Sculpture is closely related to environmental landscape. Historically, sculpture has always existed as a decoration in the environment. Even in modern society, this tradition remains. Compared with other types of environment, sculpture plays an important role in the residential environment. Its form, location and quantity play an important role in creating the environmental atmosphere of the entire residential area. Because the residential environment is different from other types of environment, it focuses more on creating a place where people are willing to communicate and full of vitality. Therefore, the sculptures should also conform to this theme.
Sculpture is the embellishment of the small environment of the residential area, but it does not exist only as an independent decoration. It should provide people with an open mind to communicate with the people they watch and use together. At this time, sculpture becomes a prop. Its purpose is to let the groups it serves find common ground and communicate with each other in the process of using, rather than just as a “landscape” independent of people.
At the same time, it is people’s mutual exchanges and rich feelings of passion that constitute a vibrant social life. As long as there are people, people and other activities always attract others, no matter in buildings, residential areas, urban centers or other entertainment places. When people are attracted by others, they will gather around them and new activities will sprout. Therefore, people are always willing to go where there is something to see and something happens. For example, if there are two roads to choose from, one is desolate and the other is full of vitality, most people will choose the latter in most cases. In other words, people are the best scenery in urban space. This has a very important guiding significance for the sculpture design in the residential environment, that is, the focus of the design is to create a dynamic “field” environment. “Field” here not only refers to the sculpture itself, but also refers to the space composed of sculpture and sculpture surroundings, and also refers to the invisible space formed between sculptures of different specific placement points.
In order to enhance the vitality of the residential environment, the most important thing is to encourage most people to participate in the sculpture, to watch it, to touch it, to listen to it, to use it creatively with their imagination, and to promote people’s communication in the use and participation. Therefore, the choice of sculpture theme should be carefully considered, because the residential environment is different from other types of environment, because its “warm and kind” atmosphere is shaped. This is obviously different from the bustling commercial environment, the bright office environment, and the solemn government buildings. Therefore, the theme to be expressed by sculpture here should be based on what people are familiar with, concerned about and loved, so that people can “be willing to say, have something to say, or even have to say” on this theme, and communication in people’s narration will begin. In the creative use of sculpture, children are the best example. We can often see children climbing up and down the sculpture, and sculpture is often treated as a “big toy”.
On the other hand, residential environment can be divided into four levels: private space, semi private space, semi public space and public space. The private space generally refers to the indoor space of the residence and the balcony, platform and yard of the house; Semi private space generally refers to the residential courtyard space enclosed by residential communities, belonging to residential residents enclosed by residential courtyards; Semi public space generally refers to the neighborhood, residential area, or external space of residential area jointly constructed by several communities and owned by residents of these residential communities; Public space generally refers to the residential area or urban external space belonging to urban space. Based on the above spatial analysis, in sculpture design, sculptures belonging to different spatial types should have different expressions in the choice of techniques, scales and themes. The specific considerations are as follows.
(1) The theme of sculpture in each space field should be consistent with the cultural connotation of the space. For example, it is inappropriate to build a memorial sculpture in the residential environment in most cases. Generally, they are based on popular themes.
(2) In shaping different spaces, we should consider the scale, enclosure and accessibility of different levels of living spaces, and build sculptures with different scales, proportions and shapes. In general, the stronger the privacy, the smaller the scale, the stronger the sense of encirclement, and the weaker the accessibility. For example, folk craftsmen often meticulously carved the screen wall when entering the traditional courtyard. The reason is that the space inside is completely semi private. It is only used by residents in the hospital, and should be distinguished from semi public space and public space outside. On the other hand, the stronger the publicity, the larger the scale, the weaker the sense of encirclement, and the stronger the accessibility. For example, the centralized green space in the residential area is generally designed to be more open and extend in all directions. Therefore, the sculpture design should take into account the visual experience of people entering the green space in all directions, as well as the different effects of farsightedness and nearsightedness, so it is generally designed to be large.
(3) Sculpture can also be used as one of the means to separate two different spaces. At this time, sculpture plays a role as a node in the transition from one space to another. It should explain to people that the space in it is owned by a specific part of people, and those outside of this part of people are not encouraged to enter. Therefore, sculpture acts as a “door” at this time, but it is not just “absolutely refused” like a door. This is a very ambiguous relationship. There are higher requirements in the choice of shape, scale and theme.
Finally, it is worth emphasizing that the coordination between the sculpture design in the residential environment and the environment is also very important. This not only requires the theme to be consistent with the cultural theme of the community architecture, the coordination between the size of the sculpture and the surrounding environment, but also the construction of the aesthetic quality of the community.