The end of loneliness; imagining the post-pandemic balconies
deniz taskin
These are unprecedented times when the coronavirus pandemic demands social distancing, isolation, and quarantine for the “flattening the curve.” each of us trying to do our part to slow the spread since the 13th of March which means it is sheltering at our house. But it is not the only epidemic we are facing right now. The loneliness epidemic that already happening in America and Europe and it is coinciding with COVID-19. This coinciding is running the risk of increasing the negative feelings and resulting health outcomes associated with social isolation -being alone- and loneliness -feeling alone- more.
Loneliness is defined as an unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation but it is also a subjective experience. Based on my subjective experience in this period of limitation and intensive use of our habitats, I aim to re-thinking the post-pandemic environments to reduce, improve, or balance the loneliness epidemic.
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balconies: as a protagonist of these quarantine times
There are some of the obvious things that the corona pandemic has revealed in the cities and it leads us to criticize, to imagine it differently like the streets, sidewalks, and balconies. Because I experience living in the dormitory without a balcony, I came to a point that I decided "I'll never live in an apartment without balcony again" (Hoffman, 2020) like many other city dwellers.
Today, owning a balcony is a privilege, more than ever before. And not only because it allows us to connect with the outside, take fresh air, keep in touch with people, but it is becoming a source of hope and solidarity with newfound importance of its participatory function than “balconear” function which means to observe closely from a balcony, without taking part in. Despite balconies’ apparently recent importance, it has long been used to unify and inspire the people from the dominant element of the iconic scenes in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to Nelson Mandela's speech in Cape Town and where the Pope blesses the believers in Vatikan.
And now that we find ourselves in this isolated condition, trapped inside our homes, looking out our deserted surroundings and desired to not be "balconear" again, we need to reimagine our balconies, as a lesson from social distancing.
collective rethinking
The collective rethinking sessions aim to open discussions and collectively re-imagine the post-pandemic balconies to reduce, improve, or balance existing isolation and loneliness based on the quarantine experience shared by each one of the target group members. It has carried out into two stages; the first phase is the observation of the space, which is not about the conduct a survey rather collecting data for understanding different aspects of the space. The target group consists of my architect friends from S.Korea, Turkey, and France who are experiencing quarantine in different countries with different transition space.
I asked for them to draw their spaces simply, take its pictures, observations about how has their need or user experience for this space changed during the quarantine process, what mood do these needs relate to, and how this space responds to them and what kind of social relations/human communication does space support or prohibit.
The first thing I realized from the drawings, although the location, height, and size of the spaces are expressed visually and numerically in the plan, the feeling of the space is much different in the photographs. So the understanding of balconies are highly dependent on the surroundings, interactions, the location, the angle of vista, the typology of building, etc. for example, privacy is perceived less on the terrace of the high-density detached house in Seoul than a balcony in a multi-story building in Izmir, although the size of the terrace is almost twice that of the balcony.
The second thing observed is that although their relationship with their selected spaces has changed during the quarantine completely (most have stated that they did not use it frequently), the response of the space to the needs such as anxiety and loneliness they associate with it is quite limited. In the example of the French observer who lives with a family of 6, the space using for escaping from the inside crowd and being alone in quarantine, normally associated with being together. So the arrangements and the furniture is related to that need. On the other hand, for the observer from S.Korea, the space using for the distance interaction with people and surroundings to respond to need of feeling less lonely but a terrace shared with other tenants that dividing with buffer zones does not support their desire to "be together" in this contagious time.
The second stage consists of online discussions with groups for discussing balcony related feelings and senses together and within the frame of three themes I offer such as flexibility, transition, and interaction aims to share ideas.
We all agreed that balconies symbolize new kinds of freedom and we take refuge in that privileged space when desperately need for attention, solidarity, and real (not virtual) interactions. But also we thought these feelings and needs will fade away after the pandemic until the next disaster. Therefore, within the frame of flexibility, we discussed how these liminal spaces can adapt to different needs and situations as seen in the mind map image the flexibility of the materials, connection or arrangements, surfaces, and movements.
As we experienced, the balconies act as an important bridge between public and private life, another topic of our discussions was rethinking the existing transition between indoor to outdoor spaces. Based on our common idea that the perception of public-private is relative and variable, we proposed a transition where more complex combinations are intertwined such as social and comfort zones. Also what kind of interactions can be included and implemented in this liminal space is discussed during the sessions such as, participatory, social, visual, physical, artificial based on groups current observations about how they interact with outside elements, people, nature, and the processes.
After the discussions, THE WALL is selected to implement some of the outcomes of this rethinking process artificially. From the window of my room, I aim to imagine the different interactions that will bring us together and help us to feel less lonely during the existing social distance and isolation based on the quarantine experience shared by all the dorm residents.
The view of all the windows on this facade is this wall, and it becomes part of our collective memory in quarantine with its details such as colors, dates, graffiti, areas illuminated by the angle of arrival of the sun, birds on the wall, etc. and with this interventions, it becoming a space where a sense of unity, cooperation, and social relations provided.
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Looking from here where we are still immobile, isolated, and lonely, it is difficult to predict how transformations created by solidarity and social interactions during the COVID-19 will reflect on European housing policies or balconies value for real estate. But this period of limitation and intensive use of our habitats is definitely creating an opportunity for awareness of the limits of our current spaces and rebuilding differently.
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References
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Traverso, Vittoria. “Why Do Balconies Inspire Us?” April 10, 2020. bbc.com/travel/story/20200409-the-history-of-balconies.
“A Brief History of the Balcony, from Ancient Persia to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” n.d. domusweb.it/en/architecture/2020/04/03/a-brief-history-of-the-balcony-from-ancient-persia-to-the-covid-19-pandemic.html.
Poon, Linda. “A Lesson from Social Distancing: Build Better Balconies.” CityLab, April 20, 2020.citylab.com/life/2020/04/apartment-design-balcony-private-outdoor-space-zoning-laws/610162/.
Maak, Niklas. “Harvard Design Magazine: Post-Familial Communes in Germany,” n.d.
harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/41/post-familial-communes-in-germany.