Hong Kong Image courtesy K. Lau: colleague at archengine
Compact
The world around is that much closer to a fictional 'center'. New opportunities take shape where the condensed form has made space available. I've always appreciated the lessor of more; an efficiency of space, use and overall size. In essence the state of being compact.
Of course compact can be made extreme as exemplified above. Senses are forced to overlap, edges of privacy tangled. Moreover a repetitive redundancy by nature of proximity transcends what could easily be a deathly banal. What is to become of the tattered in-betweens?
The state of being compact presents the opportunity to combine. Boundaries are dissolved and flexibility becomes requisite. The chance of environment and constructed object to unite in intimate ways, through a careful and thought out interaction of all elements. There is plenty of room in the city to be compact.
The willingness to accept things and places of such form is definitely a cultural one. Consider in many parts of the world where geography and space limit the expansive tendencies common in many consumerist societies. For example, places in the far east are forced to reckon with limited land and available urban spaces. The results are denser realities and the social acceptance of such conditions.
There will come a time when compact is a necessity everywhere.
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