What is Good Space for Space Branding

 Jooyun Kim's 

Spacebranding vol.39

“A ‘good space’ for space branding is a Dionysian emotional space.”

<'Space' = 'Symbol of meaning'>

Human beings think through 'words,' says psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. Visual images are also like words. ‘Positioning’ is a term used to describe the concept of positioning a company, product, or service in the most advantageous place in the mind of the customer. Marketing theorist Jack Trout, who first popularized it, says: “The word ‘word’ is like the trigger of a gun, which triggers the meaning buried in it.”1)

The spatial image we see is something that replaces something that can be accessed with a purpose, a 'symbol' of meaning. German psychologist Rudolf Arnheim reveals that a person's reaction to the figure and the psychological state can be judged only by a drawing of a curved, smooth figure or lightning-like sharp figure on paper. If the clumsy graffiti painting on paper is the same, it can be said that its potential as a psychological device that the company wants to convey through the overall shape or parts of the three-dimensional space is infinite.2)

In 1984, in preparation for the Republican National Convention, Michael Deaver, press adviser to President Ronald Reagan of the United States, smoothed the corners of the podium and every corner of the hall lit by television. At the time, the image of the space was adjusted so that the critical immovable class did not accept Reagan as a 'fighter', but his thoughts on people's emotional reaction to the space element were correct.3)

Bottega Veneta Icon Pop-up Store 2022, Shinsegae Gangnam ©Jooyun Kim

Bottega Veneta Icon Pop-up Store 2022, Shinsegae Gangnam ©Jooyun Kim

In this way, the space has a direct relationship with the ‘feel’ of the customer. As soon as they enter the space, people say, 'It feels good, it feels bad'. The impression of a company or business is judged by a brief spatial impression. But what kind of space is good and which space is not? Are there any standards?

In fact, there is no absolute standard for a good space. In Kazan Tsaski's Νίκος Καζαντζάκης's novel Zorba the Greek, 'I' and 'Zorba' represent two opposing values. In the words of German philosopher Nietzsche, "I," a rational and rational elite, is an Apollonian human being who aims for "harmonious unification and neat order," and "Zorba," an instinctive and emotional activist, is a Dionysusian human of "primitive sensibility."

If most architectural spaces are Apollonian, the space that people actually like and get excited about is Dionysian space. 'Good space?' and 'Bad space?' depend absolutely on public preference. The preferred trend 'trend' is related to political and economic situations along with the times. In the end, design is understood and consumed within the context of that era.

In order to create a 'good space' suitable for corporate space branding in the era of emotional consumption, what macro perspective is there?

<Dionysus Emotional Space>

Depending on the times, there is an overall orientation or direction for 'good space'. The MZ generation buys sensitivity. One of the events that could examine the emotional orientation of space was the news of the 2017 Pritzker Prize winner. The Pritzker Prize, established in 1979 by the Hyatt Foundation, is called the Nobel Prize for Architecture. It is awarded annually to “architects who have made significant contributions to humanity and the art of architecture by demonstrating extraordinary talent and presenting an exceptional vision.”

The jury is composed of architects, writers, critics, art museum directors, curators, businessmen, field experts, sponsors, civic groups, and diplomats. One condition for selecting the winner is that there must be a noticeable contribution and characteristic to the architectural art. The important purpose of the Pritzker Prize is "to enable the general public to understand the important role of architecture in everyday life, as well as the individual of a particular architect."4)

The architects who have been winners so far were designers who already had a reputation in the architectural world. However, the 2017 Pritzker Prize was jointly awarded by three almost unknown Spanish architects. They co-operate a studio named RCR, named after the three, Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Villalta. Interestingly, they were local architects who were little known internationally until they won the award.

Piedra Tosca Park, Courtesy of Pritzker Prize. Image © Hisao Suzuki From https://www.archdaily.com/806394/2017-pritzker-prize-winners-rcr-arquitectes-work-in-20-images

Martha Thorne, executive director of the Pritzker Prize Review Board, said of the RCR's design. I could feel the spatial and connectedness between the building and the surrounding landscape strongly. The limited use of building materials allows the people inside the building to ‘feel’ the space and experience communion with nature without detracting attention to various details and ancillary elements.”5) The word 'feeling' of space is important in her comments. This is because it refers to the emotional or sensory aspects of space.

Piedra Tosca Park, Courtesy of RCR Arquitectes from https://www.archdaily.com/806394/2017-pritzker-prize-winners-rcr-arquitectes-work-in-20-images

In 2017, Pritzker's judges decided to win a local Spanish architect who created an emotional feeling by considering the surrounding environment, following conventions that rewarded the achievement of rational, functional, or morphological architecture. The judges evaluated RCR's work as an architecture with a strong sense of place, connection with the surrounding landscape, emotional and experienced architecture, and an architecture that satisfactorily satisfies the spatial function.6)

Their work was not well known, but it was a space to enrich people's five senses. RCR architects were creating an atmosphere and designing spaces where people felt comfortable. It was based on the locality of the place and the sensibility of the people there. The feeling may be the unified beauty of the material in space, or the feeling of health and well-being. They established the identity of the space by creatively using modern materials such as recycled steel and plastic.

Row House, Courtesy of Pritzker Prize. Image © Hisao Suzuki From https://www.archdaily.com/806394/2017-pritzker-prize-winners-rcr-arquitectes-work-in-20-images

It contains the local value lost due to international universality with poetic sensitivity in the space. There are criticisms that it is too sensuous, but by carefully selecting one architectural material and making subtle changes in the use of the material, space allows the overall atmosphere to be completed through the stories of the materials themselves. Even though they are RCA architects, it is more appropriate to call them interior designers rather than architects.

The purpose of the Pritzker Prize is that the Pritzker Foundation is talking about ‘emotional’ in 2017 as an answer to ‘the important role of architecture in everyday life’. As such, in view of the global trend, it can be said that the clear direction for ‘good space’ in space branding is the Dionysian emotional consumption space rather than the Apollonian rational space.

<5 Summaries>

“A ‘good space’ for space branding is a Dionysian emotional space.”

"Humans think through 'words'. Visual images are like 'words'."

“The word ‘word’ is like the trigger of a gun, which triggers the meaning buried in it.”

“The limited use of building materials allows the people inside the building to ‘feel’ the space and experience communion with nature without being distracted by various details and ancillary elements.”

"Architecture that satisfies the sense of place and the connection with the surrounding landscape, emotionally and experienced architecture, and satisfactorily satisfies the spatial function"

1) Jack Trout & Al Ries, Positioning, McGraw-Hill Education, 2001, pp. 123-12, 107-136

2) De Botton, Alain, The Architecture of Happiness, Simon Vance(NRT), 2009, pp. 99-100

3) Dan Hill, body of truth : leveraging what consumers can't or won't say, Wiley, 2003, pp. 271

4) The Huffington Post, "프리츠커상의 비밀: 건축계의 노벨상은 어떻게 만들어지는가", 2017.3.20., from http://www.huffingtonpost.kr/harry-jun/story_b_15388636.html?utm_id=naver

5) The Huffington Post, "프리츠커상의 비밀: 건축계의 노벨상은 어떻게 만들어지는가", 2017.3.20., from http://www.huffingtonpost.kr/harry-jun/story_b_15388636.html?utm_id=naver

6) The Pritzker Architecture Prize, "Jury Citation", from http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2017/jury-citation