would be as a result of the unique nature of the building. A space and the energy it exudes plays a significant role in dictating the actions of its occupants. That is why certain club goers, who initially had no intention of dancing, succumb to the pressures of the club and end up grooving to the music. 

Similarly any consumer who patronizes Mindful Bar will start to experience the tranquilizing effect of the bar on their body and mind just by walking into the space.

‘An architect of mindful would not only fulfill the need of mindfulness meditation. but also  go further in establishing physical attributes that can then form an ideal environment to be present in’ (Dickson 2018)

The rituals of meditating have a close relation to religious spaces. In the case study of Sancaklar Mosque, cultural entity was removed from the mosque, giving the space merely for people to do their prayers . What is most important in this space is how the user can get to experience the tranquilling effect upon entering it.

In the case study of Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, privacy is an essential qualities of mindful architecture as this intimate space is  designed for reflection.