Ossining 026, 2013
(Click on image to see larger.)
Landscape architects tell me
that although outdoor seating areas are actually designed to be used by people
and that great attention is given to layout, views and the design, comfort and
durability of the seating itself, many are never used that way. Some of this is
because the design isn’t good or the seating isn’t comfortable or appropriate
for the needs of people. But some of this, I’m told, is also because sometimes
it’s okay if the outdoor seating is only seen and not used.
Huh? It’s okay to have a
beautiful seating area that no one uses?
The answer, I’m told, is “yes.” In other words, a park bench or comfortable chair in the
garden or on the lawn is more an illusion, a visual cue, a fixture that reminds
you that you could sit there if you
wanted. The mere imagination of that use is enough to create a momentary
illusion of the tranquility, privacy or whatever you would have hoped to have
achieved had you actually gone outside and used the bench or chair.
The benches shown in the
photograph above are in a quiet little neighborhood park overlooking the Hudson
River north of New York City. I don’t know if anyone ever sits there. They’re
affixed to the ground and are arranged in a linear way that discourages conversation.
Much of the river view, too, has become obscured by trees and the most direct
sight line to the river requires that you ignore the guard towers at the nearby
Sing Sing Prison that stand in the intermediate distance.
We recently had a chance to
visit a very lovely home just up the hill from this park. The home has a wonderful
lawn and shaded garden at the back. It’s the kind of place that makes you want
to find an excuse to use the word “sylvan.” The property is at the bottom of
the steep wooded hill. There are several levels to the garden, some with their
own comfortable seating areas and lots of stone walls to keep everything in this
elevated landscape in its place.
The main public rooms of the
house look out onto that beautiful scene. The owners are very busy
professionals. After a long day of work I could easily imagine them wandering
out into the garden with a cool drink on a warm evening and sitting in one of
the seating areas to talk or just listen to the wind blowing through the trees.
When I asked the lady of the house whether they do this, she chuckled and
responded, “[Husband] creates these little ‘views.’ We don’t ever actually use
them.”
To see, perchance to sit. That’s
not exactly what Hamlet said. But aye, there’s the rub.
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