The Venue Dictates the Experience

BY ALAN CREEDY

Priya Parker makes the galvanizing observation that the venue of a gathering dictates the experience. She points out that the impact of a gathering is dramatically impacted by the venue in which it is experienced. Think about the experience of attending a high school football game in a small rural community vs. the Super Bowl. Priya believes we need to control the venue in order to control the impact.

But what are we to do? Few if any of us can afford to tear down our buildings and build from scratch. More to the point, at least in my experience, most of the architects who specialize in funeral homes are still devoted to the architecture of the past, which emphasizes functionality over impact.

Well, it seems there are two things we can do:

1. If, in fact, we are building new, we should study this research. We should buy airplane tickets and visit the few 21st Century facilities that have opened. (The one above is in Toronto, Canada.) I know of others in Texas and Colorado. If you want an excuse to write off a trip to Europe, the best one is in Scandinavia.

2. We should engage professionally licensed interior designers to upgrade our facilities with an emphasis on upbeat colors, happy surprises, and lots of lighting.