Traces of time and people interaction
Posted: March 20th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Several examples of how people’s activity and interaction with objects transform their appearance. Stairs in a bookshop (above), a door handle and the floor of the parisian subway are all victims of the passage of time.
Of course, these traces (or patina) can have an intriguing aesthetic function but they can lead to a specific affordances too: traces that orient action or shape people’s interactions with the environment. Social navigation indicators of some sort.
I don’t how dirt and patina differ (any pointers?), but another sign useful to Parisians is dark spots on the white line of the platforms in the métro. they indicate where the doors of the wagons usually open.
Reminds me of the Pattern Language book, and the university lawn example in which paths were built where the grass wore off.