Environment

  Functions

    To create a sense of privacy and control - define boundaries

Lack of independence from closer spaces

Space in a home

man's office - wood finishes, geometric prints, stripes, or solid colors, deeper hues

Adolescent's room - black and purple, whose room or space is it?

Gender – whose room is the:

            Kitchen

            Living Room

            Bedroom

            No private space

 

To communicate hierarchy 

Office spaces (see office design activity)

corner with outer office entrance on higher floors (penthouse), size of 
office and desk, wood finishes, expensive artifacts, carpet status markers

Wrong status cues - my office at USC

To separate different functions or subgroups

To avoid distractions - walls/dividers,

vibrant colors, patterns, bright lights - distracting and agitating and lead to turnover and absenteeism

To create a sense of security and safety

Homespun feel to quilts, etc.

To express identity

Couples/homes - escalating conflicts predict divorce (Gottman)

            Conflict over picking homes, redecorating

To create order and organization

Highly complex patterns are less comfortable

            Can mix patterns and colors, but need a sense of cohesion

Need for transition areas - use of plants to bring the outdoors inside, repeating colors while changing patterns (or vice versa) throughout offices of a home

Curves are relaxing; jagged lines cause tension

To create variety/simplicity

Growing preference for simplicity (stark look of modernism/contemporary style -- white walls) - reaction to high tech world?

Relationships more important - complex designs detract from

To look pleasing – aesthetics

To enhance/inhibit actions including interaction

Low lighting - linger, relaxed, intimate

Bright lighting - fatigue, escape

Restaurants

  High turnover: bright lights, little sound proofing, slightly uncomfortable chairs

  Stay longer with low lights, carpets, drapes, padded ceiling/sound proofing, close seating

Office buildings

            The greater the number of doors separating people, the less the interaction

             Common spaces (lounges, mailroom, water cooler)

  Parking lots

            People become territorial about their parking space and take more time to leave if others are waiting nearby and even longer if the waiting driver honks their horn.

What is the design of your office and/or home? What functions does it serve?

Have some put on board - apply principles