The spatial needs of man

The architect builds buildings that the human being will inhabit and requires, therefore, to know all the spatial needs that human beings have so that these spaces are complete.

By carrying out this action, more than building walls, ceilings, doors and windows, the architect builds the places where a man, a family, a society will live. Which are not only constituted by the bricks of the walls but also by the desires, experiences, desires and all the cultural manifestations of man and society. The search for space to live It is a natural fact for all living beings, however, for man, space has a different characteristic, not only is it what nature itself offers, it is also something significant. The space that is inhabited does not only exist naturally, it also exists from the mind of the human being. The habitable space acquires reality to the extent that humanity lives and unfolds geographically, around what nature offers it and transforms it by giving it a new content.

In this PsychologyOnline article, we will talk about the spatial needs of man.

Index

1. Ideas about spatial needs
2. Reflections
3. Circumstances that generate the need
4. Relationship between physical space and the concept of spatial needs
5. Concepts about needs
6. About the architecture
7. Final thoughts

This creation of the habitable space occurs to the extent that the human being moves among nature in search of satisfiers to his needs and identifies the characteristics of the place through which walk; storing that information in your memory and assigning each site an interpretation. It is from the meaning, from the content that the sites have, that not only the identity of the individual himself is delimited, but also the space.

Let's explain these ideas further.

When speaking of space arise different conceptualizations of this idea, Cassirer, for example, points out the differences between organic space, which is determined by the biological needs of every being living space, and abstract space, that which is developed by human reflection, which draws its qualities from the natural world to formulate ideas.

Within this space a practical level is indicated, that of identification of immediate locations, that of daily life. It also identifies the perceptual space, as a characteristic of higher animals and arising from sensory, optical experience, tactile, acoustic and kinetic, all these stimuli combine to give an image of the space perceptual.

There is one more category raised by Cassirer, that of the symbolic space, fruit of memory and developed through language, a condition that favors the acceptance of space and that is gestated from different spatial experiences within society.

In considering these reflections Cassirer points out that man requires developing a sense of space Human existence is what it is only in relation to a space. Existence is space ().

Spatiality is a essential definition of human existence this idea is widely explained in the text by Fiedrich Bollnow entitled "Man and space" (). Here the author explains that it is convenient not to confuse the experience of space as a psychic experience with the existential. The expression of lived space has the advantage of indicating that it is not something psychic, the result of an experience momentary, but of space itself, of the image that is acquired by living in it and with it, of space as a means of life human.

Human existence is what it is only in relation to a space. Existence is space, Bollnow categorically points out.

In making these reflections on space, he points out that the reference to this spatial condition does not mean that man, as well as his entire body, fills a A determined area that occupies a volume (), expresses more, indicates that man is circumscribed in his life always and necessarily by a space that surrounds.

"Space is not reduced to the simple geometric relationships that we set as if, limited to the simple role of curious spectators or scientists, we were outside of space. We live and act within space and in it both our personal life and the collective life of humanity develop "()

"Life extends in space without having a geometric extension in its proper sense (). To live we need length and perspective. For the unfolding of life, space is as essential as time "

These reflections point out the importance of space in man, observing that one and the other are inseparable. Only insofar as the possibility of space exists will man exist, that is, only insofar as there is space. possibility that the human can deploy around him the actions necessary to satisfy his needs will be able to exist as such. Space thus becomes the general form of human activity.

As the creator and deployer of space, man is necessarily not only the origin but also the permanent center of space. But this should not be simplified by conceiving as if man carried his space with himself, Bollnow indicates, like the snail his house, but it makes perfect sense when it is said, without reflect carefully that man moves "in" his space, where, consequently, space is something fixed with respect to man, something within which human movements are carried out ()

So that, the spatiality of human life and the experiential space of man they correspond in a strict correlation.

From human space in general, from the quality that objects acquire from the relationship established between themselves and man, it is necessary to distinguish between architectural space, the first represents the totality of the area where we all find ourselves, it is the natural space that has limits from what can be perceived. The architectural space on the other hand, represents the building construction, the formation of a space but no longer in a natural but artificial way. Created by the needs of man under his inventiveness.

The importance of integrating the conception of man in space is fundamental for architecture since it is through the particular way of shaping space as different eras in humanity can be identified Villagrán since 1939 explained the above as follows:

" building for man considered in the total aspects of him, integrally constituted, has been the object of architecture at all times: this Integralism constitutes the barometer of architectures: when an epoch mutilates man in his works, ignoring him in any aspect of him, be it granting it only idea or only organic matter, the natural reaction springs up: against the Hellenic traditionalism in Germany and the ogival in France, the ephemeral "art nouveau" from the beginning of the century, prelude to the contemporary movement whose ideological roots are, fortunately, in the historical development of The humanity.

Man builds for himself the permanent setting in which he develops all of his activities, for this reason man constitutes himself the center and measure of his own work: architecture " ()

So marked the importance of space it is necessary to give way to the explanation of the spatial needs in a more precise way. At first, to begin the explanation of their content, it should be noted that they arise from everyday life when eating, sleeping, dressing, living together. All these activities respond to needs, which are based on biological and psychosocial requirements. Needs that cannot be specified, cannot find a solution, without man having a space, which does not mean that space has the same content for all human beings. On the contrary spatial needs arise from the search for places() that man turns into sites assigned to a purpose and with specific qualities. Specificity that will arise from the psychosocial dynamics that each individual lives in society.

We all need to eat, for example, but not all of us eat the same way or sleep in the same way. It is enough to make a count of the closest friends to perceive that there are differences in our spaces, the result of the different ways of living. Not everyone likes to eat and smoke, and not everyone likes to sleep accompanied by music. How many can sleep without a pillow? Or how many do you need a special overbed for your bedroom to be nice and comfortable? Each of these preferences will be irretrievably reflected in space.

Are these psychosocial circumstances, conditioned by the social, economic, ideological, technological and biological context, those that will determine the manifestation of spatial needs and will give content to the environment through differences in time and geography.

When searching the satisfier of the needs The human being faces the dynamics of the social environment, the environment, the natural environment and even his own personal dynamics as forces that guide him towards a certain medium, towards a space, so that human needs do not find their solution in the same way at all times, on the contrary, this dynamic allows find an infinite variety of possibilities of being that, however, have as a common denominator that they are different ways of manifesting needs human.

That is human wealth. In its infinite capacity for interpretation and proposition, it looks for a way to survive, adapting itself in different ways to the environment, proposing solutions that, from principle They are unique, individual, but that when shared and accepted by the members of their group, form a culture, a language with which they ensure the subsistence of everyone. Language that is not only composed of sounds or graphic signs, the space in which you live in its entirety expresses a message.

In this way, when observing an archaeological relic, a cultural manifestation, not only do the aesthetic qualities they possess are observed, they are It also observes the technological development, the way of interpreting the world, the values ​​that dominated the environment, in short, the way of living of a town. Of course, these qualities do not arise from the immediate material aspect of the objects, they are something more intrinsic, the result of human interactions with the objects themselves.

These circumstances are explained by Arq. Vargas (1991) as follows:

"If we take into account what Hegel had already established and we attach the reiteration of Marx, it will not be difficult for us to understand that, indeed, objects are "carriers", "depositaries", messengers or repositories of the relations of production according to which they are he produced them ...

The fact that architectural spaces are built using building materials and that at first glance their stone forms seem to be as inanimate as theirs, has led in many cases to overlook the substantial distance between one and the other. others.

In this way it has been forgotten that, unlike inanimate natural objects, in architectural works it takes shape and takes shape. tangible the wide and varied range of desires and aspirations, expectations and illusions and even whims of all kinds, that the groups social organizations and individuals participating in their realization hope to see reflected in them or consummated at their end (their needs for habitability).

Yes, human products are of a very different nature. The intention that promotes and modifies both the shape and arrangement of natural materials and the new spaces that creates with these, adheres to both and makes them adopt the spiritual dimension of the community that has given them new life. The human spirit is embodied! They are a materialized spirit that forces the stones to take on another dimension, a social dimension that they did not originally have. They are humanized stones that are part of a new world: the one that man has produced in his image and likeness.

And it is the permanent presence of that spirit throughout the architectural production process that allows it to print its particular meaning in each of its products. For this reason, far from vanishing from the works when they have been concluded, he remains in them, impregnating them with his matrix. Thanks to this it is possible to link them with the particular human spirituality that motivated their realization and of which they are a testimony. We generically call this special character of human works their "social dimension". Social dimension of Architecture that emanates fundamentally from this fact and not only from the fact that various groups, sectors or individuals have participated more or less directly in its realization.

The social production of habitable spaces, expressed in its social dimension, turns Architecture, its product, into a spiritualized object, just as Hegel proposed it; as endorsed by Marx.

In this way, the expectations that precede the production of the works carried out by the human being function with respect to them as their cause, as their "program", as the bundle of motives that drives its realization and, simultaneously, as the goal that is expected to be achieved with them once finished. And of his own it is understood that all of them. Architecture included, can be understood and valued only through the mental reconstruction of the "program" that made them possible. " (end of appointment)

So then, when trying to study the levels of habitability or the different demands of spaces, it will be observed that these depend on the way in which the needs of the same are raised.

In order to make the content of the needs more explicit, we will list below some of the characteristics of human needs and we will reflect on their implications space.

First: Needs have always existed, they only change with time and space, they are conditions, internal demands or demands of each individual and society arising from their psychosocial heritage and biological.

The fact that they have always existed does not mean that they have always been the same or that they are the same today as yesterday. In principle, the biological characteristic of the human being suggests common needs not only to men but to all living beings, but to the extent in that we are thinking beings and with culture, it can be observed how needs change in their content, giving the possibility to generate needs new.

In second place: Needs are impulses or motives that push human beings to carry out an activity. This demand constitutes an internal force or impulse that generates the search for satisfaction, response or solution to the demand.

In third place: Needs do not occur in the abstract but under specific conditions. They have a material livelihood. The direction and goal that is reached from the impulse generated by the needs occurs in a specific time and space.

It is important to highlight this idea since it often seems that people want and do something just because. However, even when there is no full awareness of why, reality is structured and desire arises within the chain of events that surrounds the moment of decision.

Thus, for example, it is curious to observe how, among those who share experiences, a similar taste for things suddenly appears.

Of course, this is not intended to deny the possibility of innovation and the genius of the proposition, which would be reason for a different analysis, it only tries to highlight what happens within society and the common thinking of individuals.

In fourth place: Within the order of ideas indicated above, it is important to note that the emergence and development of needs occurs from In an organized way, the conditions of the physical, social, political, and economic environment determine the forms that needs. These forces organize the action. The actions of individuals are not fortuitous or chaotic, the direction of the force is precise, it is directed to an end.

In fifth place: It is also important to note that the emergence and satisfaction of needs depends on the technological, economic, even environmental possibilities in which the individual and society find themselves in your whole.

Sixth: An interesting fact to be highlighted is that needs are accompanied by feelings and emotions, satisfying them or not producing different effects.

In seventh place: A particular characteristic of needs is that they are not always aware of them, they manifest as individuals require different satisfiers and only in extreme cases, when the possibility of obtaining what is required is denied, do these needs emerge as demands.

The fact that the needs are not openly stated does not mean that it is not possible to identify them, it is important to note that the characteristics of the space in which they are move individuals express their way of thinking so that in them it is possible to look for the manifestations of their needs, thus investigating the reason for certain behaviors. Here it is important to qualify a fact, the logic with which the phenomenon is structured does not arise from the mind of the person who analyzes it, it depends on personal history and the sociocultural background of each individual, it is very dangerous to raise logics alien to the existential manifestation of individuals, according to the appreciation of the investigator.

It is essential to seek the explanation of the content of the space from the experience of the inhabitants themselves, even when this may seem illogical to the researcher. Needs obey logic (conscious or not; manipulated or free) of their origin and from that perspective they must be understood.

Eighth: And as a fundamental point for the management of spaces. Every need prompts you to move spatially.

The need is a psychological fact, but when motivating to find an answer, physical conditions arise that occur in a spatial context.

In some cases, this activity is manifest and takes shape in a claim, that is, as a requirement to the social environment and that can be manifest from a request or even as a claim. In other cases, the activity that gives content to the need is not open, it represents an action carried out almost unconsciously, in the search for a biopsychosocial balance. One could make the observation that, whether it manifests as a demand or as a simple action, the activity that gives content to the space It will be supported by the antecedents of the reality that the inhabitant lives, which will allow understanding its meaning within its context same.

In ninth place: The fact that the surrounding environment offers individuals the possibility of carrying out the activity space required in a satisfactory way, that is to say that it inhabits the space, represents the habitability of the space.

The habitability is a reality determined simultaneously by the conditions that the space possesses and by the requests or demands that man makes of him to be able to live, so that the objective and the subjective come together to give content to this dimension of reality. For the same reason, when identifying the habitability of the space, it is necessary to resort to these two dimensions, that of the physical qualities of the material conditions of a place and the feelings, emotions, beliefs, tastes that people have for living in a certain place.

It is for this reason that the activity of architectural composition requires not only knowing the construction elements of a building, but also requires know the spatial needs, manage them until they can give content to the compositional proposals.

These ideas are not alien to most architects, however, commonly, under a mathematical and schematic logic, they propose to find a formula that explains every need. Making the mistake of formulating stereotypes that when confronted with the experience are inoperative. For example, the belief that blue is cold and red hot is accepted, accepting them as universal facts, or it is believed that isolation is synonymous with privacy.

On the contrary, when delving into the study of spatial needs, hidden dimensions are discovered, characteristics of the space that are exclusive to a social group and that give the qualities of the spaces possibilities kaleidoscopic.

Edward Hall (), for example, pointed out the different way of perceiving the space that the Arabs have, of the French and the Americans, highlighting the impossibility of finding definitions universal.

The architect when approaching the knowledge of spatial needs and the composition of spaces that give you an answer must be careful not to fall into the formulation of stereotypes about what the human being is, simplifying the way of inhabiting a list of spaces indiscriminately applicable to all types of person. By doing this there is a risk that the inhabitants, by not finding the spaces they need, by not finding a solution to their demands, develop dissatisfaction that, in addition to generating personal discontent, causes disbelief at work architectural

So then, the problem of satisfy spatial needs it is based on recognizing that each person and each social group has a particular way of living and the spaces that an architect projects must be the answer to their characteristics.

One more warning should be made since, in case of understanding the spatial needs and arriving at a good approach, the solution that is offered cannot be eternal, the needs spatial reality and spatial reality itself are dynamic, they change, so that only by identifying this constant evolution will it be possible to maintain the sense of utility offered by the spaces.

The greatest difficulty encountered by the architect in developing the "sensitivity" necessary to identify spatial needs is to avoid formulating stereotypes.

Unfortunately the exaggerated sense of economy that guides our current society develops the principle of serial solutions, leading to the architecture increasingly become a building technique and lose their function of arranging, organizing and create spaces.

To what has been explained about the characteristics of spatial needs, it is possible to add three other characteristics, no less important than the previous ones.

In tenth place: Needs have a hierarchy, depending on both internal and external situations, there are needs that are more valued than others.

In eleventh place: Needs merge. With a single act, different needs can be satisfied.

In twelfth place it will be necessary to point out that the way in which it is specified satisfaction of needs It is a decision, in fact satisfying a need produces conflict because it forces the individual to make a resolution on which way to go in the face of the various possibilities to satisfy them, not only with respect to the place or object that he will choose, but also to what type of need he will respond since he will not be able to do everything he wants simultaneously.

This last reflection will lead to a thirteenth very important characteristic: From the satisfaction of the type of needs from the type of specific satisfiers, will depend on the functioning of the individual and society.

Here it should be noted that said possibility of choosing the satisfier for a given need is not open. The concept of necessity cannot be studied in isolation from those of freedom and possibility, because when the individual feels one, they are presented to him different ways of satisfying it and depends on the real possibilities, on the freedom with which you can choose between one path and the other. be done. However, to the extent that their means are restricted in advance, such freedom does not exist.

"I am only free to choose between one thing and another, therefore I am only free to adapt to a system governed by the logic of consumption" ()

When reflecting on these issues, Luis Rodríguez Morales in his text "For a theory of Design" () points out the following ideas:

• The needs are of individuals, but their development and the means to satisfy them are historical social.
• For an individual to satisfy a need, it is necessary that they have real possibilities of access to the satisfier.
• The "normality" of a need is nothing more than the ideological expression of the needs of the dominant social nucleus in a given place and time.
• The needs exposed to the designer are distorted when representing the needs of the system and not necessarily those of the user.
• The function of an object is a complex situation, which goes beyond simple use. One of its functions - rarely well studied in project processes - is psychological.
• The minimum needs are ideologically fixed by the dominant social nucleus.
• For consumerism there is no limit because it is based on a lack.
• The user seeks and establishes associations psychological problems with the objects he uses.

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