Dreaming about spaces

The concept of “Spaces” has captured my imagination as of late. I’m referring of course to the physical spaces in which life takes place but also the metaphysical “space” that comes with it. Certain environments can make us feel certain ways whether happy, motivated, agitated or upset — I’ve been thinking about how we can create spaces not just to stimulate positive inner states but to invite action and living.

It started with a standing desk

I’d been wanting to get a standing desk for years and not just because all the lifestyle blogs were pushing it. I genuinely do not like sitting down for extended periods of time especially when doing work (which for me involves being in front of a computer 99% of the time). There’s a Starbucks I like to go to precisely because it has tables tall enough to function as a standing desk.

I finally found a table that met my needs. It was sold as a “Bar Table” but functions as I want it to and I’ve been very happy with my purchase. I paired this with the purchase of a movable white board which is something else I’ve experimented with over a long period of time. All this to say I was setting up my work space to be more in line with what I imagined to be my ideal work environment.

Thinking bigger (spaces)

Amidst all this I had become acutely aware of a growing feeling inside of me, one of dejection and demotivation. While I’m sure the global pandemic played a role so too did the fact I have spent the last six-or-so years working from home owing to some unfortunate and unavoidable personal incidences. Back in 2020 I knew I had to do something about my environment and claimed a corner of the living room to repurpose for work and respite.

However, this internal feeling has grown to a size where I’m trying to find excuses to spend time away from home and away from that feeling. It is admittedly harder to follow through on these planned excursions precisely because the feelings of dejection and demotivation often sap all my will and energy making me feel “too lazy to leave the house”.

Re-arranging my work space or a corner of the room is fine and all but I think it’s time to think bigger in terms of entire rooms or even the whole house.

Why stop there?

Related to this I found myself looking up architecture and urban design videos on the Tube of You to follow this idea of how space invites certain ways of living. There’s a lot of food for thought there, especially for a newbie like me, but it’s also frustratingly difficult to find videos relevant to a country like Brunei with it’s small population and year-round sun. “How to house millions of people” Very interesting, except that Brunei barely has 1 million (including foreign workers). “How to make a city more walkable” Great idea, except the climate discourages a lot of people from walking.

To touch a bit more on walkability, this seems to be an issue in extremely cold countries as well. Here’s a video on life in Yakutsk, one of the coldest cities in the world (relevant portion starts 2 minutes in).

What’s next?

I’ve made plans to visit some places that have created spaces to varying degrees of success. I think I’ll also use this project as an excuse to walk through furniture shops as a way to wonder how to arrange living spaces. And maybe there’s a newbie-friendly primer on architecture and urban design but I haven’t found it yet.