The Girl Before and The Architecture After: How the new 'actor' in our lives is defined

'The walls and floors are all made of the same pale stone. Notches running along the base of each wall give the impression they're floating in the air. And it's empty. Not unfurnished - I can see a stone table in a room to one side, some designery-looking, very cool dining chairs, a long, low sofa in a heavy cream fabric - but there's nothing else, nothing for the eye to catch on [...] And, although it doesn't feel abandoned or unlived in, there's absolutely no clutter.' (JP Delayney, The Girl Before, 2017)

It was Danish architect, Kim Herforth Nielsen who said about his company 3xn that 'we design buildings for the people who are going to act in them.' Which is a really fascinating concept when thinking about the above quote from JP Delayney's book 'The Girl Before' and how it pluralises the architecture, taking it beyond the simple backdrop for the day to day life, into its emergence as a lead actor with the power to trigger decisions and reactions in other characters.

The book itself, alternates between the perspectives of Emma (before) and Jane (after) as they move into the minimalist, technology driven apartment at One Folgate Street. Adding to the drama is their really bizarre and focused landlord and famous architect, Edward Monkford, with whom they find themselves in a love affair, at different times obviously. Once Jane discovered that Emma died in the apartment she begins an investigation which leads her down the rabbit hole in the pursuit for the truth. To cut the long story short, the ex did it and our dramatic architect figure is off the hook. That is not the interesting part. What really touched me is not the book's combination of 50 Shades of Gray with The Girl on the Train but the way in which the author defines the architecture from the beginning and how he unleashes it onto the 'actors'.

'She cranes her neck to look up at the bare walls, made of some expensive cream-colored stone, that soar into the void of the roof. The upper floor is reached by the most crazily minimalist staircase I've ever seen. It 's like something hewn into a cliff face: floating steps of open, unpolished stone, with no handrail or visible means of support.' (JP Delayney, The Girl Before, 2017)

Here the architecture is further introduced as a character in the book, its personality touched on, the way in which it behaves, the way in which it looks and how it sits in relationship to everyone else explained. The 'architecture character' emerges as the hooded figure, mysterious and simple, unknown but pleasant and interesting. Through this description, the author, creates a rigid atmosphere for the rest of the 'actors' as they will need to behave from now on in the presence of the apartment at One Folgate Street. In this manner the idea of architecture and psychology is introduced and the connection that it demands for those acting in it, is established. From this point the architecture will begin to inform changes in the habits and personality of both Emma and Jane and impose its control over the entire line of the story. The apartment determines positive as well as negative behaviour changes for those two characters, it making them tidier, more organised, more focused and it encourages them, in a way, to take more risks. It is Emma who says on multiple occasions 'I am not like this', referring to the changes that her personality suffered during her time at One Folgate. Although she is aware of the change the environment will have on her, she will never pay full attention to the architecture and how much it changes her.

Behavioural design in architecture is part of many architect's agenda today but in the work of William Ittelson we can find something that relates back to our text. He suggests that through environmental psychology, an architect can be the choreographer of actors' movement within a space. Through the way in which rooms, doors, windows and stairs are arranged, architects can determine places of contact which will encourage social interaction or barriers which will prevent interaction from taking place. In this manner, nothing is left to chance. In the book, Emma describes the apartment as having no doors, no visible fittings, no window frames, the transition from one room to another is made seamless. The boundaries between what is kitchen and what is livingroom are deconstructed in the pursuit for universal cohesion. Looking back at a scene from 'Awakening' (1990), when one of the institution's patients is unable to move towards the window because the pattern of the floor stops, we can better understand the idea of the minimalist architect of One Folgate which searched for the perfect transition between spaces. The psychological impact of switching from a carpet to a tiled floor or from one colour room to another creates a unnecessary stress which prevents the mind from becoming fully immersed in current experience. Therefore the distraction needs to be eliminated through the creation of non-separating separating spaces with hidden visual stimulus which can subconsciously assist the navigation of spaces.

Alvar Aalto also thought that the psychology of space can influence the way in which people behave to such an extent that it can help them heal much quicker. The Paimio Sanatorium in Finland was such an example in which the architect used colour, product design, spatial configuration and material psychology in order to assist patients in their healing process. Furthermore, buildings such as the Guggenheim in New York define the strategy employed by Frank Lloyd Wright to move people from confined spaces to open, highly lit ones in order to enhance their experience. But it is the control over a space which Wright manifests that brings him close to Mr Monkford's character. His desire to control the way in which people live their lives in the houses he designs, down to specifying the clothing which must be worn is linked to the mind frame of the architect figure in The Girl Before. In the book, both women have to adapt their wardrobe, through out all the clothes that do not fit in the small storage spaces and they are both treated by their architect lover with similar clothing and jewellery which would not only fit Mr Monkford's specific design tastes but they would also fit the house.

Another element which becomes prominent in the book towards the end is the idea of patterns and physical arrangement of the built environment. From the way in which the kitchen was arranged to the sequence of rooms and the furniture within them is specifically curated as to determine the actors to undertake day to day tasks in a particular way. This idea of changing people's perception by dictating their thinking of what behaviour is actually possible is clearly observable when looking at way-finding strategies. Through the braking down of a different element's arrangement within a space in terms of layout, positioning, spacing, colour, material we can see how access to certain areas is encouraged or prevented. Take for example the really ugly barrier in the London Tube which sit right at the entrance to the platform to prevent people from running onto the tracks. However, in the book, the two women Jane and Emma, are ultimately driven to edge by the technology of the house which dictates everything down to the way in which they use the shower and what tasks need to be done before other.

It is this that brings me towards the end of the book and what I think could be an architectural conclusion to this otherwise drama filled tale. Although the figure of the architect was created as a caricature of everything that others think architects should be like, combined with a Christian Gray passion for sexual games, one element of his personality was interpreted correctly, his careful and systematic planning of One Falgate Street. Because it is 'his' creation that plays such an important role, in my perception, in this book. The 'backdrop' which becomes an 'actor' by influencing the characters it comes into contact with through the use of environmental psychology. This, along with the incorporation of smart technology, looks towards the transformation of the way in which we leave our lives on a daily basis. Moving from smart phones to smart living doesn't seem that far anymore. The use of sustainable strategies, architectural psychology and technologic advancements are creating spaces which do not only react to our habits but influence and assist our sustainable living on a regular basis.