responses

This is where I post my responses.

comments:

Perec Response Pgs 1-45 --rsaffel, Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:53:37 -0500 reply
1) What is the purpose of Perec's bizarre obsession with space? 2) Why does Perec hope to find a useless room? 3) How many inventions or architectural designs can actually be considered useless by definition?

Perec claims that he has "several times tried to think of an apartment in which there would be a useless room, absolutely and intentionally useless." By definition useless is listed as being "without function or effect; not useful." What architect or home designer would include a room in their plans that fit that definition? What home or building owner would pay someone to design an absolutely useless room? Perec seems to have a little bit of strange logic and I don't really understand how he rationalizes much of his writing. Very interesting his work has been so far but it is still very strange. Every room in a home or building can be used to serve some sort of purpose. That is probably why he had a hard time finding a room without one. You could use a spare room for storage, as a study, or you could rent it to someone. If your family or guests were non-smokers you could convert a spare space into a smoker's room, if you yourself smoked that is. You could simply place a chair in the room and use it to get away and sit down for a spell and think to yourself. Honestly for a room to be completely useless it would have been a great challenge for it to have become that way. Maybe that is why Perec hoped to find a useless room. Simply because there is almost no possible way that a room could logically be useless. Maybe not though, maybe Perec is simply obsessed with space and hopes to find a building that has a completely void space.

Quick Response from Matt --mpearl, Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:16:51 -0500 reply
I am responding to yours because the two people under my name on the class list didn't have responses. I agree with you that Perec's work is very strange. In my response I talked about a useless room as well. A room really can't be completely useless. Some sort of use, no matter how important can be found for every room in an apartment.

Response to question #3 by Matt --mpearl, Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:23:27 -0500 reply
I can think of very few inventions or architectural designs that are purely useless. It wouldn't be invented if it didn't have some sort of use. Some things have a stupid or pointless use however. For instance lets look at a magic eight ball. Those things don't know anything about you, yet they are supposed to answer your questions and tell your future. To me that is stupid and pointless, but their use is to entertain. They are not to be taken seriously, but you can pass time playing with one. Basically everything can be attributed to some kind of use. The only thing I can think of that is completely useless is not an invention. It is a big desert. There is nothing useful in the middle of the Sahara or in parts of Antartica. Those areas are the only ones that I can think of as useless.

Perec Response Pgs 1-45 --sbaldwin, Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:01:28 -0500 reply
Robert: Thanks for your response. Why do you find Perec's writing a bizarre obsession? I suppose it's an obsession - but surely on we all share? We all live in spaces, decorate them, spend time in them, etc. - but why is it bizarre? Now, I'm not sure what to make of your last question. I think you're right that there's not way that a room could be useless, but isn't this Perec's point? He says he tries to imagine one but can't. It seems to me that this is the scientific or rigorous part of his project: he's exploring the complete possible range of functions for a room, including the lack of function, but finds he can't do so - and this fact tells something about room and our experience of them, and about space in general. This seems a pretty useful observation to me. What do you think?

Space --rsaffel, Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:32:42 -0500 reply
I think I will most likely define the space in my bedroom. Focusing on different areas that are most important(Bed, closet, desk.) Discuss these areas and what purposes they may serve and what is contained in each area. I think at first I will be very general and work my way to specific because my room is cluttered with stuff, 500 words cant really list or describe it all so I will start into specifics further into the project. For now though I just think keeping it simple is the best way to get in a good direction with the assignment.