Josh Singer - Zibaldone 1

To perceive is to interpret; to arrive at some form of relative understanding or truth. What people perceive is their reality - they need to "see it to believe it." But perception is not absolute. As paradoxically described in Nelson Goodman's book Ways of Worldmaking, perception is a "fabrication of facts." Unfortunately for us, people are not omniscient beings. Because we are only able to perceive our world in parts, we must piece what we know together to create a complete reality.

Buildings frame how we perceive the world at both a spatial and experiential level. They orient us in time and place through the way it's situated on its site, its program, material expression, structure, size, shape, daylighting, etc. Since we can only experience a building in parts, space can be manipulated to make us perceive a relative reality, or in other words, create a "fabrication of facts." A good example of a space that forces us into a relative reality is the courtyard of the Boston Public Library. From the entrance of the library people know that they are in 21st century Boston because of its situation on the edge of Copley Square. The congestion of traffic and other buildings in the area such as the Hancock are impossible to ignore. However, once one enters the library and the courtyard within it, they're almost in a completely different world. It's easy to perceive the space as a cloister in renaissance Italy. Acoustically the traffic outside the library is muted, the city has virtually disappeared and it's easy to imagine a scholar in robes meandering through the arcades. But back in reality, the top of the Hancock peaks over one of the courtyard's walls and instead of a 15th century scholar next to you its some girl trying to Instagram her iced coffee that she got at the courtyard's restaurant.