The yearning to connect with our fellow beings is a powerful human drive. A space to mediate those interactions between one another is essential. Whether it be through face-to-face interactions in the physical world or the digital. Yet, if anything, both spaces have failed to bring a more polarized world together. In a digital space where hyperconnection mixed with the anonymity of hiding behind a screen has brought about alienation and malice to those interacting within it, the need to bring about better spaces in the physical world is all the more crucial.
A physical space that is inclusive, comfortable, and creative. Inclusive to allow people of all different experiences and backgrounds to gather. Comfortable to be designed and brought to life in such a way that it acts as a THIRD PLACE away from home. Creative in the sense that a multitude of interactions or peace could happen in such a space.
The Issue
This third place calls back to the ideas proposed by Ray Oldenburg in his book ‘The Great Good Place.’ That it is meant to cultivate the growing problem of an informal public life that was missing in the context of the American Setting.
Here the concept that the third place must be found in “modest, inexpensive and small by comparison” places is key. Oldenburg decries that informal public places in America are so rare that whenever a writer stumbles upon a laundromat with a sense of camaraderie it is written as a triumph.
The rise of the automobile and inadequate walking paths are now the result of urban planners who do not consider community-centered design. When third places were introduced as an idea, the author was writing about the increasing alienation of cities in 1989.
In the wake of the digital world, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the hyper-consumption of in-home entertainment, we have never been more alienated as a result of the advances that surround us. When being shut-in and shutting one’s self out of society, termed hikikomori in Japan, becomes a better alternative to having to face the anxiety-inducing world, then there is something missing with our social spaces.
There are a myriad of factors that deter a social space from being a ‘third place’ (i.e. gender-based discrimination, rising cost of food and drinks, lack of accessibility for disabilities, etc.) So for this to run, one must be able to imagine what that third place would look like.
Through some of the following speculative works, hopefully, architects, urban planners, and creatives alike may be able to take inspiration.
The Speculations
Capturing the feeling of a third place through a video game
Coffee Talk captures the spirit of a third place in a video game that intentionally does not stand out to provide players with a relaxing experience. There is a strong belief in thinking that video games are in themselves a creative space where players can engage their thoughts and ideas through virtual interaction. Sin Vega from Rock, Paper, Shotgun captures that perfectly when she sums up her review of the game by saying,
“Feeling comfortable and provided for is important. That’s not a truth that Coffee Talk explicitly gets into, but it’s fundamentally what it’s about. It could have been longer, it could have been more substantial and dramatic. But it’s a good way to relax for a few hours.”
The passage of time in a third place should make it feel as if you could spend your time forever chatting with strangers or enjoying a cup of coffee by yourself. It is meant to be a comfortable place for people to wind off. This game itself puts you, the player, as a barista serving coffee to literal magical people of different kinds, complete with different backgrounds and situations of daily life they choose to offload. How they respond depends entirely on their orders and how you choose to make it for them (more towards serving them up what they exactly want). Sometimes it’ll be just a single character, two, or three. Either way, they interact with you the player, and with one another to tell their stories about life. A video by YouTuber essaying Leadhead sums it best by saying, “I’m firmly of the belief that every waffle waitress, every fast food worker, every truck driver, and, hey, every barista has something to teach you (Leadhead, 2020: 0:35-0:41)”
And that, as an end, should be the point of the third space. To tell stories that will challenge your assumptions and, at the same time, create community through empathy and understanding. Storylines in this game are meant so that you, as the player, will witness a warm cup of whatever you have just made to alter people’s decisions in life through these interactions. Decisions that have been brewing over time are to be made in a space that invites the opinions of others.
An Example for Radical Third Places
While the call for third places of the past has existed, coming generations must ensure that the coming third places will become an example of a space that exists to challenge the hierarchies of our world. Andrewism’s critique of the old concept of the third place by Oldenburg in the YouTube video, ‘What Our Cities Are Missing’, calls for the concept of the new third place to accommodate intersecting identities. The video calls for spaces created for third places too, through creative solutions, blending the distinction between first, second, and third. And if third places are to succeed for all, underlying issues regarding work policies need to be addressed. One of the examples cited includes people who work double shifts, such as wives and mothers.
To propose a project that blends distinctions between private and community space, La Borda in Spain by the architecture firm Lacol is an example to take notes from. Reducing housing areas to make space for communal spaces encourages a lot of domestic duties to be tasked with establishing links with one another. Conventional spaces are provided but there are multiple service spaces such as a large dining kitchen and even a health and care area. A central courtyard connects everything on the ground, first to exterior terraces (urbanNext, online).
Spaces seem to be designed so that they overlap in function and serve the community in a flexible manner. And the spaces are determined as so because they involved the community of residents that live there from stage 1 of planning.
The Hope for the Future
Is to simply capture the environment that is best for listening, expose design decisions to people of all backgrounds, and make a truly adaptable space. Power in the third place lies in a community that is good at truly understanding one another.
Sources
Andrewism. (2023) ‘What Our Cities Are Missing’ [Online video] [Accessed on the 22nd of November 2023] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD_CMrCpBMc&ab_channel=Andrewism
Contie, A. (2019) ‘When ‘Going Outside Is Prison’: The World of American Hikikomori’ 19th of February’. Intelligencer. [Online] [Accessed on the 21st of November 2023]
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/the-world-of-american-hikikomori.html
“La Borda Housing Cooperative: Self-management, Collective Property, Sustainability, and Affordability.” urbanNext [Online]. [Accessed on the 22nd of November 2023] https://urbannext.net/la-borda-housing-cooperative/.
Leadhead. (2020) ‘Coffee Talk and my Quarantined Dreams’ [Online video] [Accessed on the 20th of November 2023] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMMJDxJax6A&ab_channel=Leadhead
Oldenburg, R. (1989)’The Great Good Place’ 3rd ed.,Cambridge: Da Capo Press.
Toge Productions. ‘Coffee Talk’. Video game
Vega, S. (2020) ‘Wot I Think: Coffee Talk’. 30th of January. Rock Paper Shotgun [Online] [Accessed on 21st of November 2023] https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/coffee-talk-review
Image Sources
Image 1: Gonzo Studio (2006) ‘Welcome to the NHK scene’. Animation frame, 1280 x 720 px. In: nflstreet. (2020) ‘Review: Welcome to the NHK’. 4th of January. Medium [Online] [Accessed on 21st of November 2023] https://nflstreet.medium.com/review-welcome-to-the-nhk-3dd9ba8e9f4
Image 2: Toge Productions (2019) ‘Screenshots’. Video game screenshots, 1920 x 1080 px. In: ‘Homepage’ Toge Productions [Online] [Accessed on 21st of November 2023] https://www.togeproductions.com/project/coffee-talk/
Image 3: Miralles, Lluc. (2019) Lluc-Miralles-7. La borda. [Online image] [Accessed on 22nd of November 2023] http://www.laborda.coop/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Lluc-Miralles-7.jpg
Image 4_Toei Animation (2011) ‘Screenshots’. Nami-san, 1280 x 720 px. In: Carey, K. (2023) ‘Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Does a Great Job of Adapting Sanji’s Problematic Behavior’ 2nd of September. The Mary Sue [Online] [Accessed on 22nd of November 2023] https://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/sanji.jpg?w=1280
