A Clear Desk

I now have a clear desk. It looks better. I feel less claustrophobic, and I can find what I need more quickly. So why do I feel unsettled? Probably for the same reason that some people feel challenged by minimalist modern architecture. There is now less of me in the place where I am. It is still the place where I sit, but it no longer feels like the place where I belong.

Is this an argument for clutter? No. But it is a recognition that imperfections in a place sometimes echo the untidy, fallible humans to whom that place belongs. They are a part of the language by which a place garners meaning.

Design is the means by which we create places that both work well and have an emotional resonance which underpins meaning – whether in the classroom or in the workplace. Design is not about perfection.