Research 9/7 - 9/17

Primary Takeaways for the Week

• Researching for three separate uses turned out to be quite the task this week! Office information was fairly easy to come by, but the cafeteria and library portion required more digging. Issues such as privacy and lighting overlapped in several ways between the three uses as well as ADA code. Moving forward with capstone, I must continue to remember that with each space psychological behaviors and needs will vary and effect my design choices.

Schedule Breakdown

• Tuesday 9/8​

• 1 hr | Found digital sources for library research

• Friday 9/12

• ​2 hr | Time in library spent searching for resources for the Cafeteria and Humanitarian Office

• Sunday 9/14

• ​4 hr | Assignment 4 write-up on research for the Humanitarian Office

• 3 hr | Assignment 4 write-up on research for the Cafeteria

• Monday 9/15

• ​3 hr | Assignment 4 write-up on research for the Library

Process

• In order to do research we needed to define our topics. I found it most useful to visually walk through a space, such as a cafeteria, and take note of every factor I encountered.

• The majority of my research came from library books, textbooks, and magazine articles. Some of the most informational pieces included:

• Successful Restaurant Design by Baraban and Durocher

• Public Library Space Needs: A Planning Outline by Anders Dahlgreen

• Environmental Psychology for Design by Dak Kopec

• 360 by Steelcase.

• I approached the actual research by picking up a book and then organizing my findings by the topics I stated or other categories I saw fit. By organizing my research in this way, I believe I will more effectively find information when I look back for answers.

• With precedent studies approaching, I now know that information I really need to focus on when looking at other buildings. Most of this information will be about items that I could not find research on this past week.

Interesting Findings

• Office

• ​Body movement is the key to supporting a healthy work environment

• Open office plans benefit the company financially and spatially

• Providing storage is important for well-balanced privacy

• Language-free signage is important for offices that involve the community

• Cafeteria

• ​Storage needs to be adjacent to food preparation areas

• A sense of place should be created aesthetically to distinguish the cafeteria from other eating places

• Total visual privacy is unnecessary is restaurants

• Library​

• ​Direct sunlight is harmful to books overtime

• The placement of commuter stations depends on the purpose. Catalog computer should not have chairs to increase turnover rates

• Libraries are transitioning from physical books to technology resource spaces

• At least 5% of seating must be allocated for wheelchairs