There are many types of hierarchies, social being a main one, but things like the setup of folders on a computer or the pitches and tones of music are also hierarchical systems.
In a social/group environment a hierarchy is important to establish order and distribute power. Generally you have a leader or boss at the top of the hierarchy who takes care of a few people with different specialisations whom in turn take care of the people in that area of specialisation and so on. A hierarchy performs well because each area has a focus and a leader to motivate and push to completion.
There are also different types of political hierarchies that relate to our group dynamics, which include:
- Autocracy: One individual has complete power and leads over all others.
- Monarchism: A king or Queen has complete power but shares it with other individuals.
- Oligarchy: A group of individuals lead.
- Republic: The "people" vote on a representative who will lead.
- Democracy: The "people" vote on a person to lead.
Although hierarchies can establish order they also have their downfalls due to power division and can lead to problems such as stereotyping, oppression and dominance. Power has been known to corrupt people, after coming into power or a position of influence they can use their status to achieve other goals that maybe weren't available to them previously.A hierarchy in an architectural sense would follow the pattern of having the architect or project leader at the top level of the hierarchy followed by the consultants for each of the different disciplines (civil, electrical, hydro, acoustic, etc) then the next level would be each disciplines team of workers.
In terms of our project, the hierarchy would be as followed in the image.
Aside from hierarchy in the way we work as a group it could also be applied to the relationships in UT3. IE. a map controls lighting, models and brushes, but in each of those fields are a group of different lights and their properties, or sets of different models and textures relating to them. I think it is important to understand these hierarchical relationships while completing this project.
Hierarchy relating to our design, would relate to social status. Being a Market rate housing design, it is a building aim at a lower class of people in the social hierarchy of the area. From the perspective of the better off people in the hierarchy this lower class and the market rate housing might be looked down on as being an unnecessary or unwanted addition to their area. This lower class, if they were to inhabit the market rate housing, could be interpreted as being derelict and that image could be passed onto the building.
Hierarchy can also relate to the parts of this project, the UT3 map, wiki, presentations, blogs etc. With Hierarchy being created by the weighting of marks between the parts. This Hierarchy introduces the idea of priority which I am finding plays a great part in this course and collaboration.
Related Links
Social Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression
Wikipedia: Hierarchy
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