Published with the permission of Mr. Wassermann
On 13-10-2010 I had an interview with Mr. Wassermann at the Carnegie Library for the blind. I asked him a set of 21 questions in a 60 minute session, attempting to understand how one experience a space without relying on vision. The interview session was incredibly informative, I can say it has profoundly changed the one I starting to notice things I never noticed before.
Below are some of the excerpts of the interview.
Me: When you walk inside a room, what is the first thing that is most noticeable to you? The temperature? The floor? The noise or?
Wassermann: Probably (I'm) most aware, to the best I am able to discern it i s the size of the room I am in. Probably because of the ambient noises and a little bit of air flow. You know right now I am picking up a little bit of noises from a ventilation system or whatever, any of those noises, start to give you a little bit of the size of the room, or either the lack of or the presence of things between me and the next obstacle
...
Me: Where and when do you ever feel too hot or too cold?
Wassermann: anything that's asphalt, that's black top on it, you will get lots of heat reflected off of it.
...
Wassermann: I don't think we will able to control nature, there are lots of things we should concentrate on, other than nature. Me: For example, what should we focus on?
Wassermann: Human relations.
I will be re formulating my questions to get more specific answer on the thermal experience of the built environment, and indoor environment. I would love to have some suggestions.
Interesting interview.
ReplyDeleteI'm especially intrigued by MR. Wassermann's ability to notice the size of a space before all else. This sense of "space" is a convergence of our other senses (noises, temperatures, feeling of air flow, etc.), and because of that it becomes stronger than any of the basic senses on its own,