iSearch: Red, White, and Blue

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For Authenticity: Go Back to Source.
            Let’s go back to the beginning, the beginning of time, to the Garden of Eden. It was there and then that nature was in its purest form, where comfort, peacefulness, and provision were certain. Nothing there was tainted from the way that God had originally intended things to be. Ever since then, we as a people have tried to bring back the way things were. Throughout history, mankind has tried to recapture and manipulate nature to emulate a sense of comfort, peacefulness, and provision through architectural design and layout.
            The ancient Greeks had Arcadia, which was the mountainous district that had been the dwelling place for people who enjoyed a changeless life of peace (Kunstler 42). Originally, Arcadia was not only an architectural theme, but a lifestyle as well, where nature was essential. Because of this, people related nature to comfort, peacefulness, and provision. Over the years Arcadia has been romanticized into a dream-like, almost idyllic architectural theme thought to yield the comfort, peacefulness, and provision that the ancient Greeks found in their Arcadia. This romanticized Arcadia seemed to be reappearing many centuries later in puritanical America, the new nation of “peace and plenty.” This Arcadian theme was represented in the architectural structures and design of everyday things such as banks, courthouses, schools, waterworks, and farmhouses (Kunstler 42).
            Social traditions of prized rural nature in the American-English culture corresponded with the ideologies that comprised the romanticized Arcadia. These English traditions represented the romanticized Arcadia in the way that rural nature was prized. In its ideal state, society strived for a prosperous, more spread out lifestyle in which they abided as the rural “Lord-of-the-Manor” country squire type. Some of these English traditions of embracing nature are still very popular today in the twenty-first century, even though they are rooted back to when the Pilgrims voyaged over the Atlantic Ocean, centuries earlier.
            The Pilgrims were driven to come to America to not only leave behind the human wickedness and rottenness that the industrial cities had to offer, but to pursue “the realm of God,” which they believed was nature (Kunstler 39). To them, nature was a “safe, green, warm, sheltering, life-giving realm, full of fruit, grains, flocks of sheep and fowl” (Kunstler 42). They believed that nature in itself was of God and his realm, and that He provided not only the food that they needed, but comfort, and peacefulness as well.  To consider nature and the above-mentioned things that comprise of nature, as God’s realm, is truthful. God himself told mankind that He did in fact provide all of the things necessary for human life.
            And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the                 face of             all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for                         food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to                        everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I     have given       every green plant for food.” (ESV Bible, Gen. 1.29-30)
Even painters and writers of the mid-eighteen hundreds referred to nature as “the seat of all transcendent values- that is, of all godliness” (Kunstler 40). As time progressed, mankind has slowly drifted further and further from the realization of God being the source of comfort, peacefulness, and provision. First, we replaced God as our source, with nature as our source. Now, we are using architecture and design to fulfill our need of comfort, peacefulness, and provision. Retail is one modern day twenty-first century area that specifically uses architecture and design to bring out feelings of comfort, peacefulness, and provision.
            In the restored Rhinelander Mansion in New York City, resides the Polo Ralph Lauren store, which resembles a prewar English manor. Upon walking in, one might be confused during the time that they are there, forgetting that they are even in New York City altogether. Greeted by comfortable leather chairs, red oriental rugs, and surrounded by vintage pictures and paintings of country squires, the “Polo Mansion” acts as catalyst to trigger the reaction that the store’s architect had planned (Gladwell 460). After being in the “Polo Mansion,” Gladwell describes his feelings, “You feel as though you ought to venture over to Central Park for a vigorous morning of fox hunting” (Gladwell 460). Although nature is not directly involved with the design of the “Polo Mansion,” people obviously still feel connected to nature. Just how people romanticized the nature of the Greek Arcadia into an architectural theme hoping to obtain the same comfort, peacefulness, and provision, the rural nature of English-American culture was being romanticized into the “Lord-of-the-Manor” theme. This newly romanticized theme would in turn provide the same comfort, peacefulness, and provision that nature had once provided.
            Store architects and designers are smart. They know what does and does not work in retail to fulfill their main goal: to sell merchandise. The architect of the Calvin Klein store in New York City, John Pawson, shares how he achieves this goal. “People who enter are given a sense of release. They are getting away from the hustle and bustle of the streets of New York. They are in a calm space.” (Gladwell 460). Simply put: a shopper who experiences comfort is more likely to buy more. Humans want to have a calmness. We don’t only desire this, but we and depend on this to
            What most people have failed to do is connect comfort, peacefulness, and provision to God, the Creator of all things. The ancient Greeks sought other gods and materialistic things to obtain comfort. Society today is no different; seeking and depending on many other things other than God. Paul explains this to the people of Rome quite well; “…they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…”(ESV Bible, Rom. 1.25). Twenty-first century society has the same perception that the people of Rome had, seeking the evidence of comfort, peacefulness, and provision, instead of seeking the source. Back to the beginning, the beginning of time, the Garden of Eden. It was there and then that nature was in its purest form, where comfort, peacefulness, and provision were certain. Nothing there was tainted from the way that God had originally intended things to be. In the Garden of Eden it was known that God was the provider of all things. Rightly so, everything there was perfect. Mankind desires to experience these feelings of comfort, peacefulness and provision, but it is only until we become fully dependent on God that we can genuinely have these experiences once again.

                                                           
                                                           

                                                                        Works Cited

Gladwell, Malcolm. “Gladwell.com – the Science of Shopping.” Gladwell.com. 4 Nov. 1996. Web. 08 Apr. 2012. <http://www.gladwell.com/1996/1996_11_04_a_shopping.htm>.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version Containing the Old and New Testaments : ESV. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007. Print.

Kunstler, James Howard. The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-made Landscape. New York: Touchstone Book, 1994. Print.

Amidst a busy downtown New Haven, this man-made park uses nature strategically to create a sense of comfort, peacefulness, and provision.:

Nature is used to influence a sense of comfort, peacefulness, and provision in a retail setting:

messy room

Messy Room

James Kuntsler

I couldn’t decide which photos to upload, so I uploaded half of them. The location is in my backyard in Agawam.

When analyzing a place that can go along with Kunstler’s article, my back yard came to mind. There you will find trees planted, a pond built, and many other things of nature that are not there naturally. I live on Main Street, one of the busiest streets in Agawam. It is not necessarily the most secluded or natural place one can go. Yet, we still choose to create an “artificial way of life in an inorganic community that pretended above all other virtues to be “natural.” So then, why do people often cling to this rural landscape? Kunstler says that the rural landscape was still “the abode of nature.” People find comfort in nature. It has the ability “to “nurture.” This is the big draw for people. They feel sheltered or secluded from the realities of the outside surrounding world.
            I feel as though if Kunstler were to analyze my back yard, he would criticize the structure of it. He would say that this “oasis” amidst a busy street is quite ironic. I can see where he is coming from, but it adds character. It adds the nurturing character that helps us as people isolate ourselves from our daily busyness. So as an after thought, maybe Kunstler would commend this landscape, and not criticize it.