Arrangements

Arrangement is a great word; seldom do we give it the significance it is due.  It can be used to connote anything from flowers in a vase to an understanding between two people with a lot of stops along the way.

I seldom thought about the word until just the other day when I felt affected by the place in which I was standing, the Palace Theater in Louisville Kentucky.  It came to me that the arrangement of the place was definitely making me think in various ways such as historically, artistically, and even spiritually.  Recalling other significant architectural arrangements such as standing inside the mountain chapel in Sedona Arizona or in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capital, walking in downtown Houston among the buildings, driving towards downtown Houston on a clear night, walking in Yew Dell Gardens or Bernheim Forest it becomes obvious that we are affected by the way things are arranged; affected on a subliminal level.

We are also affected on a physical level.  Approach a house and there is an entrance, a front door that is usually more inviting than other entrances.  Some would walk towards an ornate front door and opt to find a side or rear entry that is less intimidating.  Walk into a room and the arrangement of the furniture is either inviting, repellant, or neither, sort of blah.  The way the building or even garden is arranged has a decided effect on how we interact with it.

It is a pseudo science, or perhaps an art, to make arrangements be they architectural, arboreal, floral, or even interpersonal.  We are almost always affected by them and we may not even realize it.  We are conditioned, and I use the word advisedly, from little on to pay attention to arrangements and are so adept at figuring them out that we don’t consciously do it.

If a feral animal comes into a human dwelling, pandemonium ensues.  The animal is in no way conditioned to abide by the arrangements that are extant.  A domestic animal who “lives” in the house will, on the other hand, move about without disturbing any of the arrangements.  I think it would be the same if a feral human, should such a being exist, came into a buffet dinner; the result would be comical if one wasn’t responsible for cleaning up the mess afterwards.

Houses, buildings and monuments are drawn, rendered, modeled, and subjected to painstaking examination of details.  One must reach a comfort level with the project before it commences.  Informed urban planners pass judgement on an addition to the skyline before it is built.  As an aside, a major project in Louisville almost went forward that would have completely destroyed the arrangement of the central business district.  Thankfully it was scrapped before ground was even broken for it.

Chairs, tables, desks, sofas, lamps, and all items that are used by people have to be designed according to rules that have become known collectively as ergonomics.  They all depend heavily on measurements of the human form and have allowed us to be comfortable with resulting furniture and fixtures.

Yet when we are dealing with flowers and trees we depend heavily on someone with a good reputation and track record.  We wouldn’t hire an arborist without a good one because we don’t have the luxury of doing the arboretum over and over until it suits us.  We want it to be done in excellent fashion the first time.  Flower arrangements are likewise artistic but are easier to accept, reject, redo than is an entire garden.

Each person makes his own arrangement of his personal space.  It could be a shopping cart for a homeless person, a cubicle for a corporate droid, an office for an executive, a home office, a shop, or even the cabin of a boat.  The basic outline is usually given but how the user decides to make it look is completely his own.  Another coming into it excuses it if it isn’t up to his/her taste but does get a flavor for the mentality of the occupant by observing his/her space.

Arrangements are never permanent.  The Acropolis in Greece, the Forum in Rome, the Sunday morning implosion are all evidence that they are not; as is divorce, bankruptcy, and death.  Arrangements have a life cycle that varies based on external factors.  People who have an arrangement/understanding can be persuaded to abandon it; houses that satisfied one generation may not the next; urban and even suburban areas that were useful in 1900’s may not be in the 2000’s.  There are those that would hold on to the past, this is fine until a sort of constipation sets in and the organism/society is hampered by too much being held and not cleaning itself out from time to time.  The test of utility is the market place and the museum.  If it won’t sell and if it isn’t attractive; it may be time to move on.

While arrangements are never permanent, the principles that apply to them seem to be.  The principles of design are immutable; the rules of interpersonal relationships are the same now as they have been forever, since before the ancient texts were written; that which was judged as artistic in ancient Egypt, roughly 5000 years ago, remains artistic today.  We use principles to design everything we have, both materially and interpersonally.

Those that study them, the architects, engineers, physicians, psychologists, attorneys, and a host of other disciplines, make new arrangements for the betterment of the human race and allow us to appreciate what has been arranged should we decide to dwell upon it.

If we were to walk into a completely uninhabited landscape, we would immediately begin to arrange it differently to suit our purpose.  In fact that is what we have been doing on the Earth as we have evolved and continue that evolution as beings with the brand of intelligence that we have.  We make new arrangements but the physical and psychic laws that govern them aren’t new.