The point in this prelude is to stimulate the imagination of "what could have been", to try to see the invisible.

Seeing the invisible through the visible is also assigning meaning to the objects (symbols) that we perceive in a particular place, at a particular moment. What do those objects refer to? and can we all see them in a way, through a particular frame of reference.

Elements could include:

• single objects
• landscapes
• people
• buildings

Stories could happen:

• in the long-term
• in the short-term
• within a community (endemic)
• outside a community (epidemic)

The image itself is a representation of the space, something that is projected on a different level (a meta level), and which is constituted of feelings, perceptions and imaginations.

There is a difference between what exists physically and what exists psychologically, what exists in our heads. In the field of urbanism, a seminal study of such an effect was Kevin Lynch's The Image Of The City.

In his book, he attempted to identify the particular psychological features of a city, distinct—but not separate—from its physical features. Once these have been identified, the question is whether or not we can design and build physical features which can elicit psychological reactions.

Paths

• These are the streets, sidewalks, trails, canals, railroads, and other channels in which people travel
• They arrange space and movement between space

Edges

• Boundaries
• They can be either Real or Perceived
• These are walls, buildings, and shorelines, curbstone, streets, overpasses, etc.

Districts

• Medium to large areas that are two-dimensional
  • An individual enters into and out of these areas
  • Have common identifying characteristics

Nodes

• Large areas you can enter, serve as the foci of the city, neighborhood, district, etc.
• Offers the person in them multiple perspectives of the other core elements
• "...the most successful node seemed both to be unique in some way and at the same time to intensify some surrounding characteristic"[1]:77

Landmarks

• Points of reference person cannot enter into
• These are buildings, signs, stores, mountains, public art
• At least one aspect of them is unique or memorable in the context they exist
• Mobile Points (such as Sun) can be used as well

Taken from the wikipedia article.

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• landmark: pearl tower -> shanghai center tower (size, economic, tech development, wealth increase)

• psu landmark: human preacher that is part of penn state, around which a community is created

• zhengzhou university: on a global campus

• gandhi ashram: socio-historical components

The first drawing is taken from the Cooper Hewitt archive, and evokes gravitas, seriousness, heaviness.

The second is taken from the video game Journey, and evokes myth, distance, reverence, religion.

If we control the appearance of the stage, then we control the appearance of the world, then we also possibly have an impact, through the environment, on the public's feelings. We can further persuade them of the validity of what we're presenting, reinforcing their suspension of disbelief.

The above example is a set design by Adolphe Appia, a stage designer and architect from the early 20th century which influenced a new direction in architecture, particularly by taking into account the role of light into stage design and spatiality.

What we see is the dual emphasis on the background, huge pillars of light, and the foreground, with a small lit cave. Each induce different feelings, and are created through the use of light.

The first type of space that muesums exhibit are reflective spaces, in which the physical building reinforces the paradigm under which the museum operates; space first, object second. In this case, what we see is the spatial translation of the linear development of time in art history, the grouping of formally similar artists together, and the separation by geographical boundaries.

The first picture here is from the Tate Gallery in London, and the perspective offered to you here hints at a "pearl necklace" layout, in which each small room is connected to the others by a single pathway in, and a single pathway out. The flow of the public is therefore heavily constrained, and implies a strict order in which to approach the collection.

As a counterpoint to linear space, descriptive space is a space in which the objects of display are laid out such that they can be approached from different perspectives, and in different orders, such as in the second picture, Mies Van Der Rohe's Neues National Galerie in Berlin.

The itinirerary of the visitor is in this case a little less pre-determined, and the appreciation of the objects can be made on the visitor's own terms. However, studies have shown that such a descriptive approach has led to visitors spending less time per object, but viewing more objects altogether when compared with visits within reflective spaces.

Digital scenography is also called level design, or web design. We layout spaces specifically for a particular use or feeling, in order to condense the multiplicity of stimulus in real-life to a single direction or concept.

Level design elements include:

• urban planning (as seen with lynch)
• naturai planning (deciding what the flora, fauna, weather and natural lighting conditions will be in given spaces)
• abilities for users to do things in particular places of the game level, including other characters and interactions
• any formal details such as music, sound effects, textures and animations

• open world (the legend of zelda: breath of the wild, nintendo, 2019) is an approach in which the whole world is accessible at once, allowing the player to explore on their own and create their own intrinsic meaning and stories. By activating the spaces into places, they create their own mental map of the place.

• on rails (bioshock, 2k, 2007) allows the designer to communicate to the player specific, cinematic scenes which are loaded with meaning at once. This focuses on the interpretative power of the player to understand the conceptual undertones and the unspoken stories of the world.

• cave-like (howling dogs, porpentine, 2012) is a radical (and old) way of relying exclusively on the player's imagination to create spaces through textual suggestions and highly abstracted interactions (e.g. clicking, typing), often resulting in fantastical spatial constructions.

Environmental storytelling creates the preconditions for an immersive narrative experience in at least one of four ways:

• spatial stories can evoke pre-existing narrative associations
• they can provide a staging ground where narrative events are enacted
• they may embed narrative information within their mise-en-scene
• they provide resources for emergent narratives.