ekthorp's blog

Solnit speaks a lot of the border between being lost and knowing where you are. She references Ptolemy's notion of Terra Incognita, which entailed the possibility that the Earth went well beyond established boundaries  and an all-encompassing ocean. This made me think of Pangea, a state in which all land was connected, with no divides between the continents. I wanted to enact this with select Bryn mawr buildings, and see what it would look like if several of the dorms were so near to eachother they were practically inseperable. By doing this, I discovered that this created several small spaces were created between the dorms, which fade into the foreground while the large buildings stand out. Additionally, what went beyond the exterior of this new layout seems to fall away into gray space. I wonder what would be the effect on our campus if it was actually situated like this.

            I began my journey by walking across Senior Row, and stepping up and over the Moon Bench. Through the course of my walk, I became aware of the difference between Inner and Outer borders. To me, the moon bench is a gateway; it marks the end of the inner campus and the beginning of the outer edges. By going over it, instead of around, I felt as if I had transitioned from walking to sauntering. While I may not have had a set route or destination, I had a purpose.  The entire point of the walk was that I didn’t know where I was going, because I had never been there before. I had never explored the physical boundaries of Bryn Mawr, and had absolutely no idea what I would find, or even where they were. But had I known, I would have no reason to go there. The entire point of exploration is to see what is to be discovered, regardless of whom else has seen it before. I could now call myself a saunterer in the Thoreauvian sense- I had a purpose, a mental destination. My trek transformed from one of complete aimlessness to one with a point. Had I known where I was going, that point would be mute.  

1. From most happy to Least Happy:

1. Glass Stairway, Dalton Hall

2. Morris Woods

3. Campus Center Parking Lot

4. English House I

5. Park Science, Room 20

1. Things that inspired comfort:

• Presence of Bugs
• Temperature – Too Hot/Too cold
• Color Pallet
• Smells
• Humidity level
• Spaciousness

I think I was most comfortable in Dalton because it combined some of the best aspects of the indoor and outdoor world. I was able to view the outside world in a large class dome without being paranoid about bugs as I was in the woods. The temperature was perfect. In park, I was freezing, and in the C.C. parking lot I was burning up. But the large glass windows allowed plenty of sun in, keeping the indoor air-conditioning at bay.

However, what I think most appealed to me about my two favorite locations were their color pallets. In both Dalton Hall and the woods, the color pallet was simple- for Dalton, it was green and grey, while in the woods it was green, white and brown. In the other spaces, there were many different colors. I love colors, but the overabundance of colors in the classroom and in the parking lot was a little overwhelming after existing briefly in a space with only two or three colors represented. I was drawn to the reductive nature of color in my top two places.

1. From Plants Most Happy to Plants Least Happy

1. Morris Woods