RDC Blog

Designers have recognized the significant influences of national culture on place/object experience, and have begun to focus on customizing place/object offerings accordingly.  Watters, in his review of patterns of mental illness from around the world presents a compelling argument for the recognition of cultural differences during the design process, although he never specifically discusses design:  “The ideas we export to other cultures often have at their heart a particularly American brand of hyperintrospection and hyperindividualism.  These beliefs remain deeply influenced by the Cartesian split between the mind and the body, the Freudian duality between the conscious and unconscious, as well as teeming numbers of self-help philosophies and schools of therapy that have encouraged us to separate the health of the individual from the health of the group . . . What is certain is that in other places in the world, cultural conceptions of the mind remain more intertwined with a variety of religious and cultural beliefs as well as the ecological and social world.  They have not yet separated the mind from the body, nor have they disconnected individual mental health from that of the group.”

Ethan Watters.  2010.The Globalization of the American Psyche.  New York:  Free Press.

Good mental health depends on soaking up a few rays – and not just outdoors.  Researchers have determined that our mental state is enhanced when we have access to daylight while indoors, and the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms (SLTBR) met recently to discuss within building exposure to daylight.  The architects, lighting engineers, and scientists who met at the SLTBR session drafted building design guidelines that include:  1) Views from windows should allow people inside a building to see out far enough to monitor the direction of sunlight and the height above the horizon of the sun.  2) It’s a good idea to cycle colors and intensity of artificial lighting to mimic sunlight when it is not possible to bring much direct daylight into a structure.  Sunlight is brighter at midday than at sunrise or sunset and is bluer around noon and more yellowish/reddish at sunrise and sunset.  3) “Artificial light sources, both within public places and private spaces, should be designed and placed so they minimize the amount of light pollution at night, in order to achieve adequate darkness conditions . . . . Darkness is an important determinant of circadian adjustment, as is the gradual twilight transition from darkness to daylight.”

Anna Wirtz-Justice and Colin Fournier.  2010.  “Light, Health and Wellbeing:  Implications from Chronobiology for Architectural Design.”  World Health Design, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 44-49.

All of us with healthy eyes have peripheral vision, and some designers consider peripheral views when planning spaces.  Restaurant designers, for example, often recognize that when diners see briskly moving waiters out of the corner of their eye, they start to eat more quickly, which can be bad for the bottom line in restaurants that make a lot of money on alcohol and desserts – so these designers shield views of waiters rushing to or from the kitchen.  New research has shown that our peripheral vision “regularizes” what is seen peripherally by just ignoring unusual inputs or visual “noise” – so the restaurant designers mentioned earlier are right on track –peripheral views matter.

John Greenwood, Peter Bex, and Steven Dakin.  “Crowding Changes Appearance.  Current Biology, in press.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed classrooms that support student use of their own laptops during classes that require access to computers.  In these spaces, which serve as substitutes for computer labs, there are increased numbers of electrical outlets and wireless Internet access.  The project revealed that “Despite concerns that students would become distracted – checking their Facebook accounts during class, for example – the researchers found that students using their own laptops . . . tended to be more focused, perhaps because of their familiarity with the equipment they were using.”

“Laptop Revolution:  New Class Design Saves Schools Money, Space.”  2010 Press Release, North Carolina State University, http://news.ncsu.edu.

 Zhong and her colleagues have investigated the link between lighting levels and behavior in several studies with implications or the design of indoor and outdoor public and private spaces – anyplace where ethical behavior is desired.  Although the study was designed so that darkness did not have any effect on actual anonymity, it “increased morally questionable behaviors.”  In the experiments conducted, the darker conditions were created by removing 8 fluorescent ceiling mounted lights in a 15 x 14 foot room (4 lights in place instead of 12, no information on objective measures of these light levels) or by putting on sunglasses (no objective information on the darkness of the tint). 

Chen-Bo Zhong, Vanessa Bohns, and Francesca Gino.  “Good Lamps are the Best Police:  Darkness Increases Dishonesty and Self-Interested Behavior.”  Psychological Science, in press.

The culture we have created is now affecting our genetic evolution and influencing the ways that we interact with the world around us:  “Many genes for taste and smell show signs of selective pressure,” for example.  As humans monitor the ways that their interactions with the natural world evolve, the information collected can help us understand the place-related cultural memories (memes) that linger from our struggle for survival on the savanna.  These include the fact that we are drawn toward warm colors (think: fire), that around the world our favorite color is blue (think: sky on a pleasant day), that we enjoy experiencing dappled light, such as that found under a tree on a pleasant day, our feelings that lines or curves at particular orientations are calming or stimulating, and that we find sharp jagged shapes disturbing.  The data collected may help us understand our responses to particular smells as well as color hues, saturation levels, and brightness intensities, for example.  As Wade states, “The selective signals [have the potential] to bring to light salient events in human prehistory as modern humans dispersed from the ancestral homeland in northeast Africa and adapted to novel environments.”

Nicholas Wade.  2010. “Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force.” New York Times, March 1. 

Familiarity can be a problem.  Recent research in Cologne indicates “The brain is more active and reacts more along unfamiliar routes.  When the test persons became familiar with the routes, the activity of their brains became less; this was the case for both the experienced and inexperienced drivers.  This means that drivers drive on familiar routes without consciously orienting themselves.”  This finding has repercussions beyond road design.  Think about people traveling down a familiar hallway – changing features of the environment occasionally, or designing a space initially to minimize potential hazards in spaces people will habituate to, can minimize accidents.

Patrick Honecker. 2010 “Deadly Driving Habits.”  Press Release, University of Cologne, http://www.pressoffice.uni-koel.de.

Naps are good for us.  Recent research by Dr. Matthew Walker at the University of California, Berkeley, has shown, for example, that naps enhance the functioning of our memory and it seems an afternoon nap “sets the brain up for learning,” even hours after we wake up. Evidence indicates that people living in cultures that take afternoon siestas are less likely to die of heart disease.  Facilitating napping through the design of individual workspaces or centralized napping areas is an investment in better performance.

“Researchers Explore the Benefits of Sleep – and the Problems with Sleep-Deprivation.”  2010.  Press release, American Association for the Advancement of Science, http://news.aaas.org.

Kaiser, a principle with Perkins + Will, has integrated his own professional experiences with material from rigorous studies of effective (and ineffective) navigation tools to identify features of successful wayfinding systems.  He summarizes his suggestions, stating ”Not unlike nature, it is key to reinforce orientation, provide simple vistas, and accent the destination point to convey arrival.”  Kaiser suggests using views within and outside the building, materials, lighting, and furnishings to define areas and pathways – consistencies in materials indicate a continuing area, changes indicate decision points, for example.  Also, “To use contrasting light to accent a destination point or important intersection, the lighting in that area must be at least twice as bright as adjacent ambient lighting [30 foot-candles as opposed to 15 foot-candles] to create a visual contrast.”  Right-angled turns are suggested, because they are easier for people to understand and remember, “non-right angled turns are confusing and disorienting.” Windows near elevators are recommended so that when people exit the elevator they can quickly reorient themselves by looking at landmarks outside of the structure.  Kaiser concludes by stating that to move people through a complex facility “it is vital to develop a more intuitive architectural sign language in the design of wayfinding paths and landmarks.”

Dennis Kaiser.  2010.  “Architectural Sign Language.”  Medical Construction and Design, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 30-33.