I am sitting on the 3rd floor hallway at 2:45 in
the morning. I expect to see no movement for the next fifteen minutes of my
life, but I plan on recording every irregularity I can observe from the ideal
construction of this area.
2:45: The stools are not at the same height and have
different sizes of the rings to support the legs. Hints of lack and white paint
can be observed on some of them.
A stool is sits in the middle of the room with no purpose.
2:48: Footsteps can be heard from the floor above.
2:49: The lights that hang from the ceiling in two colomns
are dim. Three of them, miraculously all on the edges are out.
2:50: There are cuts on the wooden flooring. The perspective
view gives each scratch a unique angle towards its perspective point.
2:51: A gray old fashioned heater sits on the left of me. It
crackles and creates different obnoxious sounds as it either heats up or cools
down. It also seems to be split into to, while the half is located on the
classroom side.
2:52: The consents on the wall are placed on the pin-up
board.
2:53: Cameron walks in to fill-up his water bottle. As he
presses the button, the water fountain cracks and the fan ignites.
2:55: The obvious irregularities are seen already. I look
closer at the room. The paper posted in front of the classroom furthest away is
not perpendicular to the floor angle. This is which the understanding the
perspective view is not considered.
2:56: More footsteps from the top floor. Water fountain
cracks and fan.
2:56: I am still on the 2:56 interval.
2:57: A black security man opens the heavy metal emergency
exit door. Looks at me. Leaves.
2:58: The color of the brown wooden tiles are not of the
same colors. The brick walls are almost the same color as the wood floors.
2:59: The electricity pipings are visible. It runs across
the top of the side walls. It is traced to the corner of the room and hides on
the ceiling.
Its 3:00. Fascinating. I have learned nothing important that
could ever possibly benefit me in the future. I guess the French always thought
radically.
3:01: There are black pin marks on the pin-up walls.
Numerous. Infinite. Not really.
3:02: There are scratches on the legs of the stools. The old
and new are distinguishable.
3:03: The plastic screening on the door window that is about
11 to 72 are filled with air bubbles.
3:05: On of the consents on the corner are not white, but
black.
3:06: The ceiling is filled with cracks.
3:07: The brick wall is not leveled with the floor. Concrete
is filled in to hide the irregularity.
3:08: The floor is not even. Areas where people often walk
by is dented down, while the wall area is even.
3:09: A red pin on my direct right. How did I not see that.
3:10: A tall guys with a beige coat sprints passed me.
3:11: There is a brown spot on the ceiling the size of my
hand.
3:12: The guy comes back. Stares at me for two seconds. Then
leaves.
3:13: Coating on the wood flooring has been layered on
multiple occasions.
3:15: Thank god I’m done. I have learned nothing in this
last 30 minutes. If I sleep in class today please don’t blame me.
You've learned nothing? I'm not surprised, though your minute observations are compelling nonetheless. You are a strong student and often insightful. But here, your analysis is not particularly productive, and especially as you phrase it in terms of what you have not learned. Ideally you pick a place and time where there are people as well as things to observe. Then you might be able to think more about how your site functions as space, its features as space, in the mode of de Certeau. From this kind of "site analysis" you can begin to ask questions about how a space is used, why, and to what effect that would enable you to build a critical map/tour of these spaces.
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