Architecture is designed to increase our productivity – think of features like uniform workspaces, straight pathways, or purely functional rooms arranged to optimize tasks. When forced into constant productivity, we gain efficiency, but we end up exhausted and disconnected from one another. We need to design subtraction spaces in our workspaces and everyday life, spaces that accommodate the feelings and dreams of the occupant: spaces where we can wander, wonder, feel, connect, relax, restore, and reset. By challenging the perception that time just moves on and cannot be controlled, people can shift time: they can start, reverse, break, accumulate, prolong, and rerun time. Subtraction spaces invite people to choose to actively shift time. These spaces alter time depending on the condition of the host building. Time becomes space through transformation into architectural elements and sensory experiences. Different programs, such as schools, offices, factories, and hospitals require various strategies for subtraction spaces. The CIT and Fletcher buildings at RISD are used here as the host structure to demonstrate the addition of subtraction spaces. While addressing the social problem of excessive productivity with an architectural solution, I seek to improve mental health and create spaces that encourage connection between people. Subtracting programmed areas while simultaneously adding undefined spaces into existing buildings displays the ability of architecture to foster moments of freedom in overly efficient lives and reconfigure life around what matters
