The Sequence

One of the most important aspects of design that ties all aspects together and brings alive an imagined experience is the”sequence” of moving through a space – be it campus or one building or an entire city – or even the Universe (the solar systems, galaxies becoming anchors or signposts for our movements). It is the sequence that binds all spaces, reveals them as we move along and offers control and possibility to do our own activities. As people, we need security - and this word I am taking to mean psychological. What makes us secured, but not bored? And what makes us secured but not lost? Thus, a fine line of balance between limitless possibilities and some sort of “anchor” to thread those possibilities is required. We have both experiences existing at the same time. An architecture that offers both such experiences simultaneously, may be said to be great at an experiential level. In effect, the architectural elements are arranged to evoke an experience. It is not the element that we see, but its relationship to other elements, relationship to light and relationship to the way we move – that defines the experience. Hence, architecture is not just visual, but far more intimate.

Parallel to the architectural sequence that we mention above, we need to be aware of the sequence of thoughts that our mind generates. This sequence defines an experience of feelings. Being aware of the sequence helps us to at least control unwanted experiences to a greater extent. The sequence needs to be consciously controlled – so we start to feel control over our lives. Best experiences are an amalgamation of predetermined plan of action and spontaneous adaptation and absorption of an external situation. We can’t throw everything to the winds and we can neither expect to control everything from start to finish. We need both things to exist at the same time (and not in compartments).

I don’t think so that there is any moment when we are awake, that we don’t think. Thinking is an expression of sequence. And sequence indicates, existence, ‘you’, ‘me’, ‘time’ and everything else. It affects ‘us’ at a mental level. This is the single most realization that humans are capable of realizing. The next obvious need comes to define the sequence to generate some meaningful existence! Thus, we have a choice and we also need to trust and accept its effect.