by C.M.

Deasy, FAIA
in collaboration with
Thomas E. Lasswell, Ph.

, ,yy~ ■
V |

A Handbook on
Human Behavior
for Architects,
Designers, and
Facility Managers
 -= $27.50

DESIGNING PLACES
FOR PEOPLE
By C.M. Deasy, FAIA
In collaboration with Thomas E.Lasswell,Ph.D.
This practical handbook shows you how to take
the needs and characteristics of human behavior
and apply them to the design of buildings and
interiors. A lot of information now exists that
could help designers create places where people
can function at their best, with less stress and more
satisfaction. Unfortunately, this information ap¬
pears only in scholarly books and journals; it is
largely inaccessible to design professionals in the
form in which they need it, when they need it.
This book is organized into 11 chapters. The
first two chapters explain the behavioral influ¬
ences that underlie the way all of us use our
buildings, and describe how the book has been
organized to translate behavioral information into
the handbook format architects and other design¬
ers are used to working with.
In Chapter 3 you will find a practical introduc¬
tion to the eight behavioral elements that people
expect from any architectural space. These are:
the potential for forming friendships; the need
for privacy and personal space; the opportunities
for informal groups to form (and ideal group
sizes); the need to search and find cues to the
nature of a space (such as graphic signage or thick
carpets); the need to communicate well; ter¬
ritoriality; and the concern for personal status and
for personal safety. These elements are used by
the authors as a base to give you the practical
information you need for designing effective
places for people.
The next eight chapters cover all types of spaces
in which people spend their days and nights.
Chapter 4 takes you into living spaces, including
houses, apartments, dormitories, and the neigh¬
borhood. Chapter 5 deals with designing an effi¬
cient workplace, and includes personal and
shared workplaces, as well as the private office.
In Chapter 6 you will learn about designing
places where people meet, such as conference
rooms (for example, the book will tell you the
varying design requirements for pre-meeting, the
meeting itself, and post-meeting gatherings), pub¬
lic performances, and open assemblies, such as
public meetings.
Shopping, buying, or bartering are perennial
human needs. The requirements of the shopping
place (including restaurants) are described in de¬
sign terms in Chapter 7.
Chapter 8 deals with learning—how to design
behaviorally effective classrooms, lecture halls,
and libraries. Chapter 9 deals with health care,
including the design of the patient’s room and
public spaces in hospitals.
Chapters 10 and 11 provide hints for designing
behaviorally workable public spaces, such as
building lobbies and waiting rooms, as well as out¬
side areas such as streets and small parks.
This book, with its practical drawings, photo¬
graphs, and design data, is indispensable to any
architect, interior designer, urban designer, land¬
scape architect, or facilities or personnel manager
who wants to create places that really work for
people.

144 pages. 8V4 x 11 (21 x 28 cm). 90 black-and-

white illustrations. Bibliography. Index.

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/
 Digitized by the Internet Archive
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Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/designingplacesfOOOOdeas
DESIGNING PLACES
FOR PEOPLE
A Handbook on Human Behavior for Architects,
Designers, and Facility Managers

by C.M. Deasy, FAIA

in collaboration with
Thomas E. Lasswell, Ph.D.

WHITNEY LIBRARY OF DESIGN

an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications/New York
Copyright © 1985 by C. M. Deasy and Thomas E. Lasswell
First published 1985 in New York by the Whitney Library of Design,
an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications,
a division of Billboard Publications, Inc.,
1515 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10036
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Deasy, C. M.
Designing places for people.
Includes index.
1. Architecture—Human factors. 2. Architecture—
Environmental aspects. I. Lasswell, Thomas E. II. Title.
NA2542.4.D4 1985 720'.1'03 85-3145
ISBN 0-8230-7152-9
Distributed in the United Kingdom by Phaidon Press Ltd.,
Littlegate House, St. Ebbe’s St., Oxford
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic,
electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
taping, or information storage and retrieval systems—without
written permission of the publisher.
Manufactured in U.S.A.
First printing, 1985
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 / 90 89 88 87 86 85
FOREWORD

I have always been amused by the photographs that architects take of their build¬
ings. They are invariably very artistic in intent and execution but do not include
any people. A building, no matter how well it may be designed, cannot be success¬
ful without people, and particularly people who are enjoying themselves.
Why is one restaurant more successful than another when both have similar
menu fare? Obviously it has to do with the ambience of the space and the warmth
with which the guests were greeted when they arrived.
Many times I have viewed similar buildings or spaces, the first devoid of people
and the second bubbling with activity. Why?
It is a criticism leveled at many architects and designers that they do not con¬
sider down-to-earth human frailties and desires when creating spaces for human
habitation. These professions must develop and encourage people who are, to a
much larger degree, “observers”—absorbing what people do and do not like. Cer¬
tainly one of the greatest human games is “people-watching.”
In short, does the human feel good in a particular space? To this end, the
subject of this text is of great interest to me and should be to all architects and
designers of “places for people.” Presenting the human behavioral issues to those
directly responsible for the architectural side of developing the world around us
and in a language specifically geared to these professionals, as this text does, helps
fill a surprising void of information available in this held. Information that can
and should be used by designers every day in their work.
As Mr. Deasy points out in his opening, the nature of our buildings and streets
affects our behavior, affects the way we feel about ourselves and, importantly, how
we get along with others.
That is a uniquely significant responsibility in today’s society and one that our
architects, designers, and planners cannot take lightly.
The material in this text is highly useful. The subject, presentation, and infor¬
mation presented here portray an idea whose time has come.

MacDonald G. Becket, FAIA

The Becket Group
CONTENTS
Foreword, by MacDonald G. Becket 5
Preface 8

1 HUMAN BEHAVIOR 9
AND THE DESIGNER
Environment Influences Behavior 10
Utilizing Behavior Research 10
Human Nature Cannot Be Predicted Intuitively 11

2 USING BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE 14

IN THE DESIGN PROCESS
Constructing a Behavioral Program 15

3 THE NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 17

Friendship Formation 18
Group Membership 20
Personal Space 20
Personal Status 24
Territoriality 26
Communications 29
Cue Searching 34
Personal Safety 38

4 LIVING TOGETHER 40
At Home 41
In an Apartment 48
In a Dormitory 56
In the Neighborhood 61

5 WORKING TOGETHER 64
The Personal Workplace 65
Shared Workplaces 69
The Private Office 71
6 MEETING TOGETHER 74
Conference Rooms 75
Informal Meeting Areas 79
Public Performances 80
Open Assembly 83

7 SHOPPING TOGETHER 87
A Place to Shop 89
A Place to Eat 92

8 LEARNING TOGETHER 96
The Schoolground or Campus 96
Classrooms 104
Lecture Halls 107
Libraries 107

9 HEALTH CARE 112

Going to the Hospital 113
Entrance and Circulation 113
Patient Rooms 115
Visitor Facilities 118

10 PUBLIC SPACES—INSIDE 120

Building Approaches 120
Inside the Building—Entrance Areas 121
Waiting Rooms 125

11 PUBLIC SPACES—OUTSIDE 127

In the Park 127
On the Street 133

Annotated Bibliography 140

Index 142
PREFACE

During years of architectural practice spent in designing buildings that were re¬
sponsive to both the needs and the feelings of the people who used them, I col¬
lected a great deal of information about the ways human behavior is influenced by
the buildings humans inhabit. Much of this information was derived from re¬
search done in connection with specific architectural design projects. More of it
was drawn from sources in the human sciences and from the emerging field of
environmental design research.
Some of this material has been discussed in magazine articles, in a series of
privately printed monographs, and in an earlier book, Design for Human Affairs.
None of it, however, has ever been collected and arranged for simple and easy use
by working designers. This handbook, Designing Places for People, will, I hope,
serve that need.
The task of sorting through the information available and translating it into
design recommendations has been long and complicated. Fortunately, I have had
expert help from a variety of sources. The collaboration of Dr. Thomas Lasswell,
Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California, has been espe¬
cially important in the preparation of this text as it has been for many years in
connection with many other projects. Stephen Kliment, FAIA, Executive Editor of
the Whitney Tibrary of Design, has been patiently helpful over a long gestation
and demonstrated an unusual grasp of some esoteric subject matter. Susan Davis,
developmental editor, and Brooke Dramer, associate editor, have polished both
the ideas and the syntax to make the pages that follow clearer and more readable.
I must also give thanks for the assistance provided by the National Endowment for
the Arts in the form of Grant R81-42-10N.
This book is a useful, practical resource for the designers as well as the oper¬
ators and managers of buildings and public places. As the first handbook of this
type it will, in time, be expanded and improved. It is my hope that readers from all
the fields that are concerned with behavior and environment will send me their
comments and suggestions. These pages can then serve as a channel of commu¬
nication between the research fraternity and those who design and administer the
places where people live and interact. This will benefit all of us who share a con¬
cern for improving the design process. More important, it will greatly benefit the
general public.
Such a result would be a rich reward for the time and effort that have gone into
the preparation of this book.

C. M. Deasy, FAIA
HUMAN BEHAVIOR
AND THE DESIGNER
Although the design professions work with different materials and employ differ¬
ent techniques to solve their problems, they share their only client—the human
race—in common. Architects, landscape architects, interior designers, graphic de¬
signers, industrial designers, urban designers, and other professionals in the ex¬
panding held of environmental design accept without question the fundamental
assumption that their work is designed for, and must be useful to, human beings.
In the process of creating buildings, landscapes, and cityscapes these same pro¬
fessionals must, of course, deal with serious problems of technology, health and
safety, legal constraints, and economics. Fortunately they have available to them a
wealth of guides, handbooks, building codes, and estimating manuals that summa¬
rize this needed information in concise and convenient form. If they need to know
the length of a football held, the size of a hospital bed, or the turning radius of a
truck and trailer, this information has also been collected and codihed to expedite
the design process. As far as products and processes are concerned, the design
professions work with an excellent information base.
In view of the excellent information available on products and processes, it is
surprising to hnd that there is so little information available to designers about
their principal concern, the human client. There are, to be sure, excellent refer¬
ence works on anthropometry, the study of the human body and its functional
capabilities. As a result designers have at hand data on the physical dimensions of
human beings in every conceivable posture: reclining, sitting, kneeling, standing,
sleeping, and awake. In the critical matter of the behavioral dimensions of human
beings, however, the situation is different. In spite of the enormous body of re¬
search done within the human sciences on the human species and the growing
volume of studies focused specifically on the relationship between environment
and behavior, none of this information has been summarized in a form that can be
used readily by designers and that fits naturally into the design process.
This is an unfortunate void. The nature of the buildings and streets of the cities
where we live affects our behavior, the way we feel about ourselves, and most
important, the way we get along with others. If designers were able to work with a
clear understanding of the relationships between behavior and environment, they
could create communities where these effects are positive and beneficial. Without
such an understanding, the behavioral effects of design are haphazard at best and
disastrous at worst. It is like flying without a map or compass. Behavior will be
affected in any case, but it may be in ways that were never intended or never even
imagined. It seems ironic that the professionals who have the principal respon¬
sibility for designing the places where humans live, work, and play should not
have access to information that is so important to the people for whom they
design.
 ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCES BEHAVIOR
The ways in which the design of the human environment affects human behavior
are not trivial. One easily understood aspect is the matter of cooperation. Much of
modern life depends on cooperation between individuals—on the streets, in the
neighborhood, and especially in the workplace. Community living would be much
less tolerable if people generally did not cooperate in waiting for pedestrians to
clear the crosswalk, holding the door for people with bundles, answering the tele¬
phone for the person at the next desk, or accepting deliveries for the next-door
neighbor. If the design of these places embodies the characteristics that make
cooperation easy and convenient, then people can function more effectively and
everyone is better off. If these characteristics are not present, then people will be
subject to unnecessary friction and conflict.
Cooperation is only one of a number of equally important considerations. Mak¬
ing friends with others is an important matter for most people. So is the feeling of
personal worthiness. Both of these concerns are directly affected by our environ¬
ment. If the apartment stairs and walks are arranged so that we meet our neigh¬
bors occasionally, we might find that we like them. If the walks and stairs are
arranged so that we never meet, we will never know whether we like them or not.
In a similar way, our sense of our own worth is influenced by the accommodations
that are provided for us when we do business with others. If the doctors, mer¬
chants, and bankers we do business with want us to come back, they must demon¬
strate that they regard us as important.
There are other equally down-to-earth ways in which the environment relates
to our behavior. Communicating with others in order to share our experiences
and find out what is going on is another matter that is very important to most
people. So is the problem of wayfinding. The ease and accuracy with which we
both communicate and find our way through the urban landscape is largely con¬
tingent on the nature of the surrounding environment. Everyone has a favorite
horror story about the meeting or conference that failed because it was impossible
to see or to hear. We have also experienced some frustration in trying to find
someplace or someone in a building complex without signs or markings. Any en¬
vironment that is inadequate for its intended purpose, that frustrates and annoys
us, or that limits our ability to accomplish our purposes has a direct bearing on
human behavior. From finding friends to finding our way, these are all matters
that are of great importance to human beings. For any designer to ignore them
would be to ignore what human beings are all about.

UTILIZING BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH

Anyone who has made a serious effort to search through the research literature of
the human sciences for information that can be directly applied in the design
process will have no trouble understanding why it is not easily available. One rea¬
son is that there is so much of it. The amount of study devoted to the human
species is awesome, and the flood of new information shows no sign of letting up.
Another is that seldom is it related obviously and clearly to a designer’s informa¬
tion needs. A sociological study on the subject of distributive justice might not
appear to have much to do with the layout of office spaces and the kind of equip¬
ment and furnishings that are supplied, but the two are directly related. This is
the kind of information office planners need to know about. When they allocate
space, furnishings, and equipment, they are at the same time allocating status, and
any unjust allocations will surely annoy individuals who get less than their peers.
Unfortunately, as long as these data are filed under the heading “distributive jus¬
tice,” it is unlikely that they will be widely available to designers. As a result there is

■ 10 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

a two-fold need: Useful information must be located, and it must be translated
from the terminology of the human sciences to the language of design.
There is yet another problem that must be dealt with in compiling useful infor¬
mation for designers: It is that some findings in the held of the human sciences,
though they may have important implications about the environment, have not
been replicated and are not universally accepted as representing soundly based
principles. As a consequence the information covered in the following chapters
has been selected to meet certain criteria:
■ It is based on a list of human characteristics that is accepted widely in the fields
of sociology and psychology.
■ Only those characteristics that have a clear relationship to the designed environ¬
ment have been used in developing recommendations.
■ Recommendations are not made in the abstract. They are related to a wide
range of actual design problems.
■ The recommendations are expressed in the terminology of the design held.
These criteria have been adopted to ensure that the material in the book will be
clearly and directly useful to environmental designers in the form they need. The
book does not deal with global generalities and is not a general compendium on
the subject of human behavior. It deals only with those matters where there is a
clear relationship between environment and behavior, between the surroundings
in which we live and work and the way we feel and act. These are the factors that
create the almost imperceptible differences that make one location enjoyable and
productive and another intolerable.
It is not unreasonable to wonder why, if environment and behavior are closely
related, there is not more obvious outcry against the kind of planning that puts
people in stressful situations. One explanation, as some designers have noted
ruefully, is that people do not always accept meekly what is given to them. They
will blithely make hash out of the designer’s best ideas as they convert their offices,
apartments, or dormitory rooms into something better suited to their purposes.
Another reason is that the human species is remarkably adaptable. It is, in fact,
unique in its ability to adapt to every living zone on this planet. This same adapt¬
ability makes it possible for people to function, and to function well, under cir¬
cumstances that they would never choose if they were offered any alternatives.
This universal adaptability is hardly an excuse for careless planning. If the design
professions seriously accept a commitment to make life better for their human
clients, they cannot avoid the responsibility of creating situations where these cli¬
ents perform at their best because of their environment rather than in spite of it.

HUMAN NATURE CANNOT BE PREDICTED INTUITIVELY

There is one last question about human behavior that must be dealt with. It con¬
cerns the point of view that argues that it is hardly necessary for designers to be
concerned with the study of human nature since they are, of necessity, humans
themselves and therefore know how humans react. This is not a tenable point of
view. Several careful studies have shown that by the time designers have gone
through their rigorous training, their attitudes and values concerning design
questions are strikingly at variance with the general public. A more important
consideration is that, in spite of what common sense might suggest, human behav¬
ior cannot be predicted intuitively; in fact, it is sometimes counter intuitive. It is
not uncommon to find, for instance, that when noisy office equipment is quieted,
complaints about noise increase because it is now possible to hear people talking
on the telephone. Equipment noise can be annoying, but conversations are more
distracting because we are curious about what other people are saying.

HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND THE DESIGNER 11 ■

This sequence of photo¬
graphs shows that,
while both doors func¬
tion perfectly, entering
traffic elects to use the
left-hand door instead
of "passing to the
right." As the last pic¬
ture indicates, people
exiting the building
use what is for them
the right-hand door, re¬
sulting in a series of
collisions at the en¬
trance.

12 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 Even our faith in universally accepted custom may be ill founded. It is a gener¬
ally accepted concept in North America that traffic moves to the right; roadways,
sidewalks, and building entrances are predicated on that assumption. Careful ob¬
servation of what actually happens, however, indicates that such is not necessarily
the case. While a healthy respect for the lethal consequences of being unique
keeps vehicular traffic moving to the right, that is not true elsewhere. One conse¬
quence is that traffic at building entrances is often unnecessarily jammed up be¬
cause the traffic streams have not been clearly separated. The accompanying
photos were taken at a branch library and show that while both doors were func¬
tioning perfectly and there was no obvious reason for their choice, the people
entering the building consistently entered through the lefthand door. The people
exiting the building, however, consistently used what was for them the righthand
door. The result was a series of headon collisions. While this is not a major prob¬
lem, it illustrates an important point. The architect who designed the entrance
surely had no intention of causing this inconvenience. The problem could easily
have been avoided by separating the two doors into an entrance and an exit. Un¬
fortunately, neither this nor any other problem can be solved unless its existence is
recognized. As long as we make “assumptions” about human behavior rather than
finding out about it, we are likely to continue to make similar errors.
This book is dedicated to the following premises:
■ The principal reason for building anything is to help people accomplish their
purposes as effectively as possible.
■ Human effectiveness in any activity is greatly influenced by social and psycho¬
logical factors.
■ Environmental designers should use the knowledge of human behavior to
create places that help people accomplish their purposes with a maximum of
satisfaction and a minimum of friction and frustration.
The following chapters have been prepared to help designers meet this com¬
mitment. There is an additional benefit that may not be apparent immediately. A
better understanding of the interrelationship between environment and behavior
is a spur to creativity. The concerns that are dealt with in this book will complicate
a designer’s work to some degree but at the same time they offer an opportunity to
create new and more effective solutions to old problems. Most designers would
consider that a fair trade.

HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND THE DESIGNER 13 m

 USING BEHAVIORAL
SCIENCE IN THE
DESIGN PROCESS
When designers are involved in developing the solution to a design problem, they
utilize information in two forms. They work fastest with information that they
have in their memories. If the problem is new to them, however, they turn to
reference sources or special consultants for the specific data that may be needed.
An experienced architect might know a great deal about bank layout and opera¬
tion, but if he or she had never dealt with automated teller installations before,
some accurate and reliable information would be sought from outside sources to
ensure that the installation is properly designed.
Another characteristic of the design process is that in practice, it is conducted
under considerable time pressure. A designer may not realize that certain infor¬
mation is needed until the process is well advanced. At that point there is little time
for leisurely research; the necessary information must be located and used as
quickly as possible. There is a temptation at this point to “guess” at the answers,
but this must be avoided at all costs. In the design world, mistakes last a long time
and the penalties for wrong guesses can be very punishing.
The information in the following chapters is arranged to fit into the process
described above. Chapter 3, The Nature of Human Nature, contains background
information on human behavior that should help designers understand the un¬
derlying relationships between environment and behavior. This is material that
should be studied and reflected on as part of any individual’s general fund of
knowledge.
Chapters 4 through 11 deal with specific places where people live together, work
together, meet together, shop together, and learn together. Information about
these places is briefly summarized, and recommendations are made to assist the
designer in resolving those aspects of the problem that deal with human behavior.
Photographs and diagrams are used to illustrate the points made in the text, but it
should be understood that these are not intended to dictate solutions. In most
instances a number of satisfactory solutions can be worked out that all embody the
principles illustrated. A designer working on a shopping complex or furnishing a
hospital lobby can turn directly to a chapter that discusses these places and find
information that relates specifically to these problems. Obviously this information
will mean more and can be used with greater effect by someone who has taken the
time to study Chapter 3.
A last resource is contained in the Bibliography list at the end of the book.
There is a wealth of detailed data available to the designer that can and should be
used to supplement the basic concepts discussed in this book. It does not deal
uniformly with all aspects of environment, however. As is true in most fields,
research follows funding and funding follows the national preoccupation. As a
result such subjects as health care and public safety receive considerably more

■ 14
attention than apartment planning or park layout. Nonetheless, the bibliography
is a rich lode that should be carefully mined.

CONSTRUCTING A BEHAVIORAL PROGRAM

The ideal time to use this information is in the predesign or programming stage.
Designers are very familiar with the list of requirements supplied by the client and
called the program or the brief. These documents vary greatly in quality and detail.
Sometimes they are expertly prepared by professional programming firms and
sometimes they are actually written on the proverbial “back of a napkin.” In some
instances informal programs are prepared by the designer who, lacking any other
guidance, feels the need for establishing goals and criteria as an aid in defining the
project. Whatever the source of the program, it will seldom spell out the precise
behavioral consequences that should be sought or how they are to be achieved. It
is not unusual to find a preamble that stresses the need for “warm and sympathetic
environment” or “an environment that will involve the users,” but it is notoriously
difficult to translate such generalizations into design specifics.
When the program is received, it should be reviewed and annotated or supple¬
mented with human behavior goals. A specific document should be prepared that
goes through each segment of the building program and stipulates precisely de¬
fined goals. A behavioral supplement is not a place for vague generalities. It
should be as precise in its own way as the building program itself. It is not essential
that this supplement be done by the designer. It could also be done by the individ¬
ual who prepares the program. Experience indicates, however, that the chances of
these goals being implemented and actually being reflected in the finished solu¬
tion are much better if the designer who works on the project is involved in the
process of defining the goals.
A brief example can illustrate how this would be done. The program or list of
required facilities for the design of a secondary school would surely specify a site
and would require a variety of special spaces such as an office, classrooms, an
assembly room, a cafeteria, and a teachers lounge. Each one of these spaces repre¬
sents a different set of functional requirements as well as a different set of social
and psychological relationships. In developing a list of specific behavioral sugges¬
tions for each aspect of this project, the designer would consult whichever of the
following chapters deals with the underlying relationships between the people
involved. Chapter 8, Learning Together, would be an obvious source. It not only
covers classrooms and lecture halls in general but also discusses the layout of the
school grounds. Chapter 5, Working Together, discusses problems that are common
in both private and shared office spaces in schools or other institutions.
The source of information about other spaces may not be so obvious at first. It is
necessary to think in terms of the social nature of the activity that occurs in the
space. Assembly rooms and teachers lounges are vastly different places, yet both
share a similar purpose: They are places where people meet together. Recommen¬
dations about such places will be found in Chapter 6, Meeting Together. School
cafeterias and faculty dining rooms are not mentioned in the text, but the impor¬
tant social aspects of eating together are discussed under the heading of “A Place
to Eat” in Chapter 7.
This is by no means the end of the search. Every school will have some waiting
area for the public, whether it is spelled out in the program or not. Useful infor¬
mation on this subject will be found in Chapter 10, Public Spaces-Inside. Since every
public school ground is to some degree a neighborhood amenity, the recommen¬
dations in Chapter 11, Public Spaces-Outside, may contribute something to the de¬
sign of the outside areas of the school. In addition, every school must

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE IN DESIGN 15 ■

 communicate its identity and purpose to the public through signs of some kind
and provide an understandable organization so that newcomers can find their way
around. The discussion in Chapter 3 on “Communications” and “Wayfinding”
offers some helpful information on dealing with these problems.
This is the process by which information on human behavior is assembled and
incorporated into the design process. It does not deal in broad generalities at all.
There are no single heroic solutions. No single bit of information is likely to make
an earthshaking difference in the end product. All the bits and pieces add up,
however. The cumulative effect is to create an institution or an environment that
makes it possible for people to achieve their goals with a minimum of frustration
and a maximum of satisfaction. This is not the same as saying that everyone will
live happily ever after. There are too many factors, other than our immediate
surroundings, that affect our general well-being. All that is implied here is that, so
far as the environment affects us, the positive, supportive aspects will be empha¬
sized and the frustrating, negative aspects will be minimized. No one should un¬
derestimate that accomplishment. It represents an enormous step forward in the
field of environmental design.
It would be inaccurate to assume that, by using the information in this hand¬
book, all the aspects of human behavior that might be important in any given
project will be covered. As a handbook, it deals with principles that apply to a wide
spectrum of design projects and the conditions that are normally encountered in
North America. It does not pretend to cover all situations everywhere. There will
be instances where the unique nature of the project, its size and scale, or the
number of people involved will make it desirable, or even imperative, to conduct
specific research on the groups of people who will be affected. The human sci¬
ences have developed a variety of research techniques for gathering information
that can be very valuable to the design professions. They are practical, effective,
and have been very productive in providing answers to some perplexing design
problems.
One approach to problems of this nature is to construct a careful behavioral
program, or supplement to the building program, based on the information in
this handbook. It should then be possible to determine if major questions or un¬
certainties remain that require further research. Before embarking on such activi¬
ties, it would be wise to consult some of the books that deal specifically with the
problem of employing behavior research techniques in the design field.
Even if there are no unanswered questions that would warrant a special re¬
search program, it may be justified for other reasons. There is one benefit result¬
ing from direct research in this field that is too often overlooked. People like to
feel that they have some degree of control over them lives and some voice in their
destiny. As a consequence, involving the people who will be affected by any design
project in the decision-making process through survey research techniques, obser¬
vations, or interviews can be very beneficial. These benefits will derive in part
from the fact that the designer has better, more relevant information about the
problem. Even more important, however, is the fact that the users who have been
involved will be predisposed to like what they get and to want it to work.

■ 16 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

THE NATURE
OF HUMAN NATURE

Human behavior is a complex subject. It is the focus of a whole family of scientific

disciplines. It has drawn the attention of outstanding scholars and researchers in
the fields of psychology, sociology, and anthropology. It has intrigued poets, play¬
wrights, and philosophers through the ages and formed the basis for our culture’s
greatest literary masterpieces. The amount of published information on human
behavior is enough to dismay even the most dedicated investigator.
Fortunately, as far as designers are concerned, only a limited portion of this
information deals with the relationship between behavior and environment. While
a broad understanding of human nature is an invaluable asset to anyone, and
further reading of the excellent sources listed in the selected Bibliography is
strongly recommended, this book makes no attempt to cover the subject com¬
pletely. It is focused specifically on those aspects of human behavior that are
clearly related to the design field, especially the fields of architecture, interior
design, furniture design, landscape architecture, and urban design.
While human interaction is complex, it is rooted in a limited number of motivat¬
ing factors. Different authorities offer different lists of these essential* factors but
they do not vary in serious ways. Alexander Leighton has proposed a list of 10
“essential striving sentiments” ranging from Physical Security to A Sense of Belonging
to a Moral Order. Abraham Maslow has condensed his hierarchy into four ele¬
ments:
■ Food and Drink Needs
■ Security and Safety Needs
■ The Need for Affection
■ The Need for Self-Actualization
Regardless of the length of the list, there are certain aspects that are constant.
Not all of these motivating factors are of equal importance, nor do they have the
same priority at all stages of life. If the imperative needs for food and drink be¬
come difficult to satisfy, there will be little concern for such abstract matters as self-
actualization. In societies where food and security are more or less assured, how¬
ever, the needs for affection and self-actualization become much more important.
The same change in priorities occurs with age. Young adults are less concerned
with security than their elders but are much concerned with winning the affection
and esteem of their own age group.
The recommendations made in this book are derived from a subset of motivat¬
ing factors that are in some way affected by the environment and can be influ¬
enced by designers who work in environmental fields. They are:

17 m
 Friendship Formation

Group Membership

Personal Space

Personal Status

Territoriality

Communications

Cue Searching

Personal Safety

This list may seem to imply that a designer is not only capable of making a
positive impact on many lives but also bears some responsibility for how they turn
out. No such implication is intended. There is no magic available to a designer that
can cause two strangers to become friends or that will open membership in a warm
and supportive group to someone who is alone. A designer’s responsibility is to
provide settings that encourage the interactions that lead to friendship and, per¬
haps more important, to avoid the creation of settings that discourage or prevent
such interactions. That, however, is an important responsibility.
Because the motivating factors are listed above as discrete items and are each
treated separately in the following text, it may appear that each deals with a dis¬
tinct and separate aspect of human nature. That creates an erroneous impression.
In fact, all aspects of human nature are so interrelated that the boundaries be¬
tween them are difficult to establish. While it is convenient to discuss friendship
formation and the urge to seek group membership as separate matters, the two
are closely related. It would be equally hard to draw a line between an individual’s
concern about personal status and territorial feelings about personal rights. It is
more accurate to view human beings as subject to a spectrum of motivating fac¬
tors—some innate, some culturally based. Whatever the source, these factors in¬
teract in different ways at different times to form that phenomenon we call
human nature.
Subsequent chapters deal with the design of places where people live and work.
In each instance the motivating factors that are likely to be most important in
those places are analyzed and recommendations made about design features.
Thus, it is possible to go directly to the section on schools or apartment houses for
information without reading this general discussion about the factors with which a
designer is supposed to be concerned. It would be much more productive, how¬
ever, to study the following material carefully. These factors are the foundation
on which all the recommendations that follow are made. A thorough understand¬
ing of them will not only make the detailed recommendations more easily under¬
stood; it will enable the designer to make intelligent projections about new
situations and different projects that are not covered in this book.

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
Friendships are formed on the basis of shared interests and backgrounds. As in¬
terests, hobbies, family, or careers change, people become open to new
friendships. The friendships that are then formed are largely affected by oppor¬
tunity. People make friends from contacts at school, at work, in their neighbor-

■ 18 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 hoods, and at clubs and social gatherings. Contact is an indispensable part of the
process.
Studies made in offices, apartment complexes, college dormitories, and housing
for the elderly repeatedly demonstrate the importance of proximity in initiating
social contact. People select friends from the groups they know, and the groups
they know best are those closest to them. It is surprising how much influence even
small distances can have on this process. Research in an English study (as reported
by Peter Manning) indicated that when office workers were asked to list their
friends, 39% of the names on the list were of people who worked within 12 feet.
The percentage dropped as the distance increased. Only 11% of the names on the
list were people who worked at a distance of 36 feet.
Friendships formed through contacts made as a result of living close together
have a tendency to persist as long as the shared interests persist. In a dormitory
study conducted at Princeton by F. Duncan Case, 90% of sophomore dormitory
residents were found to select their roommates from among the group they knew
in their freshman dorms. This effect was so strong that even by their senior years
86% chose roommates they had met in their freshman dorms.
In understanding the effect of closeness on social contact, it is necessary to
recognize that it is functional rather than physical distance that makes the differ¬
ence. People may live just inches apart, separated only by a wall, but if they use
different stairs, travel different paths, or follow different schedules, they may
never even see each other. Even in a business office, if some employees in one
department use a different exit or a different corridor from the other employees,
they may have very little direct contact. Physical closeness is important, but where
people meet is determined by the configuration of buildings and their grounds,
the location of exits, stairways, parking lots, staff cafeterias, elevators, play¬
grounds, laundry rooms, and all the other facilities that cause people to move in
specific paths.

Left: Centrifugal effect.

Adjacent tenants are
Open Open handrails
isolated by the stair
locations. handrails
Right: Centripetal ef¬
fect. Adjacent tenants
are brought into con¬
tact by the stair
locations.

Open
handrails

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 19 ■

 It is easy to see why designers share some responsibility for social interaction.
They create the conditions that determine which paths people will follow and, as a
consequence, where they will meet. F. Duncan Case refers to these as “architectur¬
ally determined domains of acquaintance.” These domains of acquaintance occur
in buildings whether they are intended or not. The building plan may tend to
disperse people in a centrifugal fashion that minimizes contact, or it may bring
them together in a centripetal fashion that increases contact without anyone ever
having considered the benefits or drawbacks of either effect. There are times
when either one of these effects might be desirable, so it is important to design
with a clear understanding of how a plan affects friendship formation.

GROUP MEMBERSHIP
Being or not being a member of a definite social group is one part of the way
people define themselves and is thus a matter of importance to most people. It is
an extension of our need to form friendships and a mark of the social nature of
humankind. Friendship groups are usually quite small. While an individual may
be a member of a social club or fraternity with an extensive membership and may
be familiar with all the members, that individual would not necessarily regard
them all as close friends.
The tendency to affiliate with small groups is marked. The general rules for
appropriate behavior can be more easily comprehended in small groups where
communications are easier and more accurate. The small group also offers each
member a better opportunity to participate in group discussions and decisions.
Studies made of informal groups observed in public places show that 71% con¬
tained only two individuals, 21% three individuals, 6% four individuals, and only
2% five or more individuals. This suggests that seating arrangements in parks,
hotel lobbies, and other public gathering places should be designed with such
small groups in mind. These small groups may have met or come together in some
preferred gathering spot or social center such as the game area in the park, the
snack bar on the college campus, the bar at the country club, a favored beach, or
the neighborhood tavern. In such places there may be a good deal of movement
between groups. As newcomers join a group and swell its numbers, some mem¬
bers will split off and form a new group. This kind of action is commonplace at
cocktail parties, receptions, and similar social gatherings.
The human tendency to form groups suggests the need for places where
groups can form. Tounges, lobbies, and recreation rooms are obvious examples of
spaces that accommodate this need. It is doubtful, though, that such specifically
designated facilities take care of all the needs. Social groups tend to form wher¬
ever people of like interest come in contact with one another in public corridors,
stairways, laundry rooms, parks, and bus stops. If a designer can reasonably infer
where trafficways will intersect or where people will be drawn by necessity, it can
be assumed that groups will form at these points and should probably be provided
with seating and other conveniences.

PERSONAL SPACE
People in our society have strong feelings about controlling access to their persons.
These feelings manifest themselves in several ways. They have a pronounced
effect on the spacing or separation that people elect when dealing with other
people. They are also the basis for the widely held preferences for private, per¬
sonal spaces at home and at work.
The feeling about personal space that is common in North America is not
necessarily a universal emotion. Other societies have different feelings about pri-

■ 20 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Centrifugal effect. The
location of the seminar
areas in this design
Lounge-seminar Lounge-seminar
laboratory tends to
area area
keep the two class sec¬
tions apart.
/
'J—I—S’
\
<0O 0 O
00
(03] a

Centripetal effect. A
central location for the
seminar area tends to
draw the two sections Lounge-seminar
together.

vacy and physical contact. In some, privacy is almost nonexistent; even strangers
will converse, negotiate, or argue at close ranges that would make many people in
our society exceedingly uncomfortable. Since North America has been populated
by people with many different cultural backgrounds that instill different feelings
about personal space, our reactions are not uniform. They are, however, consis¬
tent enough to provide useful guidelines for designers.
Anthropologist Edward T. Hall has described a series of distances that are nor¬
mally used by people in North America in relating to others: intimate distance,
personal distance, social distance, and public distance.

INTIMATE DISTANCE
This ranges from actual contact to a distance of 18 inches. It is reserved for lovers,
family, small children, or very close friends. Many American adults would not feel
at ease at such close range in public places. The common exception to this general
rule is when people are forced into close quarters, as when riding in an elevator or
on a bus or subway. Under these circumstances they tend to “cocoon,” or wrap an
invisible mantle of protection around themselves for the duration of the contact.

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 21 ■

Social distance—far
phase. At a distance of
about 10 feet, it is not
considered rude to ig¬
nore a visitor and con¬
tinue working.

i k

E
£0

■ 22 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

PERSONAL DISTANCE
Ranges from one and one-half to four feet. These numbers roughly define the
bubble of “Personal Space” that surrounds most people. This is a protected area,
where strangers would not be welcome. At its farther limit it holds other people
“at arms length.”

SOCIAL DISTANCE
From four to twelve feet. This is the range in which most public interactions are
observed in America. As a result, it is a range that is of special interest to designers.
The closer part of the social distance range, from 4 to 7 feet, is a normal spacing
for people who work together. It is also customary at social gatherings (assuming
there is enough room to permit such distances). At such distances, speech and
expressions are clear and communications are highly efficient and accurate. In
arranging seating in public places it is important that, when people are seated,
their heads are within this range or can be shifted to fall within this range.
The farther part of the range, from 7 to 12 feet, is more formal, is more likely to
be used with strangers, and is used frequently when a subordinate is talking to
“the boss.” Private offices are sometimes arranged to hold visitors at this distance.
It the office occupant elects a less formal distance, a move can be made to an
alternate seating arrangement that permits closer spacing.
Social distance, as the term is used by Edward Hall, embraces a dimension that
is uniquely important to designers. Starting at about 10 feet it is not considered
rude to ignore a visitor and continue working. A receptionist, for example, can
feel free to go ahead with other work if office visitors are seated 10 or more feet
from the reception desk. This is especially true if they are not seated directly in
front of the receptionist but are off to one side.

PUBLIC DISTANCE
From 12 to 25 feet. This is the range where noninvolvement begins. It is possible
to pass someone you know within this distance without having to stop and ex¬
change greetings. If designers wanted to make that option, noninvolvement, availa¬
ble, they would have to provide entrances and walkways over 12 feet wide. The far
edge of public distance is the distance preserved around important public figures.

PROXEMICS
The distancing aspect of personal space, called proxemics, is an important concern
in environmental design. It is well worth further study by anyone working in this
field.
There are some modifications of the general rules cited above that affect the
planning and design fields. While it would be considered a rude invasion if a
stranger walked up to within a foot or two of your face, clearly penetrating your
bubble of personal space, someone moving that close to your side (as might hap¬
pen on the sidewalk) or standing behind you (as might happen in a queue) would
not be bothersome unless that person attempted to touch you. The personal-space
bubble is not an invisible circle with you at the center. It encloses more space in
front of you than in back.
There are many applications of proxemics in the design field. Among other
things, it indicates the necessity of adequate spacing between all fixtures in public
toilets, or the use of dividers between fixtures, since many people will not use these
fixtures if it means they will have to be in contact with someone else.
The American tendency to avoid physical contact with strangers provides some
important clues about making public seating arrangements more efficient. People
consistently avoid public seating that puts them uncomfortably close to others. In
selecting seats on a long bench or couch they will occupy the two ends first. Unless

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 23 ■

 they are then joined by friends, the space left in the middle will seldom be used
unless someone has a pressing need to sit down. As a result, very long seats are not
as efficient as shorter ones because they will seldom be used to capacity.
Where people are required to sit close to others for appreciable periods of time,
as they would on buses or airplanes, or at lunch counters, it is helpful if each seat
and each counter section is clearly identified as a separate entity so that there is no
question about individual boundaries.
The concept of personal space as a buffer between individuals does not com¬
pletely cover all aspects of this phenomenon. There is another aspect of personal
space that deals with the preference or desire for a place that is identified as one’s
own. Whether this is a work station, an office, or a bedroom, separate is preferred
to shared. An important part of this feeling of possession is the right to personal¬
ize. To a large extent, what makes a space personal is the freedom an individual
has to adapt it to his or her own needs and desires. This is a point that designers
should keep in mind when designing such spaces.

PERSONAL STATUS
Human beings employ a variety of techniques for affirming their own self-defini¬
tions and, it is hoped, for defining themselves to others. Their manner of speech,
vocabulary, posture, movement, clothing, hairstyles, and tastes are all part of this
self-definition, as are the larger and more obvious elements such as the auto¬
mobiles they drive, the friends they choose, and the homes in which they live.
The use of physical artifacts to affirm an individual’s or an institution’s status
and prestige is at least as old as architecture. Many of the architectural monu¬
ments of the past were erected with just that point in mind. It is no surprise, then,
to see corporate headquarters buildings rising higher and higher in metropolitan

Personal-space bub¬
ble. People are gener¬
ally more sensitive to
space in front of them
than they are to the
space behind or beside
them.

Intimate distance

■ 24 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Public seating. People
usually select the ends
of long seats, leaving
the middle sections
empty.

Territorial boundary
markers. Clear bound¬
ary markers between Dividers inset
positions at the lunch
counter and between
individual seats in
public places reduce
one source of annoy¬
ance.

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 25 ■

 centers, or spreading across ever more parklike sites in the suburbs. These are just
different manifestations of the same urge.
The owners of such buildings, the clients who commission their design, will seek
an architectural expression that will reflect whatever image they consider appro¬
priate. This explains, in part, why there can be such a diversity of architectural
expression at one time. Owners may choose to be formal and conservative, low-
key and unassuming, casual and relaxed, or outrageously avant-garde. They have
only to select an architect who works in that style. If the building design were
solely a matter of reflecting the owner’s self-image, there would be no limitation
on choosing a style. If the building is to communicate some special message to the
public, however, as discussed later in the section on Communications, the design
options may be sharply limited. Avant-garde architectural design that might be
readily accepted in a high-fashion clothing store might seem bizarre to the cus¬
tomers in a family restaurant.
While the image or status a building communicates to a viewer is an important
part of an architect’s design problem, defining the status of the occupants of the
building is equally important. It is a widely accepted practice in North America to
denote rank or status by the perquisites of an individual’s workplace. Private of¬
fices, corner windows, carpeting, wall paneling, and furniture quality are some of
the means that are used to differentiate people of different rank. Many corpora¬
tions and public agencies have firm rules on how these amenities are to be distrib¬
uted.
It is a designer’s problem to maintain parity of amenities at each supervisorial or
managerial level. While the individuals involved might be personally undemand¬
ing about their work spaces, that does not mean that they will happily accept
something less than their peers are getting. Furthermore, most workers have a
keen sense of what is normal in their fields. Advertising agency employees at every
level will have a clear idea of what the employees of other agencies are getting. As
a result, it is not only necessary to maintain parity within an organization, it is also
necessary to stay close to the norms of the field. Giving them more than the norms
of the field would not be likely to upset anyone.
In dealing with personal status, the important thing for a designer to remember
is that allocating floor space, window locations, furnishings, and other amenities is
not just a matter of working out attractive and functional work spaces; it is also the
touchy and emotionally sensitive matter of allocating personal status.

TERRITORIALITY
One aspect of human behavior that has been widely reported and discussed is the
characteristic called “Territoriality.” While comparisons with the defensive behav¬
ior of nesting birds or the hunting territory of a pack of animals are sometimes
made, the territorial behavior of human beings is complex. It is not limited to the
defense of boundaries. It merges with other feelings about personal space and
with concern for personal status. Territorial feelings may relate to individual be¬
longings, to group belongings, or to assumed rights and privileges that may be
transitory in nature. The principal categories are listed below:

PERSONAL PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS

Clear examples of human territorial behavior are found in the strong reactions to
invasions of personal property boundaries. The home owner who uses his own
back yard as a private dump is not likely to tolerate anyone else using it for that
purpose. Even if the property in question is only a numbered parking space in an
apartment complex, the sense of inviolate territorial privilege is just as strong.

■ 26 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

GROUP PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS
While group territorial feelings may not be as strong as individual ones, they are
nevertheless important. They cause us to rise to the defense of “bur” neighbor¬
hood, “our” team, or “our” town. Since these feelings can help to unify a group of
people and thus lead to group action to defend its common resources, they are of
special interest to designers.

TEMPORARY TERRITORY
In addition to things that are owned singly or jointly, people sometimes assume
temporary rights in places where they have no legal property rights at all. Picnic
tables in the park, a place in line at the supermarket, or a comfortable chair at a
cocktail party may become “ours” for the moment, and any invasion can create a
genuine sense of outrage.
Territorial behavior is evident throughout American society. It manifests itself
in many ways, though it is sometimes difficult to identify. To make a complex
topic even more confusing, there are times when the absence of territorial behavior
is a cause for concern. In dealing with the myriad manifestations of this behavior a
designer may at one moment be attempting to reduce territorial friction and at the
next moment be attempting to encourage feelings of ownership.

PERSON TO PERSON
Most territorial friction arises over personal belongings. This starts at an early age
with siblings quarreling over the use of toys. It continues with roommates arguing
about whose towel is being used and with co-workers debating the illegal use of a
personal coffee cup. These disputes may not be serious, but they can be mini¬
mized if personal possessions are clearly marked. While “His” and “Hers” towels
won’t ensure a serene marriage, they eliminate one possible source of friction.

BOUNDARIES
Disputes over territorial boundaries and the rights within those boundaries erupt
with some frequency in suburbia. These can often be traced to ambiguity of the
boundary lines. Where the lines are clear and self-evident, problems are mini¬
mized. Where facilities are shared, as in the case of common driveways, there must
be some means of indicating clearly what is shared and what is private.
Shared facilities can lead to petty conflicts. In apartment living, a shared deck or
even shared access to a parking space may be troublesome unless the distinction
between common and private rights is clearly made. Merchants who use a com¬
mon loading dock or share a waste-storage area will have fewer problems if their
individual rights and responsibilities are carefully spelled out.

GROUP TERRITORY
The next step up (or down) in the level of territorial sentiments is the feeling of
sharing “ownership” of something through membership in a group. Individual
ownership rights, in the legal sense, may not be involved. Apartment house ten¬
ants, who may have disputes between themselves about their personal rights, will
nevertheless join forces to repel invaders who threaten to use the grounds and
facilities that the tenants regard as “theirs.” The same protective tendency applies
to “our” school, “our” neighborhood, “our” office, or “our” street.
The territorial feeling that a group develops about a given locus is especially
important to planners, as it makes it possible to mobilize a group to defend or
improve its shared territory. Unless the residents of a neighborhood develop
strong territorial feelings that will enable them to organize effectively for group
action, it is questionable whether the neighborhood can maintain its desirable
characteristics over a long period of time. Developing a neighborhood territorial

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 27 ■

 sense is difficult to do, however, unless the neighborhood is recognized as a dis¬
tinct entity; it must have clear boundaries and must have, or adopt, a distinctive
name. It is hard to marshall support for an amorphous entity such as the “west
side of town,” whereas “Westwood” is likely to attract staunch supporters.

NO ONE'S TERRITORY
A group that feels an identity with a place can help ensure that it is used properly
and that it is defended against misuse and vandalism. Places for which no one or
no group develops territorial feelings are subject to misuse and abuse. Obvious
examples are seen in the vacant buildings, empty lots, and abandoned cars in
blighted areas. A more subtle, but more widespread, manifestation results from
the assumption of territorial rights by some agency or authority other than the
users.
Managers of an institution or an organization may set and post rules for the use
of its facilities without involving the actual users in the process of developing
them. This is a normal procedure in companies and public agencies of all kinds.
The effect is to relieve the users of any sense of territorial responsibility. They may
scrupulously follow the rules, but if a drinking fountain overflows and ruins the
carpet around it, it is not viewed as their problem because it is not “their” carpet.
This situation is commonplace. Designers should be aware that such attitudes can
result from any planning venture where decisions are made without involving the
actual participants. If there is no involvement or participation, there may be no
feeling of responsibility.
Designers might wish that people did not feel so strongly about their territorial
rights, real or assumed; life would be simpler in some ways if people were more
inclined to share territories. Such thoughts are not very realistic, however, as ter¬
ritoriality is a strong sentiment in most societies and is not likely to disappear in the
foreseeable future. By understanding the nature of this feeling, designers can
both minimize the friction that results from territorial disputes and maximize its
potential benefits.

TERRITORIAL RECOMMENDATIONS
In the following chapters that discuss the places where people live and work, there
are specific recommendations made about territorial considerations. There are a
few general rules, however, that would apply in most circumstances.
■ Individual possessions. Mark them in distinctive ways or give them individual
names. Whether the possessions are concrete objects or just assigned space in an
office, dormitory, or locker room, a designer should clearly define the bound¬
aries.
■ Group territory. Establish clear boundaries and a clear identity. This is essential
for the development of specific group territorial feelings. This is not difficult in
small projects but it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, in large projects.
The only certain way to ensure that group territorial feelings develop in very
large projects is to break them down into smaller components with different
names and clearly different characteristics. This recommendation is quite at
variance with current trends in architecture.
■ Transient territory. Some transient territorial rights are attached to such pro¬
saic items as bar stools, bus seats, and a place at the urinal in public toilets. We
are all better off if such shared facilities can be used without unecessary friction.
It is helpful if they can be designed and arranged so that the area assigned to
each individual is clearly delimited. This would mean dividers between the uri¬
nals, individually formed bus seats, and markers imbedded in countertops.
■ Territorial responsibility. To ensure that a sense of territorial responsibility

■ 28 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 develops among users in those projects that actually belong to someone else, as
in the case of public institutions or corporate projects, the designer should make
every effort to include the users in the planning process. Clearly defined
boundaries and a clear identity are not sufficient to ensure that this sense of
responsibility will develop. If the users do participate in planning, however,
their participation helps to establish the bond with the project.

COMMUNICATIONS
One aspect of humankind’s social nature is a strong desire to communicate. Peo¬
ple communicate in order to find out what is happening in the world, to exchange
information, to determine the attitudes of others, and to express thoughts and
feelings. Much communication now takes place through some form of medium,
such as the printed word, radio, television, facsimile transmissions, computer ter¬
minals, and telephones. In spite of the growing sophistication of electronic com¬
munication systems, no technique now available or foreseen can match the
precision and accuracy of face-to-face conversation.
In addition to the use of language, humans communicate in a variety of more
subtle ways—by means of posture, expression, gesture, and intonation. All these
channels are normally used to supplement spoken language, but each one is capa¬
ble of conveying a message by itself. The fact that all these channels can be
brought into play in face-to-face communications is what makes this natural form
of communication so effective. It should be obvious, of course, that the use of
some medium such as the telephone or a letter cancels out the powerful effect of
posture, expression, and gesture, making it much easier to deliver bad news or to
deal with highly emotional issues.
Architects and other designers have little to do with the techniques of commu¬
nication but they have a lot to do with the creation of places where communication
occurs. They are involved with communications at three levels:
■ They must provide the appropriate ambient conditions that foster effective
personal communications by ensuring that there is adequate light of the
proper type so that facial expressions can be seen clearly and by ensuring that
the acoustic environment is such that verbal statements can be heard clearly and
understood without distortion.
■ They must provide the appropriate information, principally through signs,
so that people will know how to use the facilities they are entering. This is not
easy to do well. Signs must be located in the right place, be easily read, and must
communicate some comprehensible and usable information.
■ They must provide, principally through external design characteristics, ac¬
curate information about the nature of a structure and the organization it
houses. This is not wholly a matter of signs. A sign may clearly state that the
building houses a shoe store. It may or may not indicate how expensive the
shoes are or whether it is a good place to buy shoes for children. That informa¬
tion, if it is available at all, is conveyed through other cues such as the openness
of the design, the displays, and the nature of the materials. This aspect of archi¬
tectural design has not been systematically studied.

PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS
To facilitate communications between people, a designer must recognize that con¬
versations take place wherever people meet. This may be in a formal conference
room, or it may be on a street corner. A designer’s responsibility for and control
over these varied sites is obviously limited. There is, however, a list of considera¬
tions that generally apply and should be used as a set of guidelines.

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 29 ■

"Amtrak is over there."
If the designer doesn't
provide the necessary
signs, someone else
will.

■ In heavy traffic areas, provide a place where people may stand out of the line
of traffic.
■ Provide seating wherever it appears that chance meetings and conversations
may occur with some regularity.
■ Seating should be flexible so that people can adjust it to suit their own prefer¬
ences.
■ If seating is not flexible, it should be arranged so that people can sit at approx¬
imately a 90-degree angle relative to each other.
■ Lighting should be arranged to illuminate the faces of people who are con¬
versing so that facial expressions can be clearly read. This is a consideration that
is often overlooked. Much lighting design is focused on objects such as tables,
desks, and displays, rather than people.
■ The color of the light should be appropriate,such that people’s flesh tones are
rendered correctly.
■ Minimize or exclude outside noises that might interfere with conversation.
■ Provide an acoustical setting that is free of reverberation and distortion so
that speech can be heard and understood clearly.

COMMUNICATING WITH SIGNS

In using signs to communicate information about a building or a site, a designer
must answer some complex questions about what people need to know and when
they need to know it. People approach buildings for different reasons. Not every¬
one needs to know where the loading dock is located. As a consequence, it is
necessary to evaluate the needs of the different kinds of people who might ap¬
proach the building and make certain that their information needs are met.
New buildings, or new building complexes, can be, and should be, organized in
a logical fashion that simplifies the sign problem. Older structures or complexes
that have been repeatedly altered and expanded pose extremely difficult prob¬
lems. Major hospitals and college campuses seem to have the tendency to evolve
into such complex forms that it is impossible to navigate through them without the

■ 30 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 The preferred relation¬
ships for communica¬
tion purposes, a. Seat¬
ing that can be moved
to suit individual pref¬
erences is most satis¬
factory. b. If seating
cannot be moved or ad¬
justed, then it should
be possible for the indi¬
vidual to shift or move.

V'o
Vi> y

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 31 ■

 aid of a pilot. Clear and explicit directional information in such complex sur¬
roundings requires patiently tracking each group of potential users through the
complex to their individual destinations and the liberal use of “you-are-here”
maps, signs, color coding, floor and wall lines, and, where language may be a
problem, the use of easily grasped symbols.

COMMUNICATING WITH DESIGN

The last category of communication within the designer’s province, the ideas or
emotions that are conveyed by the design of a structure itself, is difficult to deal
with. Some people find it hard to believe that the design characteristics of a build¬
ing are capable of communicating any message, but independent studies con¬
ducted by Ifan Payne and Robert Hershberger indicate that architectural design
does communicate. Unfortunately, both their studies indicate that the feeling or
emotion a building design communicates to the general public is frequently quite
different from the feeling or emotion that it communicates to a group of de¬
signers. In fact, the evaluation of the general public is often exactly opposite to the
evaluation made by designers. What is interesting, exciting, or unique to a group
of designers may well be bad, ugly, or annoying to the general public. As a conse¬
quence, there is little point in discussing communication in such terms.
As a result, the following discussion focuses, instead, on the manner in which
people evaluate a building and the organization it houses as a means of satisfying
their needs of the moment. In doing so, it is useful to divide people into two
groups: those who are familiar with a building and those to whom the building is a
new experience. To people who know the building, it becomes part of a familiar
background. Their response to its design characteristics is largely a result of how
well they feel the building suits their own purposes. Employees will judge the
building they work in on the basis of lighting, sound control, heating and ventila¬
tion, layout, circulation, and other functional characteristics. Shoppers who are
familiar with a shopping mall will judge the mall on the basis of convenience, ease
of parking, circulation, price and quality of merchandise, and quality of service. In
the eyes of habitual users, architectural character cannot be separated from func¬
tional quality. If the building does not work well for them it is not attractive.
For people who are not familiar with a building, the extent to which design
elements may communicate useful information is a function of the interests and
needs of the individual more than of the nature of the building. Architects and
designers in general have a keen interest in the nuances of design, but this is not
true of the public at large. For the most part, buildings are background, of interest
only if they seem to offer something that would satisfy an individual’s needs or
interests. If you are hungry and the building houses a restaurant, then the build¬
ing design can play a part in communicating the nature of the establishment and
motivate you either to go in or to look for an alternative. If you are not hungry,
whatever message is embodied in the building design is blocked out. The funda¬
mental rule of communication, at any level and in any medium, is that there must
be a receiver for the message as well as a sender.
The kind of communication discussed here, where a building design communi¬
cates information that is relevant to a viewer’s needs or interests, is a complex and
elusive matter. It is a critical motivation for newcomers to an area. For people who
have just arrived in a new community or a new neighborhood, the external design
characteristics of a building are sometimes the only cue that is available to them
about the nature of the business or institution housed within. In the course of
time, they will learn the favored places to transact business, but their original
choice will be influenced by what they can see. This is a critical matter for many

■ 32 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

kinds of businesses. If businesses can get a customer inside the store, they have a
chance to demonstrate the superior nature of their service. If they cannot get the
customer inside, the quality of their service is irrelevant.
From the viewpoint of a new viewer, there is a series of questions that a building
design should answer so that the viewer may determine whether the building
satisfies any current needs or interests.
■ What it is?
■ What benefit does it offer me?
■ How do I get in?
■ What is inside?
■ How will I be received?
In answer to these questions, a designer has a very limited vocabulary of re¬
sponses.
■ What is it? The response is given with either a sign or a symbol. In grappling
with this problem it becomes apparent that we have a very skimpy supply of
universally understood symbols to work with. The Christian cross and the Jew¬
ish Star of David offer an easy and accurate identification for religious struc¬
tures, but there are very few other symbols with such power. The three gold
balls of the Medici family, once used to identify pawn shops, have vanished; so
has the red and white-striped pole that once marked barber shops. The gasoline
pump is a universally read and understood symbol, but it is hard to extend the
list. Perhaps that is why the golden arches of McDonald’s and the distinctive
logos and trademarks of other franchise operations have played such an impor¬
tant part in their success. The symbol is information; it assures you, for better or
worse, of a known quantity.
If there is no symbol that conveys the necessary information, then the signing
must tell the whole story.
■ What benefit does it offer me? Here again the answer will be conveyed by signs
or by evidence. A motel that wants to attract traveling families will display its
room rates in neon. A restaurant will display a menu that answers not only the
question of variety but also the question of price. Other merchants will display a
sample of their wares. The means will vary with the scale. The scale of the signs
and symbols that would be appropriate for a pedestrian shopping mall would
not be effective in pulling traffic off an interstate highway.
■ How do I get in? The way into a building and the way into a parking lot must be
absolutely clear. If there is a parking lot, the drive to the parking lot should pass
the building entrance so that the return path is clear in the mind of the visitor.
Signs and arrows are, of course, useful in pointing the way, but this is one
instance where symbols may speak louder than words. Parking-lot entrances are
easier to find if they are bracketed with pylons, gateposts, or some other sub¬
stantial, easily seen physical features. Building entrances are also easier to find if
they are marked by highly visible features such as canopies, marquees, or other
architectural elements.
Finding the entranceway may not be much of a problem in small structures
that can be understood at a glance, but in large complexes such as shopping
malls and major hospitals, providing clear entrance information is an important
aspect of the building design.
■ What is inside? The designer obviously has a lot to do with answering this
question. Regardless of any arguments that may be advanced in favor of win¬
dowless buildings, if people who are approaching the building for the first time
cannot see inside, one of their major questions about the building remains un¬
answered. The use of glass as a means of opening parts of the building to public

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 33 ■

 view does not, in itself, completely solve the problem. If the glass is too dark or
reflects the buildings across the street, it may appear as opaque as a solid wall.
■ How will I be received? This is a very important question for a viewer and a
most difficult question for a designer. It relates to the concern an individual
may have about entering a situation that may result in being embarrassed or
rebuffed. The question can take many forms. “Does this bank look like one that
would welcome large accounts but would be very reluctant to open my small
account?” “Does this doctor’s office look like one where the staff would be very
impatient with me if I asked for help in filling out my insurance forms?” “Does
this restaurant seem to be one where we would get a lot of hostile looks if the
baby started to cry?”
The openness of an establishment in terms of ease of access and ease of
seeing inside helps to answer these questions. Another part of the answers lies
in the choice of materials and the scale of the establishment. Obviously expen¬
sive materials and furnishings will cause some people to turn away because they
may feel ill at ease in such surroundings. That may, in fact, be exactly what the
owners and their designers had in mind. Very large banks may also intimidate
some prospective depositors and may indeed discourage small accounts.
A designer can only resolve the question of “How will I be received?” by
understanding clearly who the building is supposed to serve and establishing a
clear and unambiguous identity that will reassure those potential users.
The question of how a building communicates useful and reassuring information
to a new viewer is one that badly needs further study. It is obviously important to
commercial enterprises. Although it may not be so obvious, it is equally important
to private and public institutions of all kinds. Yet the design decisions that deter¬
mine the form of a building are almost always the product of personal preferences
rather than a systematic and knowledgeable effort to communicate to the public.

CUE SEARCHING
One very practical need, common to everyone, is the need to know what is going
on in the world around us. As a result, people search for cues that will provide the
information they need to conduct their personal affairs safely, expeditiously, and
with a minimum of wasted effort or embarrassment.
The nature of this search for information takes on different forms at different
times. When people enter a new district or a new building for the hist time, they
do so in an exploratory mode. They proceed cautiously, searching for cues as they
go. They are easy to spot at the entrances to many buildings. Most tourists move in
an exploratory mode. Once these same people have become accustomed to a new
setting, however, they move in an habitual mode. They move briskly, with confi¬
dence, and seem to pay little attention to their surroundings. This is a deceptive
appearance. While habitues do not need to scan their environment for cues as
newcomers do, they are nevertheless very sensitive to changes in their environ¬
ment, or unusual events or occurrences. An understanding of this behavior is of
value to designers. It indicates, first of all, how important information is to the
constant stream of newcomers who have no other way to understand and use the
streets and buildings they encounter. The second point is that if a designer wants
to attract the attention of habitues, it will be done most easily by changing some
familiar part of the environment.
One of the principal purposes of cue searching is to ensure personal safety.
People count on traffic signals to tell them when to proceed across an intersection.
They look to warnings on labels to keep them from ingesting poisons, and they
rely on conventional faucet positions to ensure that they will not be scalded if they

■ 34 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

turn on the righthand faucet in the shower. In these instances people rely on the
assumption that someone else has done his or her job properly and that they can
safely proceed on the basis of the information they have been supplied. People
assume, for instance, that if the green light is their cue to proceed through the
intersection, the cross traffic will be looking at a red light. If this is not the case,
they may pay a high price for their trust in others.
Many of the most useful cues are natural ones. For instance, the sheen on the
sidewalk warns of icy conditions ahead. The rumble of a janitor’s cart coming
around the corner causes us to hug the side of the corridor to avoid a collision. A
change in texture underfoot from carpet to concrete signals that we are on the
public sidewalk and had better take the necessary precautions. All of these cue¬
reading sensations reflect survival skills that are part of our evolutionary equip¬
ment. They were critical for the survival of our ancient forebears and they are no
less critical for human survival in the streets of a city. The great difference today is
that people are exposed to a number of hazards they are not equipped to sense.
New materials, new equipment, and new systems are encountered whose nature is
unknown and thus cannot be inferred from experience.
A designer can do a great deal to make cue searching more effective and more
accurate. The first step is to provide facilities where the senses can work, where
there is enough light to see, and where the ambient noise level is low enough so
that critical sound cues can be heard. The next step is to avoid sensory overload.
Some buildings, such as busy airport terminals, offer so many new sensations and
so much new information that these cues cannot be processed effectively. In such
cases perceptions may be overwhelmed and people will miss the important cues
they need. The cure for sensory overload is to stress the critical information and to
subordinate everything else.
The last step for the designer to take in order to facilitate cue searching is to
provide direct guidance in the form of signs and symbols that warn the public of
hazards and guide them to their destinations. At this point, Cue Searching begins to
merge with Communications in a special category called Wayfinding.

WAYFINDING
One of the skills our forebears had to develop was an ability to navigate across a
landscape devoid of roads, road signs, maps, or helpful service-station attendants.
It was and is a remarkable skill, but it is of little value in trying to navigate around
an apartment complex, across a college campus, or through the maze of corridors
in a large hospital. No doubt each of these examples is perfectly logical to the
architect or planner who developed the plan and probably poses no problem to
the people who have become accustomed to it. Someone who is trying to navigate
in a complex building for the first time, however, may find it completely incom¬
prehensible. Such people clearly need wayfinding assistance.
The first rule of wayfinding is that nothing is as helpful as a knowledgeable
human being who has been assigned to assist strangers. An information center or
a trained receptionist is more effective, and will be consulted by more people, than
any combination of direction signs and maps.
In circumstances where it is not possible to station a receptionist, a “you-are-
here” map should be displayed. Properly located and oriented, such maps can be
very helpful. They should be horizontal if possible, correctly oriented for the
viewer, and relate to some obvious landmark in the immediate vicinity.
“You-are-here” maps should be supplemented with other wayfinding systems.
In large building complexes there should be clear sign identification on each
structure at eye level where it is well lighted, has good background contrast, and is

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 35 ■

Properly oriented "you-
are-here" maps are
very helpful.

large enough to be seen and read from any normal line of approach. This may
require more than one sign. Color coding may be used to identify certain wings or
departments in a building. Color coding plus signs can be used to identify each
elevator lobby in a multistory building so that when the elevator doors open it is
immediately obvious what floor the elevator is on. Lines may be laid out on the
floor or on the walls, directing traffic to specific destinations. It must be made
clear, however, what these lines mean and where they lead. In addition there
should be periodic reinforcement in the form of signs to indicate that the traveler
is still moving in the right direction.
Signs remain the most versatile and widely used aids to wayfinding. They must
be well lighted, at eye level, large enough to read from normal approach distance,
in a legible typeface, and on a contrasting background. The most important con¬
sideration of all is that signs should convey a useful, understandable message. So
far as wayfinding is concerned, the content is much more important than the
form.

ABSTRACT CUES
In addition to the visual and auditory cues that help us understand our environ¬
ment and navigate through it safely and efficiently, there are cues that inform us
about social status and create the mental images we hold of both people and insti¬
tutions. This class of cues has been an important factor in architecture throughout
recorded history. The rich and powerful of all ages have sought to project an
image of their wealth and authority by the grandeur and opulence of their build¬
ings, sometimes called the “edifice complex.”
The edifice complex is alive and well today, and its effect is visible in every city
in the land. Large organizations and institutions build vast headquarters struc¬
tures to house their operations and demonstrate the scale of their resources.
Smaller organizations lease part of a big building and then rent the sign space at
the top of the building to create the impression that it is all theirs. The edifice
complex has been a boon to the architectural profession.
The conventional cues that suggest status on the exterior of a building are scale,
quality of material, aloofness, and maintenance. Aloofness refers to the sense of
separation from other structures and distance from the public way. Interior cues
are material quality, low noise level, ceiling height, door height, and the quality of

■ 36 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

The importance of sign
legibility. It is impossi¬
ble to read the depart¬
mental sign, which is
on the glass to the right
of the doors, because it
is seen against the con¬
fusing background of
an abstract painting.

The importance of sign

content. The depart¬
mental sign can now
be read against the
blank wall, but seeing
it doesn't help much.
The message "Books
and Reading" is of lit¬
tle value in finding
something in a large
university library.

BOOKS
AND
READING

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE J7

 the decorative elements such as carpeting, wood paneling, lighting fixtures, and
hardware. The concept of “quality” as used here refers to an individual’s percep¬
tion of that characteristic. The general public does not hold the same views about
material quality as the design professions.
The status cues discussed here are to a large extent determined by culture and
are subject to modification as a result of changing fashions.

PERSONAL SAFETY
One characteristic that is universally considered to be a fundamental cornerstone
of human nature is a concern for personal safety. This does not mean that people
will not take risks. It means, rather, that people will not knowingly take risks unless
there is some reward involved, either in the form of some material gain or some
psychological reward. To attempt to cross a busy street without looking for on¬
coming traffic would be to take a great risk without any compensating benefit.
Normal people do not take such risks.
There are many hazards, however, that people are not well equipped to evalu¬
ate. New kinds of materials and chemical compounds, new kinds of equipment, or
new applications of old materials may pose hazards that the average individual
cannot evaluate on the basis of past experience. Human beings do not possess the
sensory mechanisms that would make it possible to recognize dangerous radiation,
or to identify toxic chemical components that may be released by familiar house¬
hold products if they are ignited. Nor would experience prepare them for the
hazard of stepping off a moving sidewalk without being prepared to absorb the
shock of transition from a moving surface to a static one.
People obviously need help in identifying those aspects of their environment
that may be hazardous even though the hazard is not obvious. People also need
help in identifying those aspects of their environment that may be safe even
though they may not appear to be safe. So far as the built environment is con¬
cerned, designers have a primary responsibility to resolve both of these concerns.
The designer, in other words, is responsible not only for creating a safe environ¬
ment but also for making it apparent to the user that it is safe. The importance of
such psychological reassurance in encouraging people to enter and use new en¬
vironments should not be underestimated. Not everyone is young, mobile, and
self-confident. Many older people, pregnant women, people with physical dis¬
abilities, and even young people who are ill or injured may be reluctant to enter
strange, new areas where they may be uncertain about their ability to move safely.
The range of potential hazards that might be encountered in the buildings,
parks, and streets of the city is far too great to be dealt with here. The list that
follows is confined to some of the principal categories of hazard that are encoun¬
tered frequently:
■ Clearance hazards. This refers to the fact that buildings are hard objects,
much harder than people. Any space where normal people will not fit, such as
under open stairs, should be made inaccessible.
■ Object hazards. There are many objects in the streets and buildings of a city
that are potentially hazardous because their edges and corners are sharp. Cabi¬
net edges, desk and counter corners, corridor corners, traffic sign posts, and a
host of other everyday objects would be much safer to live with if their edges
were rounded and softened.
■ Collision hazards. People collisions may be as injurious as car collisions. There
is nothing that can be done about people who do not look where they are going,
but the designer can at least make it possible for those who do look to be able to
see. This injunction applies to both pedestrians and drivers. Wherever traffic

■ 38 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 streams meet, at parking lot entrances or in office corridors, there should be a
clear field of vision so that oncoming or crossing traffic can be avoided.
■ Stability hazards. One frequent cause of injury in homes, in buildings, and on
streets, is slippery surfaces underfoot. These may be in the bathtub or shower at
home, on the sidewalk outside, or on floors and stairways in any building.
Potentially slippery surfaces should be avoided. Where circumstances require
that a slippery surface be used, as in providing a sanitary surface for baths and
showers, grab bars should be installed at convenient levels for use by people of
all ages. Handrails should be used on any ramp or set of steps, no matter how
short.
These are by no means all the hazards of modern life, but they represent cate¬
gories of hazards that are not usually covered by building codes and are easy to
overlook.
In addition to the elimination of the actual hazards listed above, a designer has
an added responsibility to reassure building users that they have nothing to fear.
Frequent sources of such fears are heights and steep steps or ramps that appear to
create a danger of slipping or falling. These fears can affect people who are con¬
cerned with their own safety as well as those who are concerned for the safety of
others. Parents might feel personally safe with the handrail around an open deck
but have great fears for the safety of their small children.
Extensive areas of plate glass, extending to the floor with no safety rail, are
viewed as very hazardous by many people. If the glass is of an appropriate type,
this condition may not, in fact, be hazardous; however, if people perceive a thing
to be so, it is so as far as their feelings and actions are concerned. There are many
reports of people in high-rise buildings with hoor-to-ceiling glass who will not
approach the glass, but confine their movements to the area along the inner walls.
No designer would knowingly create such a stressful environment, but it is very
easy to do so unknowingly.

NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE 39 ■

 Humans are social beings. In the first months of life they cannot survive for more
than a few days alone. As adults, their normal mode of life is in company with
other human beings. They live together in small family groups, clans, tribes, vil¬
lages, towns, or cities. Rarely do they live in isolation. Indeed, condemning an
individual to solitary confinement is one of the harshest penalties our society can
mete out.
While group living is normal for human beings, it is also a source of stress.
Friction between individuals results from sharing the same rooms, the same build¬
ings, the same streets, and the same towns with people who have different values,
interests, and habits. It seems ironic that, while we might avoid some of our prob¬
lems if we chose to live apart, we stay together in the social tradition of human
beings. The benefits of group living are compelling.
Many sources of personal stress are beyond the influence of even the most
gifted designer. Indeed, there are relatively few that are subject to design influ¬
ence at all. Even so, an understanding of the stress sources that are subject to
design influence can lead to worthwhile improvements in family and community
life.
When we think of group living, we usually think first of homes and apartments.
While these are certainly the primary settings for group living, they are not the
only ones. Wherever people live together for extended periods common problems
are likely to appear. The locations may be as diverse as military barracks, college
dormitories, summer camps, or isolated outposts such as oil-drilling platforms.
This list of settings for group living can be expanded in an important way by
adding the neighborhoods where we live.
The use of the words “living together” should be defined for our purposes as
meaning living close to others; it does not necessarily mean sharing the same quar¬
ters. It is especially important to make that distinction at this time because of an
emerging trend that may substantially alter the nature of American housing in the
years to come. A growing percentage of young people, having left school, are
living in separate households. At the other end of the scale, a growing number of
single elderly people are occupying separate households. A predictable result is
that a substantial portion of new housing will be designed for single occupants.
Certain human goals and values should be paramount considerations in design¬
ing the places where people live together, wherever those places may be.

PERSONAL SAFETY
A sense of being secure is an integral part of the concept of a home. Specifically, it
means security from the elements as well as security from intruders. For families
with small children, it also means assuring the safety and well-being of their off¬
spring. Concern for personal safety extends beyond the home or apartment. It
includes the safe use of outdoor spaces and safe passage to and from the home.

■ 40
TERRITORIALITY
Certain territorial problems attach to home ownership or to apartment living.
Clear boundaries outside the house help to minimize friction between neighbors.
Clear territorial boundaries within the house are equally important. This is espe¬
cially true, for example, when siblings share a bedroom, although it is also impor¬
tant when any family members must share work or social space within the house.

PERSONAL SPACE
The fact that individuals choose to live together rather than in isolation does not
eliminate their need for privacy. All forms of housing should provide someplace
where an individual can achieve personal privacy. It is strange, and unfortunate,
that in many homes and apartments the only place where privacy can be ensured
is the bathroom.

PERSONAL STATUS
A regard for personal status is intimately bound up with an individual’s choice of
housing. The exterior appearance of a house and its grounds, and the manner in
which they are maintained, have a great deal to do with the initial choice and with
the feelings of satisfaction experienced from living in it.

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
Though friendships are based on shared interests and backgrounds, they are
formed within the group of people we know and are in contact with. Our contact
group is, largely, a result of where we live and where we work. It is also affected,
however, by the way in which our apartments, houses, workplaces, and neighbor¬
hoods are arranged. Making it possible for people to make contact or to avoid
contact as they choose should be an important consideration for designers. Unless
there is a chance to meet, neither friendship nor acquaintanceship is possible.

AT HOME
Nuclear families consisting of a mother, father, and offspring continue to be the
basic units of American society. While it is a social unit with a history as long as
humankind’s, it is not free of stress. Parents are concerned about their relation¬
ships with their offspring, but they also have a need to nurture their own relation¬
ship. With more than one child in the house, sibling conflicts are a problem. These
stresses and the universal concerns of personal safety, territoriality, and personal
status make it apparent that the design of a family dwelling involves much more
than simple utility. Each of the concerns discussed below are essential planning
criteria.

PERSONAL SAFETY
The starting point for the design of a house must be a concern for the security of
the inhabitants and their possessions. At some time in the past it may have been
possible to take security for granted, but that is not the case now. Actually, the
designer has two security-related concerns: first, that the house be functionally
safe for the occupants, and second, that the occupants perceive themselves as being
safe.
There are several aspects of personal security. Each requires a different plan¬
ning solution.
■ Security against forcible entry. There are a number of devices and systems to
protect a home against forcible entry. From a behavioral standpoint, the best
protection is the interest and concern of the neighbors. The following recom¬
mendations stress that approach to the problem.

LIVING TOGETHER 41 ■
 1. Houses that are clearly visible to the neighbors and that permit them to
observe suspicious activities benefit from this surveillance.
2. Neighborhoods where the houses are oriented to the street and where there
are usable front porches and considerable street activity also offer more pro¬
tection.
.
3 Mutual protection will only be effective in communities where there are peo¬
ple at home during the daytime.
■ Children's safety. Monitoring the safety of small children and carrying out
other household duties simultaneously is a common parental problem.
1. Provide a playspace for small children in the area where the parents spend a
large part of their time, such as the kitchen. A playpen may be used, but
there must be some place to put it that does not interfere with other parental
activities.
.
2 Provide an outside play area that is protected from intruders and animals
and that can be supervised easily from within the house. Lack of such an
arrangement causes considerable stress for parents.
■ Household safety. The home should be a secure haven for families or individ¬
uals. Instead, private dwellings are the scenes of an alarming number of disab¬
ling accidents. Without attempting to enumerate all of the safety concerns that a
designer should be aware of, it should be remembered that homeowners are
not all young and agile. Endurance and agility decrease with age, pregnant
women lose some of their coordination and mobility, and young and old alike
are sometimes ill or incapacitated. As a consequence, some rather prosaic pre¬
cautions are stressed here because they are overlooked so frequently.
1. Eliminate slippery floors, showers, tubs, and stairways.
2. Large areas of plate glass, particularly on upper floors, are frightening to
some people even though they may be quite safe. Install obvious grab bars
and handrails.
.
3 Provide barriers at all clear glass openings that extend to the floor so that
people will not attempt to walk through them.
.
4 Sharp edges and sharp corners on cabinets, counters, furniture, and equip¬
ment of all kinds should be eliminated.
5. Electric devices, heating equipment, and cookstoves must be installed so that
children cannot reach them, and must be maintained in a safe condition.
6. Backout driveways should be avoided or kept short, with unobstructed rear
vision, to avoid injury to people and pets.
7. Some means of escape must be provided from each bedroom in case of fire.
Household fires are a significant hazard in multistory housing, particularly
on hillside sites.

TERRITORIALITY
Territorial feelings may be most evident at home. Territorial problems are the
basis for neighborhood feuds and sibling disputes. While many neighbors live in
relative harmony, certain circumstances can cause friction even between old
friends. Defining territorial boundaries is reasonable insurance against future dis¬
putes.
■ Define boundaries. To avoid misunderstandings, make it clear where one
property ends and another begins. Territorial feelings are not limited to land
tenure, however. They extend to belongings as well, particularly such poten¬
tially annoying possessions as pets. As a consequence, if personal pets may be a
problem, fence them in (or out).

■ 42 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Mutual surveillance.
Neighborhood security
is improved if houses
are designed properly
and are close enough
together.

Safety for small child¬

ren. The household
work center should
have an overview of
the children's play
area.
Identify territorial con¬
ditions. The designer
should distinguish be¬
tween private, shared,
and public spaces and
facilities.

Street

Shared rooms. Space

and facilities should be
clearly defined and di¬
vided between the oc¬
cupants.

44 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

■ Define shared spaces. Where walks or driveways are shared, what is shared
and what is private must be clear. Shared spaces should be designed to facilitate
cooperative use by the neighbors. The street is clearly shared, and when street
parking is permanently appropriated for a private motorhome or boat trailer,
strong disagreements can result. Sharing problems become more sensitive as
housing is moved closer together. It is particularly important in condominium
projects, where private property outside the doorway may be measured in
inches rather than feet.
■ Define shared rooms. Where rooms are shared there should be a clear division
of spaces and facilities between the different occupants. While such divisions
will not eliminate sibling strife, they at least provide a basis for adjudicating
disputes. Countless children have survived shared rooms, closets, chests, toys,
and beds, but a clearcut split of available resources reduces friction in the chil¬
dren’s room.

PERSONAL SPACE
Family life and community life both require an ability to get along with others.
Getting along with members of the family is in some ways training for getting
along with members of the community. There are times, however, when anyone
may feel a need to be alone. While housing standards in North America are spa¬
cious compared to those in some parts of the world, it is nevertheless hard to find
privacy in many American homes. As a result, the bathroom and the automobile,
two most unlikely places, have become private retreats.
■ The parents' sector. In addition to the need for individual privacy, there is a
need for parents to have a place for shared privacy where they can discuss their
intimate concerns, pursue shared activities, and where they can love freely.
There is no special formula for the design of a parents’ room that could be
counted on to nurture intimacy but the following characteristics are very impor¬
tant.
1. The parents’ room should be remote from the children’s area.
2. It should be acoustically isolated to provide privacy for personal discussions,
disagreements, lovemaking, and other intimate behavior.
.
3 It should be comfortable from the standpoint of temperature, ventilation,
and furnishings.
.
4 It should be possible to control both daylight and artificial light.
5. It should be adjacent to a bath for both ritual and hygienic purposes.
6. It should have the nature of a special retreat for the parents. They may
share it with the children as they choose, but it remains their special space
with clear, unmistakable boundaries.
In addition to their need for shared privacy, parents, especially working par¬
ents, need someplace at home where they can work without interruption. With¬
out a private place to work at home, working parents tend to spend more time
at their workplaces and less time at home. As a result, it is important to provide
a private adult work area—either a separate study or a separate part of the
bedroom.
■ Privacy for the rest of the family. Ideally, each family member should have
some private space for a retreat. If this is not possible, there are some compro¬
mises that can be helpful.
1. The territories in shared bedrooms should be clearly divided.
2. Locks should be provided on all bedroom doors. Where small children are
concerned, privacy locks that can be opened easily from the outside should
be used.

LIVING TOGETHER 45 ■
House zoning. Clear¬
ly zoned houses and
apartments make it
possible for parents, as
well as their offspring,
to find some degree of
privacy.

Divided bath. A di¬

vided bath increases
the opportunity for pri¬
vacy.

46 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 3. Divide the bathroom into two sections. The bathroom is a busy place in
households with children, partly because it serves disparate needs. Bathing is
an admirable activity in our society, cleanliness having connotations of lux¬
ury and sensuousness as well as godliness. Elimination, on the other hand, is
something our society prefers to keep out of sight. The fact that these two
disparate activities share a common space in most homes is due to the chance
circumstance that both require plumbing connections. An extension of this
logic would put the kitchen sink in the same room. A more rational ap¬
proach would put the toilet in a toilet room and the bath in a bathroom. The
house would then have two spaces where an individual might expect some
degree of privacy.
4. Provide more small-size rooms rather than fewer larger rooms. A common
characteristic of current housing is to compensate for smaller overall size by
combining rooms into a few larger spaces. The result is a more spacious
appearance and housing that is better suited to adult living and entertaining
than it is to family living. A family generally will be better served with more
separate spaces, permitting a wider range of activities to take place with
greater privacy.

PERSONAL STATUS
Somewhere very close to the sense of territoriality is the sense that our possessions
and our surroundings reflect our personal statuses or contribute to the images of
ourselves that we hope others will accept. It is sometimes assumed that all Ameri¬
cans aspire to an image of material prosperity and elevated social status, but this is
not always the case.
Some people seek to fit the norms of a neighborhood, whereas others want to
stand out. Some avoid ostentation while others make certain that the world is
aware of their standing. In view of this disparity, there are few universal
guidelines for designers to follow.
A designer working with an individual client will, of course, react to that client’s
special concerns. A designer creating housing for rent or sale to an unknown
client has a more difficult problem. One helpful fact is that, in selecting a home, an
individual’s sense of personal status is reflected in a concern for the neighbor¬
hood’s standards of maintenance and upkeep.
■ Make marketing studies. There is no way to predict accurately how prospec¬
tive buyers in any given market will evaluate the appearance of a house without
marketing studies to test the response to the design.
■ Incorporate low maintenance materials and design features. If each home-
owner can maintain the house at neighborhood standards without undue effort
or expense, the chances of attracting purchasers who approve of those stand¬
ards is increased.
■ Provide each house with screened areas for outdoor activities that might
affect the status of the neighborhood. Sometimes people like to do things out¬
side that are distasteful to their neighbors. Neighborhoods vary in such stand¬
ards. Nude sun-bathing would be unacceptable in many areas; overhauling
automobiles on the front lawn, building boats in the side yard, or parking motor
homes in the street would also be unacceptable in many areas.

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
Securing membership in a definite social group is important to most people. Se¬
curing membership in that special social group we know as the neighborhood is
especially important since it has a great deal to do with reciprocal commitments to
personal security and joint efforts for the benefit of the neighborhood as a whole.

LIVING TOGETHER 47 ■
 This last point will be discussed in detail later in this chapter, in the section
dealing with the neighborhood. Before any joint action can take place, however,
people must be on speaking terms. There are several steps that can be taken to
encourage this result.
■ Reduce sources of friction. People who are constantly at odds with each other
are not likely to become friends. A designer needs to ensure that territorial
boundaries are clear, as previously described. Make it possible for each home-
owner to take care of the prosaic utilities of everyday life without annoying or
offending the neighbors. Provide a suitable place for the rubbish to be put out
for collection, a place to hang heavy garments (or strip cars) outdoors where the
neighbors cannot see them, and a place where household pets can eliminate
without invading someone else’s turf.
■ Increase the options for pleasurable and beneficial contact. Even the friend¬
liest of people would be happy not to have to greet their neighbors with a broad
smile on every occasion. Flying out the front door in pajamas to put out the
trash before pickup time and walking out stealthily in the same garb to get the
morning paper are two occasions when anyone might prefer to avoid an idle
chat. There are many more times, however, when a conversation with a neigh¬
bor can be a helpful and encouraging interlude. It is worthwhile for the de¬
signer to pay careful attention to providing opportunities for contact.
■ The approach and entrance to the house should be visible from neighbor¬
ing houses.
■ Provide an area in front of the house where it is convenient and comfortable
to sit outside. If people are sitting in front on a porch or sheltered terrace, the
chance of making contact as the neighbors come home is improved.
■ Provide an area in front of the house where small children can play with
parental supervision. Small children at play attract other small children — and
their parents.
■ Preserve privacy options with a protected back or side yard and a protected
access to the garage and car. Once in the car, it is not normally required that
you stop and talk unless you are specifically flagged down by a neighbor.
In considering how a design solution may influence friendship formation, it
should be remembered that while physical closeness is an important factor, func¬
tional closeness — the likelihood of being brought into contact at the bus stop, at
the mail box, or while mowing the lawn — is much more important.

IN AN APARTMENT
Apartment living, and to some extent condominium living, are special subsets of
living in single-family homes. Much of what has been discussed in the preceding
coverage of AT HOME will apply here and should be reviewed.
While apartment living and condominium living differ somewhat because of
different territorial attitudes associated with owning versus renting, they are simi¬
lar in regard to density and to their relative openness to public access. These
factors are important matters for the designer who is concerned with the behav¬
ioral aspects of design. They will be discussed as they relate to the group of attrib¬
utes discussed at the beginning of this chapter.

PERSONAL SAFETY
All the personal-safety concerns discussed earlier apply equally to apartment liv¬
ing. To some extent they are intensified because of the characteristics of most
apartment buildings. Apartment buildings are frequently more than one story
high, so that the hazard to life and property from fire is greater than in most

■ 48 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Outdoor-space alloca¬
tions. Provide a front
social area and a pro¬
tected private outdoor
space. A screened area
should be provided for
projects and activities
that might seem un¬
sightly to neighbors.

single-family residences. Because apartments are occupied by clusters of people

living in close quarters, a substantial amount of traffic is generated by visiting
friends, relatives, tradespeople, and deliveries. As a result it is bard to distinguish
between legitimate traffic and intruders.
In some urban areas apartment-house crime is a serious problem — one which
is difficult to solve without introducing all the paraphernalia of gates, locks, and
security guards. Without a formal security apparatus, apartment-house dwellers
must rely heavily on mutual surveillance for protection. This is reason enough for
neighbors to know and get along with each other. Here are some considerations
that will help promote apartment security.
■ Build low-rise buildings. Apartments of three to four stories in height seem to
be inherently safer than high-rise structures. Low-rise buildings that permit
parents to see play areas next to the building also relieve parental anxiety about
the safety of their children.
■ Provide security systems. If high-rise structures are absolutely required, they
should be provided with tight security control at every entrance. This includes
garage and basement entrances, service entrances, stair-tower exits, as well as
the more formal entrances.
■ Cluster apartments around a common entrance or stairwell. This arrange¬
ment offers several benefits. It increases the opportunity for contact with other
residents so that there is more sense of personal involvement and mutual con¬
cern. It also makes it easier to recognize who “belongs” in the entry.

LIVING TOGETHER 49 ■
Clustered apartment
entrances. Tenants can
be more conscious of
entrance activities if
there are windows into
the entry area and
clear territorial identi¬
fication of each apart¬
ment entrance.

Apartment unit en¬

trances. Each unit
should have a distinc¬
tive entrance instead
of just a door.

■ 50 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 ■ Avoid long, double-loaded corridors. In their usual form they are a “no-man’s
land” that doesn’t belong to anyone and for which no one assumes a territorial
concern.
■ Create an "entrance" at each unit. Each individual apartment or con¬
dominium should have a distinctive entrance. The entrance should be designed
so that people in the apartment can have the option of seeing out into the
corridor, stairwell, or elevator lobby. The entrance design should also provide
that part of the space in the corridor or passageway be assigned as part of the
individual apartment’s territory. The purpose of this proposal is to encourage
the residents to assume some proprietary concern for at least part of the public
space and what goes on there.
■ Tenants should have a view out through their entry into the corridor that
serves them. They should also have windows that permit them to see the ap¬
proaches to the building and the ground area.
■ Clearly define the project territory. The grounds and approaches to the build¬
ing should be clearly defined so that it is obvious when a person moves from
“public” territory to “project” territory. This can be accomplished with grade
changes and landscape development as well as by gates and physical barriers.

Boundary markers.
The boundaries be¬
tween "public" terri¬
tory and "project" terri¬
tory should be clearly
defined.

LIVING TOGETHER 51 ■
 TERRITORIALITY
As far as the interior of the apartment unit is concerned, the territorial considera¬
tions should be exactly the same as those previously discussed under the
AT HOME heading. As far as the balance of the building and the grounds is
concerned, there is no difference in principle but there is a great difference in
details.
In any leased or rented structure there exists an obvious dichotomy between the
territorial feelings of the owner and the territorial feelings of the tenant. The
interior of the apartment unit is clearly the tenants’ ‘‘territory,” but only in a lim¬
ited way. These limitations must be spelled out in the lease or rental agreement.
Rental agreements, which are usually drawn up by the landlord, should reflect an
understanding of the territorial feelings of the renter and recognize that, for the
most part, the landlord gains in security and upkeep of the property if the tenants
develop a strong territorial attachment to their quarters.
Tenants themselves divide an apartment-house environment into two catego¬
ries — “mine” and “ours.” In addition to the interior of their own apartment unit,
they may claim as their own any parking stalls or garage space designated for their
exclusive use, private storage units, and any exterior space adjacent to their unit
that was clearly intended for them. The balance of the building that is accessible to
and generally used by the tenants falls into the shared or “ours” category. It is
important to both owners and tenants that the “ours” feeling be strongly devel¬
oped. This sense of participatory ownership encourages the tenants to be con¬
cerned with the overall well-being of the structure. Certain measures encourage
4his feeling.
■ Define boundaries. Make certain that those elements that are the private terri¬
tory of the tenant are clearly marked. Parking stalls and storage units should be
numbered or named. Apartments should also be numbered and provision
made for the tenants to display their names at their entrances if they choose to
do so. Any outside space assigned to a tenant, such as a terrace, porch, balcony,
or the entry area in the corridor previously described, should be distinguished
from others by color, pattern, texture, or other special treatment.
■ Define shared spaces. Places that are shared by all tenants should be identified
by color, texture, furnishings, or some other distinguishing characteristic so
that they are obviously separate from places that are the personal preserve of
individual tenants.
■ Define areas inside the apartment. The same rules apply here that apply
inside the home. Where rooms are shared, there should be a clear distinction
between the spaces and facilities that are for common use and those that are the
property or territory of each occupant.
■ Define the boundaries of the development. An important part of the security
program described earlier requires that both the public and the tenants be abso¬
lutely certain about the dividing line between the public right-of-way and the
area that is part of the apartment project. This is a critical requirement for
controlling access.
If it is considered appropriate to invite the public into the project, then the
same kinds of territorial markers that were previously discussed should be used
to direct the public to the appropriate areas and to make it clear where they are
welcome and where they are not.

PERSONAL SPACE
Where privacy between the members of the family is concerned, the requirements
in an apartment house are no different from those in a single-family dwelling. As

■ 52 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

far as privacy between dwelling units is concerned, the problem in the apartment
is more severe and more difficult to deal with. Acoustic and visual privacy are the
primary concerns. Visual privacy for tenants, when they are outside their own
apartments, is only rarely available. Tenant surveys indicate that lack of privacy,
especially acoustic privacy, is regarded as one of the most annoying drawbacks of
apartment living.
If privacy is hard to find in the average single-family home, it is an even rarer
commodity in the average apartment. The desirable goals in an apartment parallel
those discussed in greater detail in the preceding AT HOME section.
■ The parents' sector. It should be remote from the rest of the family and be
visually and acoustically private. It should be close to a bathroom for both ritual
and hygienic purposes.
■ Working privacy for parents. Working husbands and wives require some place
at home where they can work privately. If this is not available, they will spend
less time at home. A separate study, shop, or studio is ideal, but if that is not
possible a separate workplace in the bedroom is a useful substitute.
■ Privacy for the rest of the family. Under ideal circumstances, everyone in a
family should be able to retreat to some private space. The designer of a custom
home can address that problem directly. An apartment house designer cannot
be so specific because the actual inhabitants of a given apartment cannot be
known in advance; furthermore, they will change in time. There are some strat¬
egies that will definitely help.
1. Arrange and equip each bedroom to permit clearly assigned territories for at
least two occupants.
2. Provide privacy locks on all bedroom doors.
3. Separate bathing facilities from toilet facilities. Providing more than one
bathroom will also help, but it is not an efficient substitute for having sepa¬
rate access to a bath and a toilet.
4. More small-size rooms are better for family use than fewer larger rooms.
PERSONAL STATUS
Just as the homeowner seeks to establish a measure of personal status in selecting a
home, the apartment dweller seeks the same thing in renting an apartment. The
appearance of the apartment community is, in fact, a leading concern to prospec¬
tive renters. The district, the neighborhood, and the street are all part of this
concern, but the actual appearance of the building and grounds and the care with
which they are maintained seem to be the primary interest. If these aspects of the
project discourage prospective renters, they may never see the interior features,
no matter how desirable they may be. It appears that the public tends to rate
desirable exterior appearance in terms of upkeep rather than specific architec¬
tural style.
While appearance is clearly an important matter to apartment renters, it is hard
to extract specific guidelines for the designer. The building or buildings should
clearly have an attractive and distinctive appearance, but such adjectives mean
different things to different people. A distinctive name for the project would be
helpful, but what might be regarded as attractive in one neighborhood might be
laughable in another. There are few recommendations that can be made with
certainty.
■ Conduct marketing studies. This is the only way to determine if a design will
appeal to potential renters in a given area.
■ The building should be built of materials that will be perceived as durable
and permanent by the public. This is an important distinction, since the public

LIVING TOGETHER 53 ■
 perception of such qualities is not necessarily the same as that of building pro¬
fessionals.
■ The building materials and the design should convey the impression that
the apartment interiors are quiet and private.
■ The building and grounds should be designed so that they require only a
modest amount of maintenance to retain a quality appearance.
The exterior characteristics discussed above have very little to do with long-term
satisfaction with an apartment. They are important factors in a renter’s initial
evaluation of a building, but unless the units themselves accommodate a family’s
needs comfortably and effectively, renters are not likely to be satisfied for long.

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
Living in a large apartment structure, even with its dense concentration of people,
can be a lonely way of life. If a resident’s travel is limited to taking the elevator
down to the garage in the morning and back again in the evening, the chance of
making social contacts along the way is remote. Unless there is some pattern of
movement that brings people into contact, density in itself has no effect on friend¬
ship formation.
An important factor in social exposure is functional distance. Families in adja¬
cent apartments may live only inches apart, separated by just the thickness of the
common wall, but if they use separate entrances or move on a different schedule
they may never see each other. They are functionally close only when their paths
cross and their activities bring them together.
There are people in many apartment houses who have no interest in making
friends with their neighbors and who are primarily interested in protecting their
privacy. The designer will, of course, have to make that option available to them.
On the whole, tenants have a great deal to gain from forming a network of
acquaintances even if they do not become close friends. Sharing is in many in¬
stances both effective and rewarding. Car pools, baby-sitting pools, and shopping
pools can make life a little easier. On a cold morning when the car won’t start, it is
a comfort to know someone who is willing to help. Even more important is the fact
that a network of friends and acquaintances is a tenant’s best assurance of security.
In a properly planned facility, friends and acquaintances provide the mutual sur¬
veillance previously discussed under the heading of Personal Safety.
Some of the recommendations made earlier under the heading of Personal
Safety are equally important in providing opportunities for friendship formation.
Indeed, the reason they contribute to personal security is that they generate social
contacts and lead to the creation of a mutually supportive social fabric in an apart¬
ment complex. The suggestions that follow all tend to create situations that bring
people into contact with one another.
■ Design small buildings or break large projects into smaller segments.
■ Cluster units around separate stairwells or entries.
■ Focus traffic in an apartment structure into a common entry.
■ Make the entry an information center for the project. Provide a bulletin board
for announcements and notices that tenants might want to post.
■ Locate service facilities that are used in common, such as laundry rooms,
adjacent to the entrance and just off the main stream of traffic. Design the
space to be attractive and comfortable as well as convenient. The intent is to put
these facilities in a prominent location so that they will be comfortable and
appealing as well as safe to use.
■ Provide a secure area for small children to play where their parents can
watch them. Children are a common link between families.
■ Provide a common lounge or recreation room. Include amenities that would
■ 54 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE
Clustered apartments.
Low-rise apartment
clusters without long
corridors can generate
more contact between
tenants and increased
security.

The entry area should

function as a project in¬
formation and social
center.

LIVING TOGETHER 55
 not normally be found in the individual apartment units, such as a fireplace or
large-screen TV. This should also be adjacent to the main entrance.
■ Provide a distinctive entrance# with an individual nameplate, to each apart¬
ment unit instead of the standard anonymous door in an anonymous hallway.
Apartments are built in a great range of types and sizes. In this condensed
discussion of the behavioral factors that a designer should be concerned with
there has been no effort to make that distinction. The principles apply universally,
but the details that are appropriate for larger projects would require some modifi¬
cation for smaller projects.

IN A DORMITORY
While dormitory housing does not affect a very large percentage of the popula¬
tion at any one time, it is a persistent housing type and one with some special
characteristics. While it is usual to think of dormitories in connection with educa¬
tion institutions, especially colleges and universities, very similar facilities are used
for military barracks, work camps, and offshore drilling platforms.
At least in the beginning, dormitory living pairs up relative strangers in close
quarters, a situation that can create difficulties. At the same time, dormitory life is
capable of initiating lifelong friendships. Successfully mixing individuals with dif¬
ferent habits and schedules requires a design that makes clearcut assignments of
territories and pays close attention to the details of layout and equipment that will
permit one person to sleep while another works or studies.
In planning a dormitory, special thought must also be given to the problems of
socialization. Individuals who enter a dormitory for the first time are usually en¬
tering an entirely new social scene at the same time. Their best hope of affiliating
with a recognizable social group is within the dormitory community. The arrange¬
ment of the facilities will have a great deal to do with the newcomer’s chances of
making contact with others and thus learning the local “culture.” As was previ¬
ously discussed, functional distance plays an important part in socialization. If
common facilities are arranged properly, people will be drawn into contact with a
variety of potential friends and acquaintances. If not, their social contacts will be
limited.

PERSONAL SAFETY
It may seem redundant to return once more to the topic of Personal Safety, but
contemporary society is plagued by a distressing amount of violence and property
crime. Dormitories do not escape these problems. To some extent, because of the
easy informality that characterizes dormitories, they are more vulnerable than
other types of housing. Again defensive design calls for the kind of facilities listed
below that encourage the formation of a sense of community and interdepen¬
dence. The value of locks and guards is not questioned, but these alone may not
do the job.
■ Build low-rise buildings. Not only have low-rise buildings been found to be
inherently safer than high-rise buildings, but low-rise buildings can be config¬
ured in ways that are difficult or impossible to duplicate in taller structures.
This is not to say that high-rise structures cannot be made secure, but the cost
and the attendant loss of freedom of movement would be especially inappropri¬
ate in dormitories.
■ Cluster units around a common entrance or stairwell. This is a classic form
for college dorms. If the room entrances are designed so that they afford a clear
view of the traffic in and out of the dormitory, building security will be im¬
proved.

■ 56 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

■ Limit building access to the principal entrance. While fire safety and exiting
requirements may make it impossible to adopt this recommendation literally, an
effort should be made to come as close as possible. The design principle in¬
volved is that entrance traffic be limited to the minimum number of points so
that those points can be observed more closely.
■ Avoid loop corridors or long corridors of any kind. Loop corridors make it
possible to enter one way and exit another. While this is an attractive option in
many ways, it is not good from a security standpoint. Long corridors, assuming
that they serve many units, reduce the degree of involvement of the people
resident on them.

TERRITORIALITY
As in the case of apartments, there is a disparity between the territorial rights of
the organization or institution that owns the dormitory and the territorial rights of
the tenants. The dormitory tenant’s rights are transient, of course, but nonetheless
important. They must be carefully spelled out in the regulations that govern the
use of the building. In developing these regulations, it is important for the owner
to keep in mind that it is desirable from every point of view for the tenants to have
a territorial feeling about their temporary home.
Since most dormitory accommodations do not provide private toilets, showers,
laundry facilties, or kitchens, the tenant’s personal domain is limited to the dorm
room itself — which is usually shared with one or more roommates. As a result,
the category considered to be “mine” is very small but the “ours” category is rather
large. This may explain why the experience of dormitory living is so diverse, rang¬
ing from loneliness and isolation to a rewarding experience that is remembered
fondly. It also illustrates how closely related human characteristics are.
Our individual security is influenced by the territorial feelings developed by our
neighbors and roommates toward the common shared space. The fact that we
share such territorial feelings results from friendship formation and being assimi¬
lated into a recognized group. These important human concerns are all linked,
and are all influenced by the design of the dormitory. It is encouraging to know
that a building design can contribute to such a beneficial relationship.
■ Clearly define the territorial boundaries within shared dormitory rooms.
Provide distinctly separate facilities for each occupant — separate closets, desks,
lamps, bookcases, and beds. Provide an equal share of amenities such as light,
ventilation, and view. The design should indicate clearly which areas of the
room are the preserve of each individual. While the designer may stop short of
drawing lines on the floor or using floor coverings of different color or texture,
the distinctions should be obvious to each occupant.
These recommendations may seem to put undue stress on territorial consid¬
erations. Many people do share rooms with little friction, though they may have
to submerge occasional feelings of annoyance or frustration. It is this kind of
accommodation that makes group living tolerable. The purpose of clear bound¬
aries is to keep annoyance and frustration to a minimum. Thoughtful and con¬
siderate roommates can make all kinds of special accommodations. They may
ignore territorial boundaries if they choose. The designer’s concern is to pro¬
vide a clear territorial framework in case it is needed.
■ Clearly define the common territory assigned to the each living group. Any
group of people that is to act in concert as a group must be able to identify itself
as a defined set of individuals with common attributes and interests. It is easier
to identify with a small number of people than with a large number. The max¬
imum number who can achieve a “we” feeling varies with both people and situa-

LIVING TOGETHER 57 ■
 tions; but for a dormitory, 50 residents sharing a common unit is an appro¬
priate size. The number might be increased if the unit were composed of
smaller subunits. This would require that large dormitory projects be broken
down into smaller segments. Each segment should have the following char¬
acteristics:
1. A separate entrance
2. A separate stairway
3. A separate lounge or social center
4. A separate laundry or utility area
5. One or more toilet rooms and shower rooms
6. A distinctive design identity

PERSONAL SPACE
Privacy is as important to dorm residents as it is to anyone else, but it is usually
much harder to obtain. Dormitory or barracks living implies being surrounded by
people. Being alone, or sharing private time with someone else, is normally not
considered to be an option. If privacy is needed, it must be sought somewhere
else.
In this regard, dormitories fail to provide for an important human need. Odd¬
ly, there is no particular design reason that this should be true. It would be a
simple matter to provide the kinds of privacy rooms described below.
■ Provide private spaces that can be reserved by individuals. Whether they
are considered to be for study, letter writing, meditation, prayer, or simply
getting away from the world, such spaces would serve an important need. They
can be very small rooms providing a place to sit, a place to write, and the requi¬
site utilities such as light, heat, ventilation, and electrical outlets.
■ Provide private spaces that can be reserved for couples or families. There
are many kinds of exchanges within family groups or between individuals that
are severely hampered by an audience. They range from proposals of marriage
to arguments about family finances. If a dormitory purports to provide a surro¬
gate home, it should make some provision for private parlors or courting
rooms. They need not be luxurious. They should accommodate four people
comfortably with appropriate seating, a small table, lights, heat, and ventilation.

Privacy rooms and par¬

lors.

■ 58 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
GROUP MEMBERSHIP
Living together in dormitories often leads to the formation of long-lasting friend¬
ships. Considering the random process by which entering students are assigned
roommates, this seems a surprising result. In actuality, the process is not quite as
random as it appears. At the university and college level, at any rate, a certain
degree of selection has automatically taken place simply because the student pop¬
ulation is not a random sample of the general population. If a group of people are
brought together who share common backgrounds and interests, group living is a
fertile ground for forming friendships.
Given a suitably designed structure, the impact of the first year in a college
dorm on friendship formation is profound. In a study of dormitories at Princeton,
F. Duncan Case found that sophomores chose their roommates from among the
group who shared common facilities in the freshman dorm. Furthermore, this
effect persisted through the senior year. The operative factor was having shared
common facilities as freshmen.
Facilities that encourage the formation of friendships are similar to those that
were previously described to enhance personal safety. The linkage between the
two should be made clear. Friendships do not result from design features that
enhance personal safety. The reverse is true: Design features that tend to increase
personal contacts lead to safer premises. The type of facility that encourages the
formation of friendships is safer because friends look out for each other.
The inclination to seek membership in an identified group is a natural exten¬
sion of the search for friendship. Being assigned to an identifiable dormitory unit
is a step in this direction, but this in itself it does not accomplish the intended
purpose. “Membership” is an elusive status; just being a member of the crew
doesn’t make everyone a shipmate. A designer should seek to create a dormitory
that provides opportunities for people to meet and talk with one another, that is
small enough that the residents can know each other’s interests and concerns, and
yet is large enough that there are social options. The recommendations listed
below cannot insure that everyone will interact happily, but they will make interac¬
tion more likely.
■ Organize the dormitory unit around a group of approximately 50 residents.
If larger structures are required for other reasons, they should be broken into
units no larger than this size.
■ Provide an entrance that focuses traffic in and out of the structure. The
entrance should be both a traffic center and an information center. It should
contain private, enclosed phone booths and a bulletin board for announce¬
ments and the exchange of personal messages.
■ Provide a lounge-social center and a utility area immediately adjacent to
the entrance. This arrangement places important common facilities at a point
where traffic is concentrated to increase the opportunity for contact.
■ Place toilet rooms and shower rooms at locations where they concentrate
traffic in the sections they serve. These rooms, usually thought of only for
their utilitarian functions, are traffic generators and should be deployed to in¬
crease contacts.
■ Provide an entrance at each dorm room rather than just a door. The en¬
trance should provide a place for each occupant’s name if they choose to display
it and should make it possible for the occupants to see out into the corridor
from inside their rooms.

LIVING TOGETHER 59 ■
Dormitory entrance
characteristics.

Dormitory room en¬

trances. Glass side¬
lights or Dutch doors
give the occupants a
chance to see what is
happening in the cor¬
ridors.

■ 60 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
The term “neighborhood” is one that is used loosely both in common parlance
and in the planning held. It is freely used in connection with dense, inner-city
districts and such astronomical concepts as “the planets in the neighborhood of
the sun.” For our purposes we are more interested in the fact that people who live
in a district may have a concept of their neighborhood that is quite different from
that of people who do not live there. Outsiders may associate a neighborhood with
some physical feature, a specific set of boundaries, or a historic name. Residents
may have no knowledge at all of these factors and think of their neighborhood in
terms of the area near home that is well travelled and familiar. If these residents
live on a long street with no cross streets, and leave the area for church, schools,
and shopping, their neighborhood may be just the one street. If the street pattern
provides easy cross-connections, and the essential community services are distrib¬
uted at various points within easy reach, the neighborhood may be quite extensive.
Most new neighborhoods in this country are created as a result of the activities
of development firms who subdivide land into residential or apartment-building
sites. The purpose of their enterprise is to create the kind of neighborhoods that
appeal to prospective purchasers. The characteristics that make an area appealing
to prospective buyers or renters are important, but they are not the only ones that
need to be considered. Areas that are desirable from an adult point of view are not
necessarily equally desirable places for children. Both of these concerns are dealt
with in the recommendations listed below. They are closely related to recommen¬
dations made earlier under the headings of AT HOME and IN AN APARTMENT.

PERSONAL STATUS
The nature and appearance of a person’s home, whether a private dwelling or an
apartment, is one of the elements that defines a person’s status both in that per¬
son’s eyes and in the eyes of others. The location of the home is just as important
in this regard as the home itself. Location is a critical factor in determining real-
estate prices. It is the basis for the ageless axiom that the three fundamental fac¬
tors in determining real estate value are: 1. Location. 2. Location. 3. Location.
Determining the precise design characteristics that make a location sought after
in this sense is not entirely a matter for rational analysis. An emotional factor is
involved in which sentiment and symbolism, as well as history, play a great part.
Even to many who have never seen them, names like “Back Bay,” “Greenwich
Village,” and “Malibu” suggest not just neighborhoods but interesting life-styles.
There is no set of rules that can create such images overnight. There are, how¬
ever, some characteristics that are universally attractive.
■ The designer can consider the following characteristics as useful
guidelines for designing attractive neighborhoods:
1. Definite boundaries that are well known to the residents and are identified
by a name that is known in the community.
2. Houses that do not appear to be too close together or too crowded. Actual
distances are influenced by the considerations discussed in the earlier AT
HOME section.
3. Construction materials and methods that are perceived by the public as
being durable.
4. Good maintenance. Maintenance and upkeep are very important indicators
of neighborhood quality in the eyes of the public.
5. A pleasant ambience. Attractive neighborhoods will not be noisy; they will
not carry heavy traffic on the local streets; and they will be free of disagree¬
able odors and fumes.

LIVING TOGETHER 61 ■
 There are other functional characteristics that make a neighborhood attractive,
such as public transportation, good schools, convenient shopping, playgrounds,
and so on, but most of these are not normally within the purview of the de¬
signer.

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
The AT HOME section discussed at length the design characteristics of individual
homes that encourage friendship formation. The recommendations for creating a
neighborhood plan that encourages friendship formation are surprisingly akin to
those suggested for apartments or dormitories. It is important to recognize, how¬
ever, that neighborhood characteristics that might encourage adults to get ac¬
quainted are not necessarily of value to children in their efforts to make friends.
■ Develop a street pattern with short blocks to improve access. Cross-streets
open access to people on adjacent streets instead of limiting contact to the peo¬
ple on the same street. This is especially useful for children, although it is also
beneficial to adults for car pooling and other forms of sharing.
■ Provide local neighborhood shopping. Local grocery stores, drugstores, and
hardware stores provide opportunities for social contact. If the street system is
properly laid out and is safe for pedestrians, local shopping provides increased
mobility for both adults and children.
■ Provide small-scale play areas within the neighborhood. Parks and play¬
grounds are generally considered neighborhood assets unless they beome so
big, or attract so many outsiders, that they are no longer uniquely related to the
neighborhood. If playgrounds provide for large-scale athletic activities, team
sports, and organized leagues, they may be so dominated by teenagers and
larger children that small children may be excluded. Small-scale play areas are
especially intended for small children. The importance of these areas to chil¬
dren is demonstrated by their ingenuity in appropriating otherwise unused
spaces for their play activities. A small patch of grass where parents can play
with their children is desirable, but even a wide place in the sidewalk would be
useful.

A small-scale play
area. Any leftover
space can be useful to
small children.

m 62 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

PERSONAL SAFETY
The amount of land an individual uses for housing purposes is often associated
with social and economic status. Small houses on small lots are associated with
lower status than big houses on big lots. Even higher on the status scale are houses
that are widely separated from each other, set well back from the street, and lo¬
cated in secluded settings (the category we call estates). Housing of this sort pro¬
vides an unusual degree of privacy for its owners; to many people, it represents
the upper levels of status and prestige. A neighborhood characterized by the latter
kind of housing is especially hard on children. It makes no pretense at all of being
neighborly and, as a result, it is especially vulnerable to burglary. An estate can be
fortified to deal with the threat of burglary but the attendant cost, equipment, and
personnel are both annoying and burdensome.
One reason that human beings historically clustered together was for their com¬
mon defense. At present, we may need to return to the same defensive posture.
The nature of the neighborhood has a great deal to do with how safe any of us will
be. At a time when many women were at home a large part of the day, it did not
require many neighbors to serve as a neighborhood watch. Because more houses
were occupied, they could be a little farther apart. That situation, however, has
changed. With fewer people home during the day, there must be more houses
within view of each other to insure that someone will be watching neighborhood
activities. That is why the following recommendations are concerned with visibility
and sight lines.
■ The success of any neighborhood in reducing criminal depredations will
depend on mutual surveillance. Neighbors must feel enough concern for
their mutual welfare that they are interested in what is going on; they must be
able to see if a crime is being committed and feel enough involvement to initiate
action to deal with it.
■ A house must be visible on all sides from other houses in the neighborhood
to discourage forcible entry. Each house and the approach to each house
should be clearly visible from the houses on each side, the house in the rear, and
at least two houses across the street. Landscaping should be open so that it does
not obscure either the building or its approaches.

LIVING TOGETHER 63 ■
 If “home” is the only arena for human activities that comes close to being univer¬
sal, “workplace” is, at least, its closest competitor. In western societies it is
customary to think of the two as a duality: Work is what we do to support home
and family; home is where we rest to ready ourselves for work. While the nature
of the work we do is undergoing a change, the stress we experience in working
does not seem to diminish.
Solitary workers can arrange their workplaces to suit themselves and do not
have to adjust to the needs of others. Most of us lack that freedom. Working
generally means working with other people who may differ from us in many ways
and are not always compatible. Coupled with the fact that work implies some
degree of accomplishment, of tasks undertaken and completed, the workplace can
be very stressful.
Certain tasks that have been rigidly structured define work stations that offer
very little flexibility in adapting to an individual’s preferences. The checker-cash¬
ier in a supermarket works at a station that is highly efficient and completely
interchangeable. Any checker may operate any station. The person adapts to the
station. There are many more instances, however, where operating requirements
are not nearly so precise, where individuals might alter or modify their working
arrangements to suit their personal needs without reducing their effectiveness or
productivity.
Personalization of workspaces may even increase productivity, but in many cir¬
cumstances that is an option that workers do not have. For some reason there is a
widely held assumption that overall efficiencv in the workplace demands uniform¬
ity and rigid organization. Desks, consoles, and work tables are to be marshaled in
ranks and hies. The free spirit in the insurance claims department who elects to
face a desk in the opposite direction from the herd will almost assuredly encoun¬
ter stiff high-level resistance. Yet this need to personalize, to individualize, is a
frequently expressed desire of American workers.
Adapting the workplace to the worker in order to reduce stress and frustration
on the job is the concern of this chapter. Ideally, we should discuss workplaces of
all types, but the research data that are available focus on office environments.
This is probably a result of the rapid emergence of white-collar office work as the
principal source of employment in this country. While employment in this held
has increased rapidly, productivity per person appears to have declined rather
than increased—in spite of some impressive breakthroughs in office automation
and information processing. It is possible that improvements in productivity will
not come from further automation but from workplaces that are more satisfying
from a human standpoint. Such an effort should be well worthwhile.
Ronald Goodrich, who has studied the problems of the office environment
from the standpoint of the users, has calculated that over the life span of the
typical office building about 90% of the costs incurred are for employee salaries

■ 64
and benefits with the other 10% being for the design, construction, and operation
of the structure itself. Money invested in the building to make employees more
eflective can have a very high payoff.
While workers are concerned with, and influenced by, all the behavior char¬
acteristics discussed in Chapter 3, some of these factors are especially important in
the workplace.

PERSONAL SPACE
While few workers experience real privacy on the job, most have expressed a
strong desire for some control over their personal workspaces. This feeling is
frequently thwarted by the way most workplaces are designed and equipped.

PERSONAL STATUS
The perquisites and amenities that are provided for a workplace are frequently
the most visible evidence of an individual’s standing within an organization. If
these are distributed unfairly, it may create a strong sense of injustice within a
working group.

TERRITORIALITY
Workers may have no legal territorial rights at all in their workplaces, but that
does not mean that they have no territorial feelings about them. Clear boundaries
are just as important in the workplace as anywhere else.

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
Many friendships form at the office or at the shop. In small groups where every¬
one has some contact with everyone else, friendships will form if they will. There
is no need to utilize any special strategy to bring them about. In large organiza¬
tions this is not true. The designer owes it to the workers and the organization to
arrange facilities that encourage friendly contacts. Contacts made in the lunch¬
room or on rest break generate a network that constitutes the informal structure
of the organization.

GROUP MEMBERSHIP
This is an extension of the need for individual friendship. Most people seek to
associate with a group, and the informal networks established by such groups can
be beneficial to an organization. Size, however, can be a problem. In small organi¬
zations contacts tend to be informal and personal. In large groups they are likely
to be bureaucratic and impersonal. This undoubtedly explains the widespread
preference among workers for smaller working groups. Designers should strive to
create smaller work groups in order to encourage group affiliation.

THE PERSONAL WORKPLACE

“Going to work” is a regular ritual for most adults in this country. Whether they
view this prospect with pleasure or dread, when they arrive they will spend their
working hours in a physical setting that is provided for them by their employer
and over which they have little if any control. If it happens to be well suited to
their needs, they are in luck; if it is not, they will have to adapt as well as they can.
Certain assignments are so closely tied to specific equipment or activities that
the arrangement of the work station is necessarily restricted by those needs. Work¬
ing at the ticketing and baggage check-in counters at an airport are in that cate¬
gory, as are most bank teller positions. Most secretarial and clerical work is not so
restricted. It presents no real problem if the people involved in this kind of work
have more freedom in arranging things to suit themselves. In either situation, the
recommendations that follow should be implemented as far as possible.

WORKING TOGETHER 65 ■
 PERSONAL SPACE
One of the most frequently expressed desires regarding workplaces is the right of
individuals to exercise more control over both their immediate surroundings and
personal access. While true privacy is not usually available to most workers, there
is no reason why limited forms of privacy should not be generally available. Ob¬
vious exceptions are those job assignments where an individual serves as an infor¬
mation source or is involved directly with the public. There are several things that
could be done to give employees some measure of control over their personal
environment.
■ Identify each individual's workplace. Provide a name plate slot or stand to
identify the occupant of each work station. This is especially important in sta¬
tions where the occupants rotate, as in a checkout stand. Name identification is
important to the occupant and to the public that may deal with the occupant.
■ Provide lockable personal storage. Every employee should have a lockable
storage space for small parcels, lunches, or personal belongings. This is espe¬
cially necessary in any station that is shared on a rotating basis.
■ Face oncoming traffic. Arrange work stations so that normal traffic ap¬
proaches from the front, i.e., the 180 degree sector the worker is facing. Above
all, avoid placement that permits traffic to approach from the rear.
■ Avoid traffic concentrations. Do not locate work stations at points where traf¬
fic is concentrated, unless the station is to serve as a reception or information
center.
■ Provide local control over light and heat. Assuming that the general lighting
level is adequate, most workers would prefer task-specific lighting that they
could control to suit their own preferences for direction and intensity. The
same applies to heat and ventilation. Both of these proposals are at odds with
current tendencies in office design. Providing task-specific lighting is not diffi¬
cult, but providing local, individual, control over air conditioning may be hard
to accomplish. In case this is impossible, the designer should at least ensure that
air conditioning is controlled from within the workers’ general area. Avoid like
the plague automated systems that are controlled by a remote computer.
■ Provide window views. Locate each work station so that the occupant can see a
daylight view through outside windows. This is a strongly expressed preference
among workers in a variety of work conditions.
■ Provide flexible furnishings. So far as the workers assignment permits, work¬
station equipment should offer each individual as much flexibility as possible.
Work-station requirements vary too much to permit specific recommendations,
but generally there should be one principal work surface, one secondary work
surface, a connecting area for equipment, and special storage such as shelves,
drawers, or bins for whatever material is dealt with. All of these units should be
adjustable as to height, and relation with each other. “Standardizing-to-the-
mean,” on the assumption that one size can be used to take care of everyone,
doesn’t work any better with office furnishings than it does with socks.
■ Provide for personalization. Unless there are serious policy problems that pre¬
vent it, every work station should provide the means for personalization. This
means that each individual should have an opportunity to keep close at hand
the trophies, photos, miniature plants, postcards, or other mementos that he or
she feels comfortable with. This recommendation may seem to upset the dignity
and decorum of business and professional offices, but if it is taken as an essen¬
tial part of the design criteria it is not difficult to accommodate.
■ Provide for ease of cleaning. Any work station should be designed so that it
can be easily cleaned and easily kept in that condition. This is especially impor-

H 66 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Personal work station
characteristics.

Outside
window

Personalizing the work

station. Given an op¬
portunity, most people
will personalize their
work stations.

WORKING TOGETHER 67 m
 tant in work stations where personnel rotate. It is exceedingly unpleasant to
come on duty at a toll station or a ticket counter and find that it has been left in a
dirty, unsanitary condition.

PERSONAL STATUS
During the time an individual is at work, the character and quality of his or her
work-station facilities becomes a measure of personal status, not only within the
organization but to the world in general. Interpreting such symbols is not, how¬
ever, easy and straightforward. The staff at corporate headquarters may work in
superbly furnished and equipped surroundings. This does not necessarily reflect
on the status of the individuals but rather on the image of the corporation. The
true significance of such signs is seen in comparisons between individuals or
groups of individuals. Individuals of equal rank or responsibility feel slighted if
any of their peers within the organization receive better treatment, unless it results
from an obvious functional requirement of their position. Employees who are
dealing with credit matters, or personnel complaints, may reasonably be given
private offices even though others in their salary brackets have to work in the
open.
A designer’s first concern is to provide facilities that employees view as being
fair and just. There are other yardsticks that must be considered. If the legal
secretaries in one law office conclude that their counterparts in most other offices
are enjoying much better working conditions, they may feel slighted. Their sense
of distributive justice, of their standing relative to others, is offended.
■ Involve people in the design process. Including employees in the planning
process is the best way of ensuring that they have work stations that fit their
requirements while at the same time enlisting their support for the success of
the project. In spite of the fears that are sometimes expressed by management,
experience has indicated that when employees are involved in the planning
process in a significant way, their suggestions are intelligent, relevant, and rea¬
sonable.
■ Appearance is important. The appearance of the workplace, any workplace, is
important to employees. The distinction that is sometimes drawn between pub¬
lic areas of an operation and behind-the-scenes areas where appearance does
not count is unfair to the employees. It communicates the message that employ¬
ees are less worthy of concern than the public. Regardless of the realities, no
one likes that message.
■ Distribute amenities fairly. Whatever resources are available should be dis¬
tributed fairly. This does not mean that everyone should receive the same treat¬
ment. Differences in rank and responsibility are normal and so are differences
in facilities and prerogatives. What offends the sense of fairness is obvious im¬
balance, where a disproportionate share of resources are devoted to a small
group of people.
■ Stay within the norms of the field. Be certain that the facilities are not notably
inferior to those normally provided in the same field. If they are notably superior
to the field there will be no complaint from the employees. They may, in fact,
reduce employee turnover.

TERRITORIALITY
Territorial matters are discussed in more detail in the next section. The important
consideration for the individual work station is boundaries.
■ Establish clear boundaries. Any individual work station, one that is not
shared, should be clearly bounded in a manner that is obvious to the user and to
any neighbor who might otherwise intrude.

■ 68 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

SHARED WORKPLACES
When personal workplaces are combined into shared workplaces, personal and
social problems develop. The solitary worker avoids a number of problems that
can occur when people work together. It is equally true that the solitary worker
loses the comradeship of joint effort and the increased efficiency of cooperation
and specialization. While certain activities require uninterrupted concentration
that can probably be done best in solitary circumstances, there are many more that
require close cooperation and face-to-face interaction between groups of people.
These are the activities that are responsible for the ever larger concentrations of
workers found in public agencies and private corporations.
Personal Space and Personal Status have been discussed previously in relation to
THE PERSONAL WORKPLACE and are essentially the same in relation to
SHARED WORKPLACES. A shared workplace is, after all, a collection of personal
workplaces. It is worth stressing, however, that involving the workers in the design
process is just as important to the success of shared workplaces as it is in personal
workplaces. There are, in addition, important factors that are unique to the
shared workplace.

GROUP MEMBERSHIP
Most working groups are assembled as a result of managerial decisions. They are
not, in other words, self-selected social groups. As a result they do not fit exactly
into the category of social groups discussed in Chapter 3. These chance groups do,
however, exhibit normal preferences in regard to group size: They much prefer
to work in smaller rather than larger groups. It has not been possible to find a
specific number for an optimum working group and there probably is nothing
fixed in this regard, but the preference is clear in relative terms.
It would also be helpful if a definitive statement could be made about the rela¬
tive virtues of open-office planning or “office landscape” versus more conven¬
tional office arrangements. While many studies on this topic have been conducted,
they are not conclusive. The preponderance of the evidence indicates that most
office workers prefer conventional office layouts to open office spaces. Workers
who have moved from conventional to open-plan offices feel that their efficiency
is reduced and that they tend to cooperate less with their co-workers. Some stud¬
ies, however, claim to find a high degree of satisfaction with open planning. This
disparity may result from differences in research design. It could also indicate that
other, more fundamental, factors are involved and that open planning that dealt
with these factors would be as acceptable as more conventional arrangements.
■ Establish clear boundaries for working groups. While this is a territorial rec¬
ommendation, it appears here because it is an important part of establishing
that there is, in fact, a group. The minimum requirement for defining bound¬
aries is not clear. Ceiling-high partitions surrounding a space clearly accomplish
this purpose. Whether lower partitions or partial enclosures accomplish this is
open to question. It is likely that something less than complete physical separa¬
tion is acceptable as long as the occupants perceive it as complete. This would require
both visual and acoustic separation.
■ Keep working groups small. Defining the size of a working team is generally a
management prerogative. A designer seldom makes such decisions. A designer
can, however, indicate the importance of subdividing large groups into smaller
sections. While there are no specific guidelines on this point, studies on the
nature of social groups indicate that groups of more than eight people find it
difficult to focus on a common topic and tend to break into smaller groups.
Social groups are not working groups, however, so this number is not precisely

WORKING TOGETHER 69 ■
 relevant. The best evidence available suggests that working teams of up to 12
are effective and groups as large as 35 are acceptable. A workable strategy
would attempt to keep most groups close to 12 and establish a maximum upper
limit of 35.
Morale always includes consensus on goals or values. The larger a group, the
less probable it is that they will achieve consensus and hence higher morale.
■ Concentrate entering traffic. The traffic entering the area assigned to a group
should be focused at a single major entry point.
■ Provide an obvious focal point for the group. An information or communica¬
tion center should be provided at some point that is central to the group area or
adjacent to an entrance to the group area. This may be as simple as a small
bulletin board where group invitations, announcements, vacation schedules,
ride exchanges, cartoons, and postcards from vacationing staff members can be
displayed.
■ Arrange space so the group can assemble. The best way for a group of peo¬
ple to coordinate their activities and to understand their common objectives is to
meet together. Make it possible for the group to gather within their own space
for this purpose. This is not a formal assembly area but some part of the floor
area where furniture can be shifted temporarily to permit a gathering.
■ Any group space should have outside windows. In spite of some studies that
suggest that windows are not necessary, the preponderance of evidence indi¬
cates that most people prefer to work in places with windows and, furthermore,
select locations close to windows in preference to any other locations.
■ Protect the group space from distracting noise. Obvious noise sources within
the space should be controlled. Noisy equipment should be enclosed in acoustic
hoods. The most troublesome noise sources, however, are those originating

Divide large depart¬

ments into smaller sec¬
tions.

Provide a departmen¬
tal information center.

Copy
File Supplies
machine

Bulletin board

■ 70 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 outside the space. Of these, the most distracting are the sounds made by other
people, especially other people talking.
■ Provide local control for mechanical and electrical systems. The preceding
section on THE PERSONAL WORKPLACE described the importance of giving
each individual control over his or her personal lighting and comfort systems. If
this should be an impossible goal, then at least provide controls within the
group space. Totally automated systems that are completely beyond the control
of the individuals involved are very frustrating.

THE PRIVATE OFFICE

The private workplace, whether it is office, laboratory, studio, or shop, has con¬
notations of separateness or status that make it especially attractive. The private
office is certainly perceived as a symbol of rank. While some private offices go with
tasks that require confidentiality such as credit work, or creative problem solving
such as computer programming, the majority of private offices reflect preference
rather than necessity. It is probable that status has a lot to do with this preference,
but a more basic factor is the strong desire expressed by most people to exercise
control over their immediate environment and to control access to themselves. If
American office workers were given the option of working in separate private
spaces rather than in shared spaces, it is likely that there would be many more
private offices than there are today.
While private offices have some characteristics that make them popular, they
are not necessarily the most efficient arrangement for activities requiring a high
degree of involvement with other people. It is hard to imagine that floor traders
on stock or commodity exchanges could execute their high-speed transactions
with equal efficiency if each were enclosed in a private office. There is no commu-

Provide an informal
departmental assem¬
n
bly area.

WORKING TOGETHER 71 ■
 nication technology now available or foreseeable that can quite equal the speed
and efficiency of face-to-face transactions. We can imagine, however, that after the
exchange is closed those same traders would prefer the privacy of a separate office
for discussing sensitive business matters or concentrating on long-range planning.
Floor traders are not alone in their special needs. It appears that there are three
categories of work situations rather than the two that are usually assumed: work
that can be effectively done in a shared workplace, work that requires a private
workplace, and work that requires both. The existence of this third category is not
widely recognized and is seldom reflected in office layouts.
Assuming that a private workplace or office is required either because of pri¬
vacy needs or as a symbol of rank, there are certain criteria it should meet.

PERSONAL SPACE
Given the need to conduct certain operations in private and the desire to control
access, the only kind of office that fully satisfies those requirements is one that is
actually private. Shared offices, open-front offices, glass-front offices, and offices
surrounded by low partitions do not qualify. Complete acoustic and visual privacy
is required and, somewhat surprisingly, acoustic isolation seems to be the more
important of the two. Telephone conversations and people talking are more dis¬
tracting than air-conditioning noise because we are more intertested in other peo¬
ple than we are in mechanical equipment.
■ Ensure visual privacy. Provide ceiling-high walls and solid doors. If glass is
used, provide shutters that can be closed when needed. A wide door or double
doors make it possible for the office occupant to open the office to some extent.
■ Ensure acoustic privacy. Ceiling-high walls and solid doors do not, in them¬
selves, ensure acoustic privacy. Distracting noise leaks through air-conditioning
ducts, electrical outlet boxes, under doors, and through the ceiling above the
partitions. It is true that conversations are sometimes masked by the prevailing
ambient noise level, but it is unwise to rely on such masking for privacy. A dead
silence could be embarrassing.
Many of the other characteristics of the private office are shared with the personal
workspace. These are discussed more fully in THE PERSONAL WORKPLACE
section. Refer to that section for additional information on the recommendations
listed below.
■ Identify the individual's office. Provide a place for name and title.
■ Provide lockable personal storage. Individuals should be able to lock their
own offices. If this is not possible, at least provide a lockable cabinet or closet for
them.
■ Face incoming traffic. Make it possible for the occupants to arrange furnish¬
ings so that they can face incoming traffic.
■ Provide local control over light and heat. The private office, particularly if
used for small conferences, has a special need for individual environmental
controls.
■ Provide flexible furnishings. Give the occupants some options for arranging
their furnishings to suit their individual work habits.
■ Provide for personalization. Give the occupants some options for displaying
personal items in their offices.

PERSONAL STATUS
This is an important consideration in designing any workplace, but it is especially
important in the private office. Real or imagined disparities between the offices
that are provided for individuals who believe that they have equal responsibilities
and authority may result in feelings of distributive injustice. The insistence of

■ 72 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Provide flexibility in
private office arrange¬ Locked
ments. Display storage

Locked
storage

Personal display

many corporations and public agencies on precisely matched accommodations for

personnel at each rank is well founded. This equality, however, relates to the
facilities provided by the employer. It does not need to interfere with the right of
any individual to personalize a private office.
Recommendations previously made for THE PERSONAL WORKPLACE gener¬
ally apply to offices as well.
■ Involve the occupants. Whenever possible, the designer should involve the
future occupants in planning their own offices.
■ Appearance is important. The appearance of the workplace is an important
matter to all employees. While some workers would be much easier to satisfy
than others with regard to the character or quality of their physical surround¬
ings, it is a rare individual who does not care about such things.
■ Distribute amenities fairly. While some individuals are easier to* satisfy than
others insofar as their requests or requirements are concerned, this does not
mean that they would happily accept less than their peers receive. Space, equip¬
ment, furnishings, and locations must be distributed fairly. This does not neces¬
sarily mean evenly. What is disturbing to the sense of distributive justice is being
treated unfairly in comparison to one’s peers or feeling that there has been a
grossly unbalanced distribution of rewards.
■ Stay within the norms of the field. While workers are most conscious of the
benefits and perquisites awarded to their immediate peers in their own organi¬
zation, they are also quite aware of what their peers in other organizations re¬
ceive. While absolute parity in space, equipment, location, and furnishings is
not required, there should be no glaring disparity in regard to these amenities.

TERRITORIALITY
Other than the requirement for privacy that can only be satisfied by having a
separate, enclosed workplace, the principal reason for the private office is to sat¬
isfy the sense of territoriality. The private office is bounded by solid walls, the least
ambiguous of territorial boundaries. It permits an almost complete degree of con¬
trol over personal access and, because of its walls, is much more amenable to some
degree of personalization than an open workplace. Since these characteristics have
great appeal for many people it is not hard to understand why private offices are
popular.

WORKING TOGETHER 73 ■
 MEETING TOGETHER

“Getting together” is one of the most human of human habits. While modern
communications techniques have advanced to the point where information can be
interchanged over great distances with speed and accuracy, that has not elimi¬
nated the need to get together for face-to-face meetings. To the degree that mod¬
ern communication systems generate additional social and business activity, they
increase rather than decrease the need for meeting face to face.
The attractions of face-to-face meetings are substantial. Face-to-face communi¬
cations are more efficient than any written or electronic alternative. Not only can
gestures, expressions, posture, and intonation be used to supplement words, but
clarifications and amplifications can also be sought to confirm precise understand¬
ing. Such meetings give us the chance to raise those “Do you mean that . . .” or
“But what if . . questions that are so important in helping us develop a full
understanding of any information.
The ability to raise questions makes the face-to-face meeting especially useful in
coordinating and motivating groups of people, exchanging ideas, and arriving at a
consensus. The widespread acceptance of the practical value of group meetings is
reflected in the innumerable conference rooms, committee rooms, seminar
rooms, and assembly rooms that dot the territory of corporate, legislative, and
academic America. Unfortunately, there is no corresponding evidence recogniz¬
ing the equally valuable informal, spontaneous, meetings that occur in corridors,
stair halls, coffee shops, lounges, waiting rooms, and lobbies, or outside on street
corners and in parks. There is hardly a place where people meet that may not
become the temporary setting for a meeting, though that fact is rarely reflected in
the design of such places.
The logic behind this disparity is that meetings called for the benefit of the
organization or the institution are an essential part of operations and deserve
special spaces, but that other meetings must necessarily be for the benefit or enter¬
tainment of the individuals involved and do not deserve special recognition. This
is only partially true. While certain informal, unscheduled gatherings are moti¬
vated solely by social interests, there are others that are highly productive both for
the individuals involved and their organizations.
The tendency for high school and college students to gather at a favored beach
is socially motivated. So is the gathering of their parents after work at the neigh¬
borhood tavern or in the bar at the club. However, the knots of students standing
in the hallway or sitting on the school lawn discuss school work as well as social
activities. The hurried discussions that occur in an office doorway serve to solve
problems in a much more efficient way than calling a meeting. The casual encoun¬
ters over a cup of coffee in the faculty lounge can resolve coordination problems
that would be difficult to accomplish with memos.
The viewpoint advanced here is that it makes little difference whether meetings
serve a functional purpose for an organization or institution, or whether they are

■ 74
 solely intended for the entertainment of the individuals involved. In either case,
they deserve to be supported by the design of the meeting place.

CONFERENCE ROOMS
The term “conference” is applied to meetings of all shapes and sizes. They may
range from a group of three executives “conferring” on a departmental budget to
an international gathering with a cast of thousands meeting to discuss some global
problem. Since international gatherings, with their exotic problems of simultane¬
ous translations, protocol, and precedence, are relatively rare, this section is
focused on normal, or garden variety, conferences that are a staple of American
life.
Communication is the principal purpose of a conference. It may also serve
some secondary purposes, such as permitting the individuals who have been
brought together for the meeting to resolve some unrelated problems of their
own. This is possible because most meetings consist of three phases: the pre-meet¬
ing gathering, the meeting itself, and the post-meeting gathering. To function
effectively, a conference room must satisfy all these needs. This is not difficult to
do. A designer can, with relatively little effort, create a conference room that is
extremely effective in satisfying these needs. There is nothing a designer can do,
however, to ensure that a meeting will be effectively organized and led. As a con¬
sequence, there is no hope that we will ever see the end of boring, frustrating,
time-wasting meetings.

COMMUNICATIONS
The term “conference” implies a gathering in which everyone is potentially a par¬
ticipant, in contrast to a “lecture” where there is a speaker and a relatively passive
audience. If each individual is to be able to communicate effectively with every
other individual, there are certain requirements that must be met.
■ Every participant can see the face of every other participant. Reading facial
expression is an important part of personal communications.
■ Every participant can face any speaker.
■ Every participant can hear any speaker.
■ Every participant can face any visual presentation.
No configuration completely satishes all these conditions. If there is no need for
visual presentations that must be visible to everyone, then a circle becomes an ideal
arrangement. If visual presentations are required, then a horseshoe-shaped ar¬
rangement comes closest to satisfying all the requirements.
Communication efficiency is greatly affected by distance. People who work to¬
gether and are familiar with one another will normally elect a distance, from head

Effective conference
configurations.

MEETING TOGETHER 75 ■
 to head, of from 4 to 7 feet for conversing. This would be the kind of group that
might assemble in a private office around a desk.
Larger groups, assembled at a regular conference table, inevitably adopt a
greater head-to-head distance. Assuming that each participant is allocated from
2lA to 3 feet of space at the table for manipulating papers and reports, note that:
■ A circular table 6 feet in diameter can accommodate 6 or 7 people for a
working conference. This puts the group at a normal head spacing of about 7
feet. A table this size will only accommodate the stated number of people com¬
fortably if the legs are properly located.
■ A circular table 10 feet in diameter can accommodate 10 to 12 people for a
working conference. This puts the group at a normal head spacing of about 12
feet. At this size, it begins to be difficult to keep the attention of all participants
focused on a common topic but communication remains efficient.
The circle can continue to be enlarged to accommodate more people, but
beyond 10 feet communication becomes more formal and more difficult. Voices
must be raised and gestures and facial expressions made more emphatic if they
are to be heard and seen.
■ If conference arrangements create head-to-head spacings greater than 20
feet, some form of voice amplification will normally be required if everyone
is to hear and comprehend a discussion accurately.
It is not always possible to accommodate large circular arrangements. If the
shape is altered, made longer and narrower, the distance between individuals at
the end of the table is increased and communication efficiency is reduced. In this
case the 20-foot limitation is especially important.
When the number of conferees exceeds 20, it becomes more effective to pro¬
vide a second row of seats rather than to continue to expand the table. This config¬
uration obviously violates the requirement that every participant must be able to
see the face of every other participant. The people on the same side of the table
cannot see each other. The people in the second row cannot see much of anything,
in fact, and are liable to lose interest in the proceedings if everyone is on the same
level. This leads to a new requirement:
■ In accommodating large groups where more than one row of seats is re¬
quired, the additional rows of seats should be elevated. This arrangement
makes it possible for those participants in the elevated rows to both see and be
seen by a large percentage of those present. They can feel that they are part of
the group rather than an audience.

■ 76 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

When additional rows
of seats are required,
they should be ele¬
vated.
In this large con¬
ference room, elevated
seats for the staff and
public make it possible
for everyone to observe
the activities at the
main table.

A conference room
should provide an area
for pre- and post- meet¬
ing gatherings.

Social area
(pre- and post-meeting)

■ 78 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 When a group meeting can normally be expected to refer to visual and verbal
presentations during the course of a meeting, such as him, slides, displays, and
demonstrations, then the closed circle arrangements previously shown do not
work well. If people who are seated in a closed circle must turn their common
attention to a display or presentation, then some will have to shift away from the
table to make this possible. Simply turning their chairs around will not provide a
clear view for those behind them.
■ Where visual presentations and displays are a normal part of meeting
agenda, a horseshoe configuration is more effective than a circle.
For face-to-face communications to be as effective as possible, certain ambient
conditions must be met. Lighting must be arranged so that faces and facial ex¬
pressions can be clearly perceived; illuminating working and display surfaces is
not enough. In face-to-face meetings, it is the face-to-face that counts and it is
facial illumination that must be considered first.
Ambient acoustic conditions are another important factor in effective personal
communications. Extraneous noises must be excluded from the meeting room,
and room acoustics must be designed to favor the frequency range of human
speech.
■ Illuminate the faces of those meeting with shadowless light so that they are
seen against a nonglaring background.
■ Provide a quiet meeting space, free of distracting noise, with room acous¬
tics that favor the frequency range of the human voice. One of the most
distracting of all noises during a productive conference is the sound of a tele¬
phone ringing followed closely by the sound of someone talking on the tele¬
phone. Telephones should be kept out of conference rooms.
The fact that a group of people may have been assembled for a specific purpose
does not deter them from using the occasion for purposes of their own. In any
meeting, the participants begin to assemble shortly before the meeting begins;
after the meeting there is a breakup period as members of the group drift away.
During the pre-meeting and post-meeting phases, useful discussions can be held if
there is space for such activities to take place.
■ Any meeting space should provide a standing area that will accommmodate
at least half of the people who are expected to attend during pre-meeting and
post-meeting gatherings.

INFORMAL MEETING AREAS

Many meetings are scheduled, or occur spontaneously, in areas that were never
intended for such use. Many churches, synagogues, public schools, and public
libraries permit, or even encourage, community groups to use their facilities for
public meetings. The section chief in some corporate department, or an equiva¬
lent official in a public agency, may choose to assemble the section personnel right
in the office space where they work rather than move everyone to a conference
room. Informal conferences of this kind are discussed in several other chapters.
It would be unwise from a functional standpoint to compromise the layout of a
church, classroom, or office to accommodate such meetings. However, a designer
should be conscious of the fact that they may occur and, further, that it may be
very much to the benefit of the institution or organization providing the space to
have them occur. Under these circumstances, making these spaces useful for
meeting purposes should become a secondary part of the design problem.
This problem is frequently dealt with simply by turning the available space over
to the users and letting them make out as well as they can. This is no solution at all.
Given the normal configuration people adopt when they are conversing, if a space

MEETING TOGETHER 79 ■
 is to be useful for meeting purposes, it must accommodate something approach¬
ing a circle. A designer should test any floor-plan layout for its ability to accept a
rearrangement that is appropriate for meetings. The layout should have the same
basic characteristics as any conference room, modified by the practical necessity of
fitting them into spaces that are intended primarily for other uses:
■ Keep the group within ''social distance." Provide a meeting area that will
accommodate a 12-foot diameter circle.
■ Seating, tables, and other equipment that may be used should be easy to
move.
■ Lighting should be adaptable for meeting use.
■ Sound control and acoustics should be appropriate for meeting purposes.

PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
Public performances differ from the other types of assembly that we have dis¬
cussed because they presume facilities for an audience. This distinction still covers
a diverse array of events. They range in size from popular music extravaganzas
with an audience measured in tens of thousands to amateur band concerts with
more performers than listeners. Some offer mimes and comics, others offer lec¬
tures, debates, or panel discussions. Access is by reserved seating in some cases but
in other cases is open to anyone willing to sit on the floor. The surroundings range
from the grandeur of a metropolitan opera house to the worn simplicity of the
local parish hall.
This section deals with a limited portion of the diverse array of public perform¬
ances. Specifically, it covers those events where entertainers or lecturers perform
before an audience at a scheduled time and place in a setting that is designed to
accommodate such performances. Seats may be reserved and tickets sold, or the
event may be open to the public without charge. A great deal of technical lore is
available on such problems as sight lines, floor slopes, lighting, seat spacing, aisle
widths, and the techniques of scenery and set management. None of these is dis¬
cussed here. This section deals only with the behavioral aspects of such perform¬
ances from the standpoint of the performers and the individuals in the audience.

PERSONAL STATUS
The paramount concern in designing any room or hall for public performances is
to make it possible for the audience to see without obstructions and to hear clearly
what the performers have to offer. No other considerations can be permitted to
interfere with this requirement. If anything does interfere with the ability to see
and hear clearly, the audience will feel that their legitimate interests have been
ignored and will feel some resentment toward those who are responsible for the
problem.
Performers are also sensitive to slights on their personal worth or merit. Profes¬
sional concert artists would hardly expect the high-school gymnasium to have ex¬
cellent acoustics, or to find well-equipped dressing rooms there. They do have a
right to expect, however, that a real effort has been made to organize the audience
so that they could both see and hear, to place the audience so that the performers
could address them directly, and to provide whatever facilities and equipment the
performers must have to perform well. If the performers are put in a position
where they cannot perform well, the implication is that their performance is not
worthy of better treatment. This is true for lectures and demonstrations as well as
entertainment.
■ For audiences, the right to see and hear well is paramount.
■ For performers, the right to have an audience that can see and hear well is
paramount.
■ 80 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE
Public facilities such
as classrooms and li¬
brary reading rooms
should be considered
as potential meeting
areas.

Library reading room

Meeting in a public li¬

brary.

MEETING TOGETHER 81 ■
 CUE SEARCHING
People approach many public performances in a tentative, uncommitted way.
They study the displays in the theater lobby, listen to the sideshow barkers at the
county fair, or stand in the doorway of the student lounge to see if the speaker has
anything important to say. In effect they are weighing the cost to them in time and
money versus the benefits offered by the performance. Where events are highly
advertised and admission is by ticket only, this browsing or shopping behavior is
minimized. Where events are open to the public without charge, and where other
options are offered at the same time, this behavior is intensified. It can be seen
frequently at fair grounds and is commonplace on college campuses.
If we assume that any performance has some merit for someone, then it would
be in the best interest of the public as well as the performers if the maximum
number of people were aware of the program and its content. The design of the
approach to the performance area has a bearing on this point.
■ The approach to a performance area should provide for displays that de¬
scribe the performance in some detail.
■ The performance area should be openable to the extent that the potential
audience can sample the performance. Obviously the performance area
would have to be closed for events where tickets have been sold.

Perform ance-area
characteristics.

Entrance for
live performance

Lockable
view
ports

Program
display

Entrance for
film showing X
■ 82 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE
COMMUNICATIONS
Any kind of performance is an act of communication involving a sender, a mes¬
sage, and a receiver. The content of the message may be largely emotional, as in a
concert, or largely intellectual, as in a lecture. In any case the communication
requirements remain the same. (See Communications section, Chapter 3.)
Communication requires visibility and audibility and is greatly affected by dis¬
tance. As a consequence, both sender and receiver, performer and audience, ben¬
efit if they can be close together. The immediacy and effectiveness of
communication is greatly enhanced when the performer draws close to the audi¬
ence. There are obviously practical limits to this general rule: Members of the
audience can enjoy being a lot closer to a lecturer, or nightclub comedian, than
they can to the high-school marching band.
The tendency of people to approach an event in a tentative fashion, reserving
final judgment and protecting their escape routes, often creates a dispersed audi¬
ence that is not in close contact with the performer. The audience tends to select
seats near the entrances and along the aisles first, rather than assembling in a
group close to the performers.
To improve communication between audience and performers, a designer
should strive to meet the following requirements.
■ Project the performer or performers into the audience. There are obvious
practical limits to this requirement. There may have to be compromises be¬
tween the needs of different programs and different groups. Nevertheless, the
importance of bringing performers and audiences close must not be underesti¬
mated.
■ Locate the entrances close to the stage or performing area. This entrance
location will have the effect of concentrating the audience near the stage rather
than dispersing it along the aisles. Without suggesting that a church service is in
any way like a performance, this same entrance arrangement in a church will
give the minister a chance to greet the parishioners as they hie out.

OPEN ASSEMBLY
A variety of events are staged, or occur, in public spaces that are not normally
regarded as assembly areas. These can be found in parks and playgrounds, on
schoolgrounds and college campuses, in shopping malls, and in the streets and
plazas of the city. They include football rallies, political demonstrations, Christmas
programs, and Salvation Army Band concerts. They include public ceremonies
(such as the celebration of Veterans Day), break-dancing demonstrations in the
park, and two musicians sitting on the grass who have attracted a small group of
listeners.
While many events of this type are scheduled and conducted with the approval
of whatever agency controls the space, others are spontaneous. Some of the spon¬
taneous activities are not exactly welcome in some circumstances; nevertheless,
this class of activity embraces many legitimate reasons for groups to assemble, and
they should be accommodated.
Fortunately, there are physical characteristics that tend to generate such gather¬
ings and other characteristics that tend to discourage them. A designer thus has
some measure of influence over the kind of events that take place and the location
where they occur.

CUE SEARCHING
As people move along a public way they will perceive their environment, and react
to it, in one of two ways: in an habitual mode or in an exploratory mode. Those

MEETING TOGETHER 83 ■
 who are familiar with an area move with confidence and pay little obvious atten¬
tion to their surroundings. Those who are new to an area, and are exploring it for
the first time, are more tentative in their movements and are much more attentive
to their surroundings. Both habitual and exploratory movement can be observed
in the business district of any community that attracts even a small number of
visitors. They can also be observed in the entrance lobbies of public buildings,
museums, shopping malls, or any other structures that attract people who have
never been there before. The habitues move ahead with confidence; the new¬
comers move slowly and search continuously for cues.
People who are moving in an exploratory mode are obviously looking for cues,
while people who are moving in an habitual mode do not appear to be interested
in cues at all. This is misleading. The habitues are simply more selective. While

Locate open-assembly
event sites at traffic
concentrations.

Walk

Walk

Walk

■ 84 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 they seem to be oblivious to their surroundings, they can respond quickly to stim¬
uli that hold some interest for them, such as headlines, friends, merchandise dis¬
plays, or activities. This results largely from “incident hunger”—the need to
inform themselves about what is going on in the world about them.
The characteristic search for cues can be of great value to a designer. By locat¬
ing event sites at those points where cues can be picked up most readily by passing
traffic, they can ensure that the sites will be utilized most effectively.
■ Locate event sites at a traffic crossroads or adjacent to a traffic stream.
■ Arrange the event site so that any activity will be readily apparent to pass¬
ing traffic.
■ Provide a space where an audience can stand to sample a performance.
■ Provide a place where an audience can sit to watch a performance.

Open-assembly sites
can also be located at
interior traffic concen¬
trations, as in shop¬
ping malls or in this
student union build¬
ing.

MEETING TOGETHER 85 ■
 These requirements may seem self-evident, but many performance and assem¬
bly areas in shopping malls, public parks, and college campuses have been located
without regard for them and, as a result, are much less useful and effective than
they should be.

COMMUNICATIONS
Communication requirements for meetings and performances have been dis¬
cussed earlier in this chapter and do not change for open assemblies. There are
some unique problems, however, that can arise to restrict the usefulness of open-
assembly areas. The principal problem has to do with scale. A small group that
occupies a large assembly area effectively forestalls any other users. The same area
divided or separated into smaller assembly areas can support a larger number of
activities and enhance the diversity and the options available to the public. While
exact sizes cannot be given, the general rule is clear.
■ A number of smaller assembly areas will be more useful than a single
large area. As a rough guideline, four areas in a public park that might each
attract and accommodate 100 people would be more useful than having only
one area that might accommodate 400 people.

■ 86 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Shopping, which includes bartering and buying both the luxuries and necessities
of life, is another aspect of human life that is nearly universal. It is for most people
a necessity, for others a pleasure, and for some a hobby.
The factors that motivate an individual to acquire a specific item are inherent in
the individual and in the item acquired. The considerations that lead a shopper to
select one sweater over another, or to pick up one box of laundry detergent rather
than another, are not matters that a designer of shops and shopping centers can
influence. There are aspects of shopping behavior that are, however, of great
importance to designers, since these aspects are affected by the location of the
store and the physical characteristics it displays to the shopping public.
Shoppers can be categorized in an infinite number of ways. For our purposes
we will divide them into four sets.
■ Shoppers who are satisfying an immediate need. This is the kind of shop¬
ping that is done when people stop at the local convenience store on the way
home to buy a frozen dinner or go out Sunday morning to buy the newspaper.
For those who are shopping in this manner, convenience and time saving are
the important factors in deciding where to shop and what selection to make.
■ Shoppers who are making routine purchases of household necessities. This
would include everything from weekly grocery shopping to buying back-to-
school clothes for children. In this kind of shopping, convenience is important
but price is a controlling factor.
■ Shoppers who are making infrequent purchases of lasting items. Shopping
for household appliances and furnishings falls within this category. A wide se¬
lection and a choice of sources are important. Price is also important, but con¬
venience is no longer a major concern.
■ Shoppers who regard the act of shopping as a shared recreational or social
event. In this case the unique quality of the merchandise and the unique quality
of the shopping environment become very important. This does not necessarily
imply a unique architectural environment. Swap meets and farmers markets
may meet the above criteria as well as high-fashion shopping centers.
Shopping is such a commonplace activity and goes on so frequently in so many
places, that it is difficult to deal with it in terms of specific locations. The recom¬
mendations that follow are focused on those characteristics of shopping places
that will motivate shoppers. These recommendations apply to some degree to the
sidewalk vendor of soft pretzels as well as the sophisticated merchants of the sub¬
urban shopping mall—but not equally.

87 ■
Recreational shopping
can be anything out of
the ordinary.

88 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

A PLACE TO SHOP
The choice of a place to shop is influenced by the nature of the purchase and the
current needs and preferences of the shopper. Depending on our concerns of the
moment, any of us could fall into any of the four shopping categories described
previously. Regardless of our mood or needs of the moment, we can only select a
place to shop based on the information that is made available to us. Most commu¬
nication of a commercial nature has moved from the marketplace to the media.
Radio, television, and the print media have largely taken over the job of getting
the customers into the store, largely but not completely. The layout and design of
a store still have an important role to play in motivating the customers. This is
accomplished when the information communicated by the design satisfies the
shopper’s needs or interests of the moment.

COMMUNICATIONS
In Chapter 3, in the section on Communications, there is a brief list of essential
information that any building should impart to an interested viewer:
■ What is it?
■ What benefit does it offer me?
■ How do I get in?
■ What is inside?
■ How will I be received?
Answering these questions is an important function of the design of a shopping
area. From the designer’s point of view it becomes imperative that the target
group of customers be accurately identified, that the design create an image of the
establishment that is clear and understandable to these customers, and that every
aspect of the project be used to support this image. The nature of the factors to be
stressed will depend on the nature of the establishment and the customers it hopes
to attract.
■ Define the customer group that is sought and the characteristics that are
important to them. This, of course, is a process of defining the objectives of the
project in human terms—a fundamental first step in any design program.
■ Answer the five basic questions clearly and effectively.
1. What is it? This question generally is answered by means of signs, but the
designer should use any other semantic means available to reinforce the
message.
2. What benefit does it offer me? This question is also answered by means of signs,
but displays of materials and merchandise become very important in provid¬
ing explicit, detailed answers.
3. How do I get in? Signs are useful, sometimes essential, in responding to this
question, but symbols are often better. A visible parking lot, with empty
spaces visible, communicates a message more effectively than a sign saying
“Parking Lot.” Visible pylons or gateposts fix the location of a parking lot
entrance better than a sign or an arrow.
A store that will serve pedestrian traffic on a suburban shopping street will
not need a dramatically visible entrance to tell people where to enter. A
shopping mall, however, seen across acres of parked cars should have a pow¬
erful architectural entrance feature to act as a landmark for people navigat¬
ing across the blacktop.
4. What is inside? Some enterprises may be so well known to their target audi¬
ence that the name alone is enough to answer this question. Most enterprises
will do better to make certain that shoppers can see for themselves what is

SHOPPING TOGETHER 89 ■
Chairs and tables iden¬
tify this establishment
even better than signs.

This menu display

makes clear what this
establishment offers
and what it charges.

90 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 inside. “Window shopping” means just that; there must be some means for
the shopper to evaluate what is offered and to compare it with other offer¬
ings.
5. How will I be received? This question cannot actually be answered through
architectural means. What shoppers want to know is how they will be re¬
ceived by the people inside, a question no architect can possibly answer. The
best a designer can do is to provide easy access, remove physical barriers,
open the establishment for inspection, provide a comfortable and attractive
interior, and let the shopping public decide for themselves if they will be
properly received.
■ Stress the design elements that will motivate the target population. In this
instance symbolism can communicate as effectively as words. This is where the
designer’s talent for communicating through design detail is challenged.
If convenience and timesaving are important, the location of the entrance
must be clear and obvious. In many cases this means that the entrance to the
parking lot, and the fact that parking spaces are available, must be emphasized.
In some cases this requires that the parking lot be in front of the structure, or at
least clearly visible to passersby.
If an establishment offers goods and services that are of high quality and
therefore high priced, the materials used as well as the design, should reflect a
similar quality. The important point is that as the design takes shape, each de¬
sign element must be judged on the basis of its effect on the target group rather
than solely on abstract esthetic merit.

PERSONAL STATUS
While people shop with different priorities at different times, this does not mean
that they abandon any of their shopping preferences. The preferences are the
same, only the ranking is altered. Shoppers in a hurry will not worry too much
about price. If price is important, however, shoppers will put up with considerable
inconvenience and indifferent service if they feel they are getting a bargain.
If two establishments offer equivalent bargains, the choice between them will be
made on some basis other than price. Convenience may be the next* factor taken
into account, and the attitude of the personnel will be an important element. At
some point, if all other factors are equal, the fact that one store has a more attrac¬
tive ambience than another and thoughtfully provides for the comfort of its cus¬
tomers will provide the basis for choosing one source over another. These
distinctions are not necessarily made as part of a conscious evaluation. They are
seemingly made without thought, but the factors mentioned above form the basis
for choice.
In any area where the marketplace is truly competitive, the store design and the
effort made to provide for the comfort and convenience of the customers can be
of critical importance. A designer should carefully think through the actions and
needs of the various groups of people who may use the store and provide for
them in the design. The kind of concern the designer should look for is illustrated
by the following examples.
■ Provide seating for people who must wait. This starts outside the front door.
It is common to find people waiting at the front door for an establishment to
open for business. This is especially noticeable at banks and department stores.
Benches at the front entrance would be a convenience for customers who arrive
early and would be regarded as a thoughtful gesture by them.
When couples shop together there will be numerous instances where one is
actively shopping and the other is waiting. Having a place to sit while waiting is

SHOPPING TOGETHER 91 ■
 especially attractive to older shoppers. While it is customary to find seating pro¬
vided in many clothing stores, it is almost unheard of in hardware stores or
supermarkets—yet the need is the same.
■ Provide for parcels. Much shopping is done in concentrated forays where a
number of establishments are visited in order to procure a number of different
items. In the course of this activity it is normal to accumulate a variety of par¬
cels. These become increasingly burdensome and difficult to handle, par¬
ticularly when shoppers are looking at merchandise in other stores. Providing
space or even keyed lockers where parcels and purse can be deposited while
new purchases are made is another thoughtful provision.
■ Provide for children. Parents with small children find it easier and more enjoy¬
able to shop where the children will not be regarded as a nuisance, where it is
unlikely that they will damage anything, and where there is some activity to
occupy the children. Where these conditions are met, the parents are apt to be
more attentive and receptive customers.
Some stores go to great lengths to attract young families with children and to
make special provisions for the children. Many others who should logically do
the same thing ignore the problem completely. Merchants who handle big ticket
items that typically require lengthy negotiations, such as appliance and auto¬
mobile dealers, should give special thought to keeping the children occupied
and out of their parents’ hair while the negotiations are proceeding.
■ Provide for the elderly and the handicapped. Any store anywhere should
provide for the special needs of elderly and handicapped customers beyond the
strict requirements of the law. In areas that may have a high percentage of
elderly customers it becomes particularly important that these provisions be
obvious. In addition to the usual requirements, automatic doors should be pro¬
vided and the furnishings and equipment should be light enough to be easily
shifted.

A PLACE TO EAT
For human beings, eating is an activity that is done sometimes in haste, sometimes
at leisure, and sometimes with elaborate ceremony. People’s eating habits at home
are very personal and may range from the skimpiest kind of breakfast-on-the-run
to festive banquets at Thanksgiving and Christmas. People’s eating habits away
from home are a great deal more like their shopping habits, and they are moti¬
vated to select one eating place over another on the basis of many of the same
factors that influence their choice of shopping places.
Just as shoppers were classified into four categories, people who are shopping
for a place to eat can be separated into four categories.
■ People who want to eat quickly. Almost everyone fits into this category at
some time: people who are late for an appointment or a class, people who have
used up their lunch hour for shopping and need to get back to work, people
who have only a few minutes before catching a plane or a bus. Convenience and
time saving are the most important concerns for people in this group. Cost,
service, and even the quality of the food are relatively unimportant.
■ People who want to eat well but informally. Quality and service are impor¬
tant if they do not require formal dress or formal behavior. People who want to
“eat out” but do not want to get dressed up fall into this category, as would those
who are traveling with a carful of children.
■ People who savor excellent food. Speed and convenience are relatively unim¬
portant to this group. They are willing to spend the time and make the effort if
the quality of the food and service are outstanding.

■ 92 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

■ People who associate food and ceremony. This group is looking for prestige
as well as for something to eat. Most expense-account eating falls within this
category. People who want to make eating a festive event, celebrate a birthday
or anniversary, or entertain out-of-town visitors will seek this kind of eating
place. The food may be outstanding, but that is not the crucial ingredient.
Eating is a social event in our society. In the home it is a family event. Outside
the home it is a time when people gather with friends and acquaintances. Lunch¬
time may bring together a construction crew eating out of brown bags or business
executives gathering at a downtown club. In either case the motivation is the same:
to treat mealtime as a social event to be shared with friends and acquaintances.
The social nature of mealtime has some special implications for the design of
eating places, whether they are fashionable restaurants, employees’ cafeterias, or
dormitory dining rooms.
One obvious effect of the social nature of shared meals is the amount of time
spent at the table. In a study conducted on a college campus, Robert Sommer
found that solitary students averaged 15 minutes per meal, students with others of
their own sex averaged 28 minutes per meal, and students with members of the
opposite sex averaged 34 minutes per meal. While Sommer’s study should not be
extrapolated to predict eating times under other circumstances, it clearly demon¬
strates the social aspect of mealtime.
Wherever an eating establishment is located, there will be certain design char¬
acteristics that will affect the users.

COMMUNICATIONS
The communication characteristics previously discussed under the heading A
PLACE TO SHOP generally apply to eating places and are not repeated here. As
in any design project, the critical first step in designing an eating place is establish¬
ing its objectives; for commercial establishments that means defining with some
precision the kind of customers sought. Once the customers are targeted, the
establishment can be designed to cater to their special needs and preferences. The
detailed design should communicate the answers to the questions posed earlier.
■ What is it?
■ What benefit does it offer me?
■ How do I get in?
■ What is inside?
■ How will I be received?
There are several aspects of food-service shopping that are different from
other forms of shopping. One of these differences has to do with sanitation. While
it is hard to see how any business establishment in this country could be successful
if it were not maintained in a neat and sanitary fashion, the public’s general con¬
cern with this issue is magnified when it comes to food service. The actual sanitary
conditions that prevail in an establishment are impossible for the public to meas¬
ure. Presumably these are monitored by the public-health agencies. The public is,
however, very conscious of the impression of cleanliness created by the design and
the choice of materials.
■ The exterior and the interior of a food-service establishment must convey
an image of immaculate cleanliness. It is not enough to keep the premises
clean. Trash- and waste-storage areas must be completely segregated and out of
public view.
■ Eliminate food odors both inside and outside. Some food odors are a magic
stimulant to appetite; others are not. While an exception could certainly be
made for popcorn vendors and bakeries, as a general rule it is safest to exhaust
all kitchen air so that it cannot possibly be short-circuited back into the interior.

SHOPPING TOGETHER 93 ■
 GROUP MEMBERSHIP
Since mealtime is closely tied to social activities, it should be natural for food-
service establishments to recognize that fact in their layout and design. This is not
always the case. Any eating place where management would like to attract patrons
who regard mealtime as a social event should make some special provisions that
reflect this concern. This is true whether it is a private club, a public restaurant, or
a college dining hall.
■ Provide an adequate waiting area. A waiting area is not solely to accommo¬
date overflow crowds that cannot be seated immediately; it is also to accommo¬
date people who are waiting for friends to join them. It should be arranged and
equipped to accommodate small groups of two or three who are waiting for the
rest of their party to assemble.
■ Provide an overview of the eating area from the waiting area. In many
circumstances, as in employee cafeterias, university dining halls, private clubs,
and restaurants that become social centers, it is routine for individuals to join
friends who are already seated if there is an empty seat. The process of locating
both friends and empty seats is greatly facilitated if there is an overview of the
eating area from the entry. This works best if the entry is slightly elevated.
■ Provide a "stall" area between the entry and the eating area. People enter¬
ing an eating establishment normally slow down or stop, once inside, to evaluate
their options. This is particularly true of new patrons but applies to all patrons
to some extent. In cafeteria lines the stall area is found when the customer exits
from the cafeteria line and begins to look for friends or a free seat.
■ Provide tables that promote the desired social activities. There are several
different types of table-and-chair arrangements that encourage different types
of groups.
1. If it is desirable to encourage people to feel free to join others by taking any
open seat, round tables are most conducive to this practice.
2. If it is desirable to accommodate couples or groups who want some degree of
privacy while eating, high-backed booths or high-backed winged chairs work
best.
3. If it is desirable to accommodate loners who do not consider mealtime a
social event, provide single tables.
In most instances it would be appropriate to satisfy all these different require¬
ments by providing all these different types of seating. The important thing to
remember is that no single arrangement of tables and chairs will be equally suit¬
able for all types of users.

■ 94 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Entry area characteris¬
tics in an eating estab¬
lishment.

\
Overview of
seating area

"Stall area" location.

SHOPPING TOGETHER 95 ■
 LEARNING TOGETHER

Learning can be a lifelong process. While learning is usually thought of in terms of

teachers and pupils in specially equipped places called classrooms, it is actually an
activity that takes place whenever an individual responds knowingly to a stimulus.
Learning means acquiring new knowledge, skills, and even wisdom. Conse¬
quently, it occurs anywhere a stimulus may be encountered: at work, at play, in the
streets, and in the school corridors, as well as in classrooms.
Any setting has educational potential. When more than one person is present
the potential is increased, since all people bring with them different experiences
and different perceptions. Obviously, a designer working out the arrangements
for classrooms, lecture halls, and teaching laboratories will try to employ all the
available resources to expedite and enhance the learning experience. It is not
nearly so obvious, however, that a designer could increase the educational poten¬
tial of many other places simply by making certain that their nature or function is
understandable to anyone who encounters them.
There are certain nonclassroom settings, such as museums, zoos, and parks
displaying some natural phenomenon, where education is clearly a part of the
basic mission. It would be rather unusual, however, for the layout of a wholesale
produce terminal or the dispatch center of the local fire department to be consid¬
ered as an educational opportunity. Nor is it often recognized that helping new
employees, new customers, or new visitors understand the nature, purpose, and
organization of the company they work for or the buildings they visit is an ever-
recurring educational problem. This is a learning process that can be materially
influenced by appropriate design features. Such opportunities should not be over¬
looked. Not many citizens get to City Hall nowadays, but if they do, it would be
unfortunate if they failed to gain a clearer and more accurate grasp of how city
government operates.
The stimuli or learning resources that may be provided vary greatly with the
setting. In a classroom that is part of an organized school system, the resources
seem boundless: There are instruments, training equipment, specimens, models,
reference works, data banks, and trained guidance for using these sources to in¬
tensify the learning experience. In some of the other settings mentioned above,
the resources may be nothing more than a sign, a display, a map, a commemora¬
tive plaque, or a vista. Whatever the level of stimulus, the ambient conditions must
be suitable, with appropriate lighting, acoustics, ventilation, and a safe place to sit
or stand in comfort in order to absorb the information.

THE SCHOOLGROUND OR CAMPUS

Any institution devoted to learning—whether it is elementary, middle school, high
school, college, graduate or continuing education school—functions both as a
learning center and a complex social organization. Wherever it is located, even on
the upper floors of an urban office building, it has a “schoolground” or “campus.”

■ 96
 There are corridors, foyers, stair halls, elevator lobbies, or other nonacademic
spaces where students, and to some extent faculty, interact. These spaces should
not be viewed as merely utilitarian adjuncts of the teaching spaces themselves.
They are an integral part of the educational setting. Consequently, the school
layout or campus plan must be designed to foster out-of-class learning just as the
teaching stations must be designed to foster in-class learning.

GROUP MEMBERSHIP
The extent to which out-of-class learning experiences occur is related to the free¬
dom and mobility of the students. At elementary levels, where students are
normally kept together during the day, there is less interaction than there is in
high school where students move between classes and are in contact with many

Learning can occur

wherever there is a
source of information.

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LEARNING TOGETHER 97 ■
 more of their classmates. The opportunity for interaction is greatest on college
and university campuses where students have the most freedom in allocating their
time. Because of these differences, the recommendations that follow do not apply
equally in all circumstances.
■ Keep school units small. One of the most critical factors affecting students’
feelings about their school, their involvement, and their sense of accomplish¬
ment is the size of the school. Studies have shown that students in smaller
schools participated more in extracurricular activities, had a more positive self-
image, showed a greater sense of responsibility, and were more sensitive to the
needs of others. The data supporting this conclusion conform to the general
principles discussed under the heading of Group Membership in Chapter 3.
Unfortunately, there are no precise data on what constitutes the dividing line
between “small” and “large.” A college of two thousand students might be con¬
sidered “small,” but a grammar school of that size would usually be considered
“large.”
One useful guideline for determining the size of a school is to limit it to the
size necessary to accommodate a full range of academic offerings that are rele¬
vant to its principal mission. Beyond that point it would be wiser to create an
additional unit than continually to expand the first unit.
■ Create informal social centers. Students at all educational levels have a tend¬
ency to self-segregate themselves into groups and to identify themselves with
specific spaces. This is not necessarily a territorial identification but simply a
place where one is apt to find friends. These social centers exist whether we
elect to provide them or not. A study made by Richard Myrick of high schools in
the Washington, D.C., area identified these social centers and found that stu¬
dents checked through these centers several times a day. Myrick’s study also
found that much of the conversation that took place in the high-school cor¬
ridors and on the lawn dealt with classes, studies, and school activities.
It is not necessary to think of these informal social centers as lounges. They
are more likely to be an area in the stair hall, a special tree on the lawn or the
entrance steps. The spontaneous selection of these social centers may create
problems that can be avoided if they are worked out in advance. A spon¬
taneously generated social center at the building entrance can be a real impedi¬
ment to traffic in and out. It is much better to plan for a social center next to the
entrance with seats that are not hot in summer and cold in winter and that don’t
get wet when the lawn is sprinkled.
The general characteristics of informal school social centers are:
1. They must be on or adjacent to a major campus circulation route. Trying to
shift an informal social center to some more remote spot will generally not
work unless some compelling attraction is added to draw students away from
their normal routes.
2. They are most likely to be successful at a crossroads, at a major destination,
or in conjunction with food services.
3. They should provide some form of seating.
4. They should provide some form of shelter.
■ Provide news and information centers. In order to feel that you are a member
of a group you must feel that you know what the group is doing and what it is
concerned with. The location requirements for information centers are similar
to the requirements for informal social centers. The two functions could easily
coincide. If there is only one information center, it should be located at a major
crossroad.

■ 98 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

A "spontaneously gen¬
erated social center."

Locate informal social

areas so they will not
interfere with traffic at
building entrances.

LEARNING TOGETHER 99 ■
 A news and information center should be prepared to handle different types
of information:
1. Communications from the institution to the student body.
2. Communications from organized groups, such as clubs, to the student body.
3. Communications from individuals to individuals. There must be some
means for the campus community to arrange car pools and sell or trade
surplus records, books, musical instruments, and athletic gear. Communica¬
tions of this nature should be confined to a bulletin board that is clearly set
apart from the boards reserved for official posters and announcements.
4. Graffiti: There is one other type of communication that might be included.
Few individuals today have an opportunity to voice their opinions about the
state of the world, or the state of the school, before an audience of their

An information center
should bring together
all the formal channels
of communication.

■ 100 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 peers. Consequently these opinions sometimes surface in socially unaccepta¬
ble ways such as graffiti. The provision of panels for the free expression of
opinion adds a great deal of interest to any information center.
Gossip, which is perhaps the most important, and surely the most preva¬
lent, form of information exchange, does not require any special attention
from the designer. It will take care of itself.
■ Provide informal areas for solitary and group study. Whenever students have
time between classes, and their class situations demand it, they will use small
amounts of free time for study wherever there is a convenient place. Observa¬
tions on college campuses suggest that this studying frequently takes place at or
near their classroom destination, sitting on the floor in the classroom corridors,
on the building steps, or on the raised planters at the entrance.

A local bulletin board.

RETA E. KING LIBRARY LEARNING TOGETHER 101 ■

CHADRON STA T£ COLLEGE
CHADRON, NE 69337
The design of this
classroom corridor
doesn't make any
provision for the fact
that students tend to
study at their principal
destinations.

A study area for stu¬

dents at a building en¬
trance arranged for
group study.

102 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 Informal study areas should be located at major academic destinations, either
at the building entrance or in the corridors. They should provide seating with
tables or tablet arms, and should be arranged so that groups can form and study
together. Informal study areas should be acoustically separated from class¬
rooms.

PERSONAL SPACE
While social interaction is an important part of school and should be recognized as
such in school planning, that does not mean that individuals’ preferences for
places that are personally theirs is eliminated just because they are in school. In¬
deed, the need for some personal space is much harder to satisfy on most school-
grounds and campuses than is the need for socializing. Many high schools provide
lockers for each student so that there is at least a place to store books and equip¬
ment. Most colleges and universities do not even go that far. On nonresidential
campuses, the college student’s personal space may be a car or a backpack. It
would be desirable if every student had a personal space, as suggested below,
where he or she could exercise control.
■ Provide each student with a lockable carrel or other personal space. Each
carrel should be equipped with a desk section for study and writing, an electri¬
cal outlet for typewriter or computer connection, an adjustable light, and stor¬
age for books, papers, and other student needs. It should be lockable and,
above all, it should permit students to personalize the space as they wish.

A permanently as¬
signed student carrel.

LEARNING TOGETHER 103 ■

 PERSONAL STATUS
The fact that schools accept new students in groups at specific times of the year, in
a sort of batch system, inevitably leads to a certain amount of herding. The larger
the institution, the more likely it will be that students will be dealt with in an
impersonal fashion. Combined with the various forms of hazing that older stu¬
dents frequently practice on younger students, the system seems to demean in¬
coming students systematically.
Treatment of this type will certainly affect the entering student’s sense of self¬
esteem. While it is unlikely that designers will find a way to solve this problem,
they may ameliorate the effects by providing new students with the same preroga¬
tives and facilities as old students. If new students were provided with the same
private, locked carrels as everyone else, they would at least feel less of a caste
distinction.

CUE SEARCHING
School authorities recognize the problems that new students have in finding their
way around a schoolground or campus. Indoctrination sessions and guided tours
are frequently offered to minimize the newcomers’ problems. Designers can con¬
tribute a great deal to making a campus more hospitable and understandable by
providing appropriate signs, labels, maps, and landmarks.
It may seem wasteful to expend much effort in making a campus plan under¬
standable, since all students will, of necessity, ultimately learn the system. What
makes it important is the fact that newcomers are a constant on any schoolground.
There is always a new crop. The following recommendations will make it easier
for each new batch of students to learn their way around.
■ Create a plan with a clear, easily understood form. Complexity has its place
in architecture but not in the organization of a school site. If students can grasp
the overall form, they can more easily plug their destinations into that frame¬
work.
■ Clearly name and number buildings. This should be done so that names and
numbers can be seen clearly from each point of approach.
■ Provide "you-are-here" maps at principal entry points. (See the section on
Cue Searching in Chapter 3.)
■ Provide visible landmarks. We navigate through familiar terrain by uncon¬
sciously referring to landmarks, and we give directions to others by consciously
referring to landmarks. We are seldom aware of our dependence on landmarks
until we walk through a familiar area in a fog and experience a strange sense of
being lost on our own home grounds.
Landmarks are almost essential if “you-are-here” maps are to work well.
They should be tall enough to be seen and unique enough to be remembered
easily. A landmark may be a tree, a building, a flagpole, a fountain, a statue, a
bell tower, a clock tower, or some feature not yet imagined.
In any of those forms, a landmark that serves as a navigational aid may also,
in time, become a campus symbol, a collective representation that binds alumni
to the institution.

CLASSROOMS
Classrooms comprise a wide-ranging category that covers teaching-learning activ¬
ities ranging from kindergartens to graduate seminar rooms, from workshops to
gross-anatomy laboratories. Although some of these classrooms require highly
specific features, in some ways they are quite similar. They all involve teaching,
which, at its best, can be a marvelous demonstration of effective communication,
but only if physical conditions make that possible.

■ 104 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

COMMUNICATIONS
While the foundation of teaching is the ability to motivate people to want to learn,
there must be an effective interchange between teacher and pupil before this can
happen. Classroom design must therefore focus on providing the proper setting
for effective and accurate communications. (See Communications, Chapter 3.)
■ Seat learners close to their source of information. Distance is a critical factor
in human communication. In a lecture situtation, the students should be close
to the lecturer. In a seminar situation, the group should be physically close (see
Conference Rooms, Chapter 6). In learning from demonstrations, the student
should be close to the demonstration. Amplified voices and projected images
are not adequate substitutes for being close.
■ Eliminate intervening cues or signals. Design the classroom so that nothing
extraneous will interfere with communication between the learner and the
source of information. Bobbing heads in the front row, extraneous noises, and
distracting sounds should be eliminated.
■ Provide ambient conditions that make effective communications possible.
1. Provide lighting that will permit learners to see clearly and distinguish de¬
tails in whatever source of information is being used. In the very common
classroom situation where students and teachers interact, this means that the
faces of both teachers and students must be illuminated so that expressions
and gestures are clearly seen and understood.
2. Provide the appropriate acoustic conditions so that spoken communications,
and the nuances of voice and inflection, are clearly understood. Since part of
the benefit of classroom learning is in the opportunity it affords to raise
questions and ask for clarification, the acoustic design should ensure that
students as well as teachers are clearly heard.
3. Provide air circulation and room temperatures that will permit both students
and teachers to concentrate on the learning process rather than on their
discomfort.
■ Concentrate class seating immediately in front of the instructor. Studies at
college and university level uniformly indicate that seating positions in the class¬
room have a significant bearing on student performance in coursework.
Whether students choose their own seats or are assigned seats on some other
basis, those who sit in the center of the room, directly in front of the instructor,
participate more in class activities, perform better on tests, and receive better
grades.
The distribution of grades according to seating location seems to provide a
compelling reason for arranging classroom seating so that students are not only
close to the instructor but are also directly in front of the instructor and within
the instructor’s normal cone of vision. This requirement should be observed in
any situation where optimum communication between a speaker and an audi¬
ence is desired.

TERRITORIALITY
Studies comparing open-plan classrooms in elementary schools with more conven¬
tional arrangements are unable to demonstrate any inherent superiority in either
form. These same studies do note, however, a marked difference in the behavior
of both teachers and students in open-plan arrangements. Because open-plan
classrooms usually do not provide complete acoustic control, teachers are inclined
to limit themselves voluntarily to quiet activities in deference to their neighbors.
Where the open layout does not provide clearly marked boundaries separating
“classrooms” from “corridors,” students moving through open classroom spaces
may be noisy and disruptive.

LEARNING TOGETHER 105 ■

Classroom seating ar¬
rangements can affect
communications and
grades.

Location of the en¬

trances and the aisles
influences the seating
pattern of the class.

■ 106 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 In the event that an open classroom plan is adopted, certain precautions should
be taken to avoid the problems mentioned above.
■ Establish clear territorial boundaries between teaching spaces and other
spaces. The requirements already listed for avoiding distraction during the
learning process apply to open-plan schools just as much as any other school.
Disruptive traffic through the classroom space interferes with communications.
■ Establish acoustic separation between teaching areas. If the design of a
classroom is such that it inhibits a teacher’s selection of class assignments and
exercises because of the noise factor, it is functionally deficient.

LECTURE HALLS
The lecture hall can be considered as a bigger-than-average classroom. The prin¬
cipal difference is one of scale, which makes interaction more difficult to achieve.
In addition to the recommendations made previously for regular classrooms, the
following recommendations help cope with the problem of size.
■ Step or slope the lecture-hall floor and offset adjacent rows of seats. This
will help to eliminate one form of intervening distraction—trying to see
through someone else’s head. Of equal importance, it makes eye contact be¬
tween students and instructors almost unavoidable, making it somewhat more
difficult for one to ignore the other.
■ Place entrance doors at the lecturer's end of the hall. When people enter an
auditorium or lecture hall from the rear, opposite from the stage or lectern,
they tend to select seats along the aisles and favor the rear seats over the front
seats. If the room is filled to capacity, or nearly so, this selection process has no
appreciable effect. If the hall is only half full, the effect is to present the lecturer
with a badly dispersed audience. Putting the entrances close to the stage or
lectern, at the “front” of the room, may not achieve a completely compact audi¬
ence, but it will at least place the bulk of the audience closer to the speaker.

LIBRARIES
While libraries are clearly different from schools, it is equally clear that they are
definitely part of the educational system. In the held of independent, self-directed
education, it is likely that the public libraries are the primary educational resource
for both adults and juveniles.
There are a number of different types of libraries serving different types of
users: specialized collections of interest principally to scholars, in-house research
libraries operated by corporations and trade associations, him libraries, medical
libraries, and music libraries. Two of the most common types, however, are public
branch libraries and undergraduate libraries. The recommendations that follow
were derived from research in the operations of these two types.
The nature of any library should reflect the needs of its own community and its
own group of users. A public library in a neighborhood teeming with school-age
children can expect to see a great demand for material that is helpful in complet¬
ing class assignments. If the local population is elderly, library use will be focused
less on the schools and more on the interests of retirees.
In any event, if the principal concern in designing for classroom learning is
communications, the principal concern in designing libraries is the special aspect
of cue searching called wayfinding. This is because so much of library use takes the
form of a search for specific information or material. The searcher must quickly
learn how to use the system in order to improve the chances of finding what is
sought. Wayfinding is not only important within the library; in many cases it is also
important in getting to the library.

LEARNING TOGETHER 107 ■

Children, who are the
principal users of this
library, find it hard to
use the adult-size furn¬
ishings.

The wayfinding problems of a library can be identified by following the course

of a typical user who, upon finding and entering the library, makes contact with
some information source such as a librarian or a card catalog, locates the informa¬
tion, captures it in some form by reading it, copying it, or checking it out, and then
exits the library. This is a typical, constantly repeated, sequence that can be expe¬
dited if the following suggestions are carried out.
■ Provide library identification signs visible from any approach. This is just as
important for a university library as it is for a public library.
■ Clearly identify the entrance locations. This is especially important for an
urban library that may be surrounded by parking spaces.
■ Place an information center inside the entrance. Ideally, the first thing one
should see upon entering would be a librarian or a librarian’s aide. The card
catalog, Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, indexes, and other guides to the
collection should be placed immediately adjacent to the entrance.
■ Provide "you-are-here" maps at the entrance. While this kind of assistance is
obviously more important in multifloor libraries, it is helpful in any library.
■ Provide identification signs for departments and sections. Unless there are
clear, legible, well-lighted, properly positioned signs, newcomers will have little
chance of finding what they want without continual need for assistance.
■ Provide descriptive titles for book sections. While standard cataloguing sys¬
tems such as the Dewey and the Library of Congress are highly informative to
experienced library users and provide a necessary framework for organizing a
library collection, they are not well understood by inexperienced users. Adding
plain-language, descriptive titles such as “Biography” or “Biology” not only are
helpful to the inexperienced searcher; they improve the chances of seren¬
dipitous discoveries that can occur when browsing through the collection is en¬
couraged.
■ Provide seating and writing surfaces close to the point where material is
discovered. Whether these are desks, tables, carrels, or lounge seating, they
should be at or within the book shelving area in order to expedite reading or
taking notes.

■ 108 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

There is no way for a
newcomer to tell what
this building is.

The only building iden¬

tification is very hard
to find.

LEARNING TOGETHER 109 m

The ''information" sign
should be close to
the entrance in any
library.

These signs are helpful

but would be much
better if they were hori¬
zontal and oriented
properly.

110 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 ■ Provide copy machines close to the point where material is discovered.
Having copy machines readily available not only is a convenience to users; it
also reduces the temptation to tear the information out of the book.

TERRITORIALITY
Busy libraries are excellent places to observe territorial behavior. Dr. Robert Som¬
mer, a pioneer in the study of environment and behavior, conducted some of his
earliest studies in libraries. Since library users periodically return to the book¬
shelves in search of further information, they need some means of saving their
places at the table. In establishing territorial boundaries they have at their disposal
not only briefcases, notebooks, jackets, umbrellas, scarves, and purses, but unlim¬
ited supplies of books.
The result of this behavior is that typical library furnishings in the form of
rectangular tables and movable, armless chairs do not actually accommodate the
number of people they were designed for. A table designed for eight users will,
because of territorial spread, actually accommodate only five or six. The types of
furnishings described below will reduce territorial problems.
■ Provide single seats where possible. Provide single lounge seats for readers,
and single carrels or desks for users who need writing surfaces.
■ Where a common table must be used, provide center dividers to limit ter¬
ritorial expansion. This approach will only work if the tables are divided into
genuinely adequate workspaces.
■ Provide special units for group study. One territorial problem in busy librar¬
ies is the tendency for groups to take over tables for their exclusive use. Group
study is not uncommon and should not be ignored. It is best handled by provid¬
ing separate tables in segregated areas where the noise of conversation will not
create a problem.

Territorial spread re¬

duces the number of
people who can find a
place at the typical li¬
brary table.

LEARNING TOGETHER 111 ■

 HEALTH CARE

One of the most complex building types that architects deal with is the large gen¬
eral hospital. Medical technology is expanding rapidly, requiring more and more
highly specialized equipment. As specialized treatment techniques increase, so do
needs for specialized personnel, resulting in a more complex building type.
Along with this trend toward higher technology and increased specialization,
there is another trend to move certain kinds of care out of the general hospital.
Birthing centers are one type of special-care facility that seems to offer some real
benefits to patients by allowing the father to assist the mother through the stress of
giving birth. Hospices are another: They call for the involvement of families and
dose friends to sustain the patient through the ordeal of death.
Economics is also having an effect on the nature of hospital operations. Hospi¬
tal stays are getting shorter. Patients are moving out to Extended-Care Facilities,
to Nursing Homes, or even their own homes. Some insurors offer to pay the cost
of nursing care at home if the patient prefers the comfort and convenience of the
familiar to the aseptic confines of the hospital.
This trend away from the general hospital is due, at least in part, to the fact that
it is difficult for the highly specialized staff to deal with a steady flow of patients as
though each were a unique individual. Nor are they generally equipped to make it
easy for family and friends to lend moral support and assistance to the patients
when they need it most. This kind of support is just what the Hospice and the
Birthing Center are able to offer. What makes this an especially important ele¬
ment in health care is the fact that in many cases, the mental attitude of the patient
is a critical factor in recovery.
In the design of health care facilities it is understandable that the principal
focus of concern has been on the needs of the medical and support staffs. They
are the ones who are responsible for providing health care and are involved in it
full time. The speed, accuracy, and convenience with which they work will affect
not only the patient’s well-being but also the economics of health care. Patients, on
the other hand, are transient: The whole purpose of their care is to restore them
to health and discharge them as soon as possible.
While this emphasis is understandable, it does not nurture and exploit a very
important resource: the patients’ use of their own energies, determination, and
self-reliance to deal with their own problems.
The material presented in this chapter is focused largely on the patient and the
patient’s needs. This is not intended to suggest that the health-care team does not
face problems of its own. Few institutions have social structures as complex as the
staffs of large hospitals. Thirty or forty categories of specialization may be repre¬
sented: various physicians and surgical specialists, radiologists, anesthesiologists,
pharmacists, laboratory technicians, several categories of nurses, aides, adminis¬
trators, maintenance workers, and clerical workers. The hospital mix is so rich and
varied, and the mission is so intriguing, that it is easy to understand why television

■ 112
is fascinated by the drama of the large general hospital. Unfortunately, there is
not enough evidence to permit generalizations about staff relations that would be
useful to a designer in actually formulating plans for a hospital. The most con¬
structive course would be to involve the staff directly in developing the design
program.
The situation is somewhat different with patients. While they may all differ in
nature and suffer from a wide range of afflictions they experience certain prob¬
lems in common. A building design that is reassuring to them, minimizes the
stresses of noise and discomfort, and permits them to retain some feeling of com¬
petence and independence can help patients become a functioning part of the
health-care system rather than its inert object.

GOING TO THE HOSPITAL

Going to the hospital is a trip viewed with apprehension by patients, family, and
friends. The security of the patients’ most important possessions, themselves, is
put at risk. Already burdened with health problems and apprehensive about their
well-being, patients clearly do not need any further stress or uncertainty imposed
by their environment. Designers of health-care facilities can do a great deal to
eliminate or minimize such sources of stress by the way they arrange the ap¬
proaches to the building, organize the circulation, and equip the patients’ rooms.
While the recommendations that follow deal with hospital care, many of these
points would apply in any health-care situation.

CUE SEARCHING
Finding one’s way to, and into, a large medical center can be a daunting experi¬
ence. All the problems normal to wayfinding are present: identifying the site,
solving the approach, and locating the entrance (see Cue Searching, Chapter 3.) If
there is confusion or uncertainty about these points, it will vex not only the pa¬
tients but also their friends and visitors.
■ If the site is large, post signs at all corners. Some hospital sites are quite
large. It helps to know when you are getting closer.
■ Identify the building with well-illuminated signs. These should be posi¬
tioned to be visible from every approach. They should not be timid signs. Their
purpose is to announce the location of the hospital far and wide.
■ Mark the patient and visitor entrances with pylons and illuminated signs.
Many hospitals, particularly those that have expanded over a period of time,
have several entrances serving different purposes. Making the entrance system
understandable to patients and visitors in a matter of real concern. The average
patient’s apprehension about getting to the hospital is nothing compared to the
panic felt by someone trying to find the Emergency Entrance in the middle of
the night.
■ Provide a highly visible entrance feature. The purpose of this requirement is
to utilize some form of architectural means to emphasize so that it can be seen
and identified from a distance.

ENTRANCE AND CIRCULATION

Once patients and their families and friends enter the hospital, their wayfinding
problems are by no means ended. Even more important, however, is the fact that
they are now within the institution itself and the way in which they are received
and treated will affect their attitude about the institution. For a patient to acquire a
negative attitude about the hospital upon entering is not helpful for the patient,
the hospital, or the doctor who admitted the patient.

HEALTH CARE 113 ■

 It may seem that the hospital has no obligation to the patient’s friends and
family since they are not the object of health care. This would be an unfortunate
assumption. Friends and family are part of the patient’s psychological support
group and help to sustain the patient’s self-assurance and sense of competence.

[f] COMMUNICATIONS
The hospital, as an institution, should attempt to establish channels of commu¬
nication with patients at the earliest moment. Ideally, the first contact should be
made with an introductory phone call before the patient arrives. In any event, the
building lobby should be considered the principal point of contact and should
communicate an impression of welcome and support.
■ Provide a reception and information center. There is no information device
or system that is nearly as helpful or supportive as a knowledgeable individual
to provide information and assistance. Even if it cannot be staffed at all times,
there should be an obvious center where the newcomer can turn for informa¬
tion. It should be adjacent to the entrance and clearly visible to anyone entering.
A house phone that will always provide access to someone on duty should be
provided.
■ Provide a lounge seating area. Admission procedures are sometimes time
consuming. Since many patients are accompanied by friends and family, there
should be some place where they could muster and wait as a group.
■ Avoid an austere or institutional mien. The transition from home to hospital
is unsettling. To enter directly into an environment that may be read as remote
or disinterested only adds to the stress. There are some parts of a hospital that
are unavoidably sterile, technical, and frightening, but the entrance lobby is not
one of them. The lobby should be comfortable, the colors should be cheerful,
the lights should be bright, and everything in the lobby should be immaculately
clean.
It would be inappropriate to give the lobby a residential character. Patients
come to the hospital because they have problems that cannot be taken care of at
home. The hospital is a special place and should give patients the feeling that
they have put themselves in the hands of an organization that has the knowl¬
edge, the experience, and the competence to take care of them. The hospital
should create the impression of friendliness and concern but also competence
and efhcency.

CUE SEARCHING
Given the labyrinthine layout of some hospitals, wayfinding is difficult even for
well people, let alone those who are experiencing anxiety about their future. This
is particularly true of those hospitals that have grown new wings and annexes over
a period of time. Whatever clarity of organization they may have had in the begin¬
ning is eventually buried under layers of expansion and change. Helping patients
and their friends find their way through these mazes is a serious problem for
designers.
■ Develop a hospital plan that can be explained easily to strangers. This may
seem like a pointless admonition, a “Be sure to do a good job” recommendation.
It is listed here in the hope that it will be added to the designer’s list of manda¬
tory requirements. Hospitals and hospital additions are such complicated plan¬
ning problems that it is doubtful that the public’s wayfinding problems get
much attention. They should.
Determining whether the plan will be clear to the public is not difficult. It has
been shown that diagrammatic plans of buildings can be used to determine,

■ 114 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 with considerable accuracy, whether people will have difficulty finding their
way in the building itself.
■ Provide a series of "you-are-here" maps. The first map should be in the en¬
trance lobby as an adjunct to the information center. Others should be located
at key points where major pathways cross or where there is some ambiguity that
requires clarification.
■ Provide a comprehensive directory. This should also be located in conjunction
with the information center and next to the “you-are-here” map.
■ Provide a comprehensive color, symbol, and sign system to guide people
through the hospital. Starting at the entrance lobby, there should be a continu¬
ous system of guidance to lead newcomers to their destinations. Floor, wall, and
door colors can be used to identify departments. Color lines on the floor or
walls should lead patients to principal destinations. When the elevator doors
open on each floor, it should be instantly apparent what the floor number is and
what departments are located there. These techniques should be used in con¬
junction with the “you-are-here” maps previously mentioned.

TERRITORIALITY
Because of the complex social structure of their staffs, hospitals have some com¬
plex territorial problems. It is easy to understand how hospital territory would be
divided among major departments and their staffs. It is not easy to determine
territorial lines when responsibilities overlap. The pharmacy is clearly the pre¬
serve of the pharmacist, but when medications are sent to the patient floors to be
administered by the nursing staff, do they remain part of pharmacy territory,
under pharmacy control, or are they then part of nursing territory and under
nursing control?
The territorial questions that concern us are much easier to deal with. There
are parts of any hospital that are clearly off limits to the patients, their families and
their friends. There are other parts where they have as much right as anyone.
This distinction should be made perfectly clear to anyone visiting the hospital.
■ Patients' territory and public territory should be clearly identified. All those
areas that are open to the patients and the public should be clearly identified by
color or finish so there is never any question about where they are free to go.

PATIENT ROOMS
Whether a patient’s hospital stay is short or long, there are certain aspects of room
design that will not only make the stay more comfortable but will also sustain the
patient’s sense of personal competence and ability to cope with problems. The
patient’s outlook and determination are important elements in the recovery proc¬
ess. Anything a designer can do to reinforce a patient’s sense of dignity and self-
worth is a contribution to this process.
One of the most difficult aspects of hospital care is the fact that many people
suddenly find themselves sharing a bedroom with one or more strangers. Further¬
more, these strangers may be extremely ill, under the influence of powerful medi¬
cations that induce unusual behavior, suffering from nausea and violent retching,
and unable to control their urination and defecation. Even a well-balanced opti¬
mist, who is forced to spend the night before surgery with such a roommate,
might greet the morning in a depressed mood.
Shared rooms also raise complicated territorial problems. In addition to such
obvious problems as sharing the telephone and the television, adjusting the win¬
dow blinds and ventilation controls can also be sources of friction. An entirely
different aspect of the problem is patients’ need to personalize their spaces. No

HEALTH CARE 115 ■

 matter how short their hospital stay, the patient’s room is home for a time. Patients
should have some means of displaying cards, flowers, or any other personal me¬
mentos they choose to have with them.
There are gregarious people who find shared rooms interesting and some, per¬
haps, who might be encouraged by the thought that at least they are better off
than their roommate. For most adults, however, shared bedrooms are an unusual,
and in some ways unattractive, aspect of hospital care.
Whether patients are in private rooms or share rooms with one or more other
people, their rooms should encourage them to do as many things for themselves
as they can safely do. Self-help of this type benefits the staff to some extent, but
the more important purpose is to help patients retain a feeling of independence
and competence.

TERRITORIALITY
Hospital rooms have complicated functional requirements having to do with
health care operations on behalf of the patient. From the patient’s point of view,
there are also other considerations that should be included in the design require¬
ments.
■ Provide private rooms for most patients. While there will be those who would
prefer to share a room, particularly if cost is a pressing problem, most patients
will avoid stress and frustration if they have their own rooms.
■ Provide soundproof separations between beds. Whenever shared rooms are
provided for reasons of space or economy, provide the means of acoustically
isolating each bed. The draw curtain that is traditionally provided between beds
for visual privacy is of no value in ensuring acoustic privacy.
■ Position beds so that all have equal access to outside light and ventilation.
Typical shared rooms have one or more beds close to the window and the oth¬
ers close to the corridor. Plans that give all beds equal access to outside light and
ventilation minimize some of the problems that are inherent when one bed is
favored over another.
If the room is arranged so that beds face window walls, some special arrange¬
ments must be made to control glare.
■ Provide complete facilities for each bed in shared rooms. The problems with
shared rooms can be reduced if each bed has its own set of light and ventilation
controls, telephone, TV, and call button.
■ Provide a means for patients to personalize their own spaces. Whether in
shared or private rooms, all patients should have some means of displaying
whatever personal mementos have meaning for them.

PERSONAL STATUS
The appearance of the patient’s room and the degree to which the patient’s needs
have been anticipated and taken care of tells the patient something about the
hospital’s attitude and concern. If an obvious effort has been made to make the
room attractive and comfortable, if there are seats for visiting friends, and if there
are convenient places for the things people bring with them, the patient will be less
likely to feel like another statistic in the hospital computer.
People’s sense of personal worth is affected by the degree to which they feel
self-reliant and capable of caring for themselves. One of the reasons for being in
the hospital, of course, is that during an illness, after surgery, or as a result of
treatment, patients are not capable of caring for themselves. As a result, their self-
confidence may be at a low point. During the first phase of recovery, it is helpful,
and encouraging, if the room is equipped so that patients can do many of the
simple, customary things for themselves: sit up, use the toilet, take a shower,

■ 116 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 shave, and apply cosmedcs. The sooner padents are capable of caring for them-
selves, die sooner diey will feel diat they are no longer ill.
■ The patient's room should have a pleasant, non-institutional design char¬
acter. While the functional requirements of health care come first, once these
requirements are satisfied, there is no reason why the hospital room should not
be as enjoyable and attractive as possible.
■ Protect the patient from stressful environmental conditions. The patients
held of vision should be free of glare whether they are sitting up or lying down.
Noise from mechanical sources such as elevators and air-conditioning systems
and the clatter or corridor traffic should be kept out of the room. Most impor¬
tant of all, the sounds made by other patients should be excluded.
The room should be odor free. The smell of disinfectants, medications, and
bedpans contributes nothing to the patient’s sense of well-being. This means
that exhaust systems in the hospital must be worked out carefully.
The patient should have some means of controlling room temperature and
air movement.
■ Equip the room for use by the physically impaired. This is an obvious re¬
quirement, since many patients are physically impaired. Handrails should be
placed along the walls so that patients can help themselves move to the toilet or
the closet. Floors throughout the patient room should be nonslip.
The shower and toilet room are dangerous places at home and are no less so
in the hospital. They should be equipped with handrails and grab bars to ac¬
commodate sure and safe movement. There should be a seat in the shower,
since some patients cannot stand for any length of time. A generous shelf
should be provided at the washbasin for toilet articles, and a seat should be
provided so that the basin can be used while sitting down.

Shared hospital rooms

should provide clear
territorial boundaries.

Personal displays

HEALTH CARE 117 m

 VISITOR FACILITIES
Family and friends are a part of the resources a patient can call on for help in
coping with the stress of illness and a strange environment. In that sense, taking
care of a patient’s visitors is part of taking care of the patient. Other than those
special cases where expert medical judgment dictates a “No Visitors” policy, it is
generally agreed that visitors play an important part in maintaining patient mo¬
rale and should be encouraged. One surprising aspect of the visitor situation is
that visits drop off sharply during the weekend. A designer who could solve the
problem of attracting visitors to the hospital on Saturday and Sunday would make
a helpful contribution to the nation’s health-care program.
In some aspects of health care, visitors, in the form of family or what human
scientists call “significant others,” are playing an increasingly important role. This
is happening at both ends of life, in birthing centers and in hospices.
Hospital personnel have their own priorities for allocating care, and terminal
patients are likely to get more attention from their own visitors and from the semi-
professional staff than they are from the MDs and the RNs. In the hospice, a
special effort is made to surround the patient with the support of family and
friends. Special playrooms may be provided for terminally ill children so that their
siblings and other playmates can spend time with them.
Birthing centers also reflect the new understanding of the importance of sup¬
port from family and friends. Facilities are arranged so that, as far as possible, the
father can remain with the mother throughout the childbirth process. Interaction
between the family and the newborn infant is encouraged immediately after birth.
The Joint Position Statement of the Interprofessional Task Force on Health Care
for Women and Children includes a list of recommendations for “Family-Cen¬
tered Maternity/Newborn Care.” It describes birthing rooms, which are a com¬
bination of labor and delivery room and are “brightly and attractively decorated
and furnished—designed to enhance a home-like atmosphere.” This document
would be an important resource for designers in the health-care held.
As health care centers move to involve family and friends on behalf of the
patient, their needs for specialized spaces such as teaching rooms and family con¬
ference rooms will grow. There may well be other kinds of specialized spaces, or
modifications of conventional hospital rooms, that will develop as designers grasp
the importance of personal support to patients and use that information in a crea¬
tive way.
The following recommendations deal with conventional visitor requirements.
The principles, of course, can be applied in a variety of ways.

CUE SEARCHING
This is as much a problem for visitors as it is for patients. Provide a comprehensive
map and guidance system for visitors. Visitors have the same problems patients have in
navigating hospital corridors. They may not feel that they have the same rights,
however, to ask for detailed assistance in finding their way. All of the wayfinding
systems spelled out earlier in this chapter are very important to visitors.

PERSONAL STATUS
Visitors’ attitudes toward the hospital are affected by the facilities that are pro¬
vided for them. More important, however, the visitors’ feelings that they can be
helpful to the patient are affected. It is in the best interest of the patient and the
hospital that visitors be made to feel that they are an important resource for the
patient and that their visit is appreciated. The hospital’s attitude is communicated
at a number of different points.

mas DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

■ Provide a well-equipped general waiting room at or near the major treat¬
ment centers. The waiting room should be near treatment centers so that
friends and family can be quickly contacted by the medical staff. It should be
furnished with comfortable lounge seating, since the waits are sometimes very
long. The furniture should be arranged to accommodate family groups.
The waiting room should offer some diversions such as television and read¬
ing material and should be close to a source of food and beverages.
Both house phones and outside phones should be provided. The public ad¬
dress system should serve the waiting room.
■ Provide separate waiting parlors for large family groups. Large family
groups that are under great stress may become very emotional. They will be
more comfortable if they are moved to a separate room, and the other visitors
in the main waiting room will also feel more comfortable.
■ Provide adequate seating in any room where visitors may spend time with
patients. This would certainly be required in the patient’s room, and under
some systems of care would also be required in the delivery room and during
the course of some testing procedures. There should be an allotment of com¬
fortable lounge chairs in each of these spaces, and additional folding chairs
should be available if needed.

HEALTH CARE 119 ■

 PUBLIC PLACES-
INSIDE
Enclosed spaces that are accessible to and used by the public constitute an impor¬
tant design category. All kinds of lobbies and waiting rooms are included in this
category. So are bus and airline terminals, spectator sports facilities, public agen¬
cies, and governmental offices of all kinds.
The unique importance of these spaces is that they constitute, in many cases,
the site of the first contact between an organization or institution and its clients or
customers. The nature of that initial contact has much to do with the public’s
perception of the organization. If the public perceives that its interests and con¬
cerns have been carefully considered, they are likely to have a positive reaction to
the organization. If they perceive that their interests have been ignored or that
they are treated with indifference, they are likely to develop a negative or hostile
attitude. Attitudes formed at this point can persist for a long time. Consequently,
entrance areas have a unique importance. It is hard to think of any organization
that would benefit from antagonizing its clients and customers.
It is normal for a great deal of time and thought to be devoted to the design of
public spaces in buildings, and the results are often striking from a design point of
view. This does not mean that they necessarily will serve the users well or that they
will serve to establish positive feelings about the host organization. Design char¬
acteristics that might be intended to convey an image of power and authority
could easily be read as intimidating and hostile by someone who needs helpful
information rather than grandeur. People entering buildings, particularly first¬
time users, need to have certain questions answered if they are to accomplish their
purposes quickly and efficiently. They will also respond in a positive way to ar¬
rangements that contribute to their comfort and convenience.

BUILDING APPROACHES
In Chapter 3, the section dealing with COMMUNICATIONS discusses the infor¬
mation that a building should communicate to someone approaching for the first
time. Chapter 7 includes additional commentary on this point as it applies to shop¬
ping behavior. These same principles apply to the category of buildings discussed
here. The first impression made by most buildings, or the first information com¬
municated by most buildings, occurs during the approach to the building when
these basic questions are answered:
■ What is it?
■ What benefit does it offer me?
■ How do I get in?
■ What is inside?
■ How will I be received?
For a detailed discussion of these points, refer to the earlier chapters.

M120
 INSIDE THE BUILDING—ENTRANCE AREAS
While we are covering a wide range of building types in this section, ranging from
the neighborhood post office to the United Nations Building, there are certain
things that are common to all of them. There are also things that are not common
to all, but those should be readily apparent.

CUE SEARCHING
The first need for anyone entering a building is specific information: “Where do I
go?” and “How do I get there?” The range of questions is as varied as the types of
buildings. In the Municipal Courts Building it is “Where do I pay my parking
fine?” In the post office it is “Where do I pick up my parcel?” In the hospital it is
“Where is the Radiology Department?” In the airport it is “Where do I catch the
commuter flight to O’Hare?”
The designer of any building, regardless of how modest, attempts to deal with
these questions at the entrance area. If this is not done, there are likely to be
people wandering through the building, asking for directions from workers who
have more important things to do than act as building guides—and who may not
have accurate information themselves. As a result a building entrance should pro¬
vide specific information aids.
■ Provide a receptionist. Nothing is quite as effective in helping and explaining
as another human being. With another human being we are able to look as well
as listen, to raise questions and ask for clarifications. The only weakness in this
system is if the receptionist is loaded with secondary duties. If there is some
pressure to discharge these other duties the receptionist may compensate by
ignoring the public.
A receptionist should be located near the entrance and immediately adjacent
to the main stream of traffic.

Reception area at en¬

trance.

Alternate

PUBLIC PLACES—INSIDE 121 ■

 ■ Provide an information center. If it is not possible, or reasonable, to provide a
receptionist, an information center should be provided to serve the same pur¬
pose. The scale of the information center will vary with the size and nature of
the building but all of them should share the following characteristics.
1. Be located near the building entrance and adjacent to the main stream of
traffic. The location should be highly visible.
2. Contain a well lighted directory with letters of appropriate size and contrast
to be easily read.
3. Provide a “you-are-here” tnap that is properly oriented and well illuminated.
4. Allow sufficient space in front of the map and directory so that people can
study the information without blocking traffic.
While an information center is helpful, many people would rather ask ques¬
tions than read answers. If there is anyone present who appears even slightly
knowledgeable, these people will bypass the information center and corner this
individual. The result is that people who have other full-time duties, but hap¬
pen to be located near an entrance, may find themselves spending a good deal
of time giving directions. This is a common problem in open-plan establish¬
ments such as banks and savings and loans.
■ Provide an intelligible signing system. This is a more complicated assign¬
ment than it seems. A number of conditions must be met to satisfy this require¬
ment.
1. Signs must have letters of sufficient size, have adequate contrast, and have
adequate illumination to be easily read.
2. Signs must be located within the normal cone of vision and should be at right
angles to the line of vision.
3. Signs should be repeated periodically to reassure newcomers that they are
on the right path. It is hard to give precise rules for spacing signs. They
should occur whenever a corridor or walkway changes direction and should
be repeated at intervals so that people walking at normal speed would get
some confirmation that they are on the right path every minute.
■ Tell the story of the building. This is more important when the building is
occupied by one organization or public agency. In such cases some effort
should be made to use the entrance area to tell what the organization is and
what it does.

PERSONAL STATUS
The term “entrance area” covers a wide range of facilities. The lobby of an office
building is one. The lobby of a hotel is another and quite different kind of facility.
The “entrance area” in many other buildings, however, is not distinct from the
rest of the operating space. Anyone entering a bank to rent a safe deposit box or
entering a state office to renew a drivers license, rarely passes through a demar¬
cated entrance area. They enter directly into the space where business is trans¬
acted.
In dealing with the way that an individual’s sense of personal status is affected
by the design of entry areas, a designer must take into account a wide variation in
operating conditions. As a result, some of the situations discussed below can be
applied to some entry areas but not to others.
An individual entering a building is exposed to certain cues that indicate how
much care and thought have been devoted to making it hospitable. Conversely, of
course, the cues may indicate how little care and thought have been given to that
subject. The manner in which these cues are evaluated depends on the individ¬
ual’s needs and the kind of place that is entered. A customer in a discount tire

■ 122 DESIG ING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Separate chairs are the
most useful form of
seating. Long seats are Long seats are inefficient,
especially inefficient. not fully used.

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store would be much more tolerant of poor housekeeping than a patient in a
dentist’s office. In general terms, an entry area should help visitors find their way,
make them comfortable, and exhibit an awareness of their special needs. The
design should demonstrate that visitors are regarded as important human beings.
■ Accommodate the transition from outside to inside. Provide a nonskid area
where umbrellas may be furled, topcoats or raincoats taken off, and shoes or
overshoes wiped off.
■ Provide seating of an appropriate kind and amount. This would be consid¬
ered a routine requirement in hotel lobbies but is frequently omitted in other
entrance areas.
1. Provide individual chairs or short couches. Long seats or benches in public
places are not efficiently used. After the end positions are occupied, new¬
comers will generally not take the center seats unless their need to sit down is
extreme.
2. If ganged seats are to be used, provide a distinct separation between arm
rests so that territorial boundaries are well defined.
3. Favor small groups in arranging seating area (see Chapter 3, Group Member¬
ship). Since a very small percentage of all informal groups exceeds three
people, furniture arrangements should favor such groups.
4. Arrange seating to accommodate conversations. Side by side conversations
are not convenient. When given the opportunity, most people will adjust
their seating arrangements so that they are at an angle with any companion
rather than side-by-side or face-to-face.
■ Provide queueing systems wherever people must wait for service. The
queueing system may be a list maintained by a receptionist, a system frequently
seen in restaurants, it may be a “take-a-number” system, or it may be a physical
queue. The system should have the following characteristics.

PUBLIC PLACES—INSIDE 123 ■

A queueing system
that makes it possible
to force a queue when
the traffic volume re¬
quires it. Customers do
not have to leave the
queue in order to at¬
tend to paper work.

124 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 1. Provide seating if a lengthy wait may occur. The seating should satisfy the
requirements listed above.
2. If a physical queue is planned, provide clear boundaries to discourage queue
jumpers. Depending on the good will of the public to form and police an
equitable queue is unfair. Some people will be scrupulous in observing the
rules of fair play but others will not.
3. Whether people are seated and the queue is in the form of a list, or there is
an actual physical queue, provide facilities that people will need to use dur¬
ing their wait or that will make their wait more comfortable. If they must fill
out forms while waiting there should be writing surfaces that can be used for
this purpose. If they must manage parcels and bundles while waiting, there
should be space for them to rest these burdens. If parents with small chil¬
dren will be waiting there should be some activity to occupy the children.
These conditions should be met whether people are sitting or standing. A
standing queue should have writing surfaces and places for parcels for peo¬
ple to use as the line moves along.
■ Entertain or inform the people who are waiting. The total number of hours
consumed each day by people waiting in some form of queue must be enor¬
mous. Any system or technique that can make those waiting hours more enjoy¬
able or more enlightening would relieve a lot of boredom.

WAITING ROOMS
One common destination for people who pass through the entrance area and
arrive at the place they are seeking is a waiting room. Waiting rooms range in size
from the modest entry in a small professional office to the large but crowded
spaces found in some public agencies. Whatever its size and arrangement, the
waiting room projects a message about the organization and the way it views its
visitors.
It is obvious that the nomenclature used here is very imprecise. When people
enter a structure they are clearly at an entrance area. They may also be in a lobby
or in a waiting room. Since entry areas have already been discussed, we will as¬
sume here that waiting rooms are those spaces set aside by an organization for the
use of customers, clients, patrons, applicants, or beneficiaries because the nature
of the operation is such that they will almost surely have to spend some time
waiting.
Many of the recommendations previously made for entrance areas apply here.
There are some special concerns, however, because waiting rooms, for many peo¬
ple, will be associated with some degree of stress or anxiety. This is easy to under¬
stand in the case of health care facilities, but it is also a factor for applicants of all
kinds, whether they are applying for jobs, credit, scholarships, loans, or welfare
benefits.
In view of the potential for stress in a waiting room, the role of the receptionist
is especially important. The receptionist occupies the role of gate-keeper, with real
or imagined authority to favor one person over another. The design arrangement
must minimize this gate-keeper illusion and reassure the waiting public that they
will be treated fairly.
■ Provide space for a receptionist. An indispensable requirement. Someone
must have the responsibility for seeing that people entering the waiting room
are greeted and assisted as necessary. The receptionist should be capable of
advising them, and having any necessary forms and equipment, so that time
spent in the waiting room can be put to good use.

PUBLIC PLACES—INSIDE 125 ■

 1. Locate the receptionist near the entrance so that everyone entering is
greeted, logged in, added to the queue if necessary, and given the proper
instructions and forms.
2. Do not enclose or separate the receptionist from the public with glass parti¬
tions. This intensifies the gate-keeper effect and makes contacts distant and
impersonal.
3. The receptionist should be at the same level as the public.
4. The receptionist is, at that point, the alter ego of the organization and should
be able to take care of the needs of the people entering the waiting room
without being overburdened with other duties.
■ Provide seating of the appropriate kind and amount. See the detailed discus¬
sion of this topic in the preceding section.
■ Provide queueing systems of the proper type. See the detailed discussion of
this topic in the preceding section.
■ Entertain or inform the waiting public. There is no reason for people to waste
time while waiting. Magazines or brochures explaining the operations of the
organization convey the impression that someone considers the people in the
waiting room to be important. Aquariums and terrariums are often seen in
medical waiting rooms where they serve as a diversion. But there can also be
practical, functional displays, Employment offices should obviously post an¬
nouncements of job opportunities. The purchasing department waiting room
should display list of items out for bid for the benefit of waiting vendors. A
designer can, without great difficulty, make waiting rooms and waiting time
much more interesting and useful than they usually are.

The reception desk is lo¬

cated so that everyone
entering is greeted.

Counter for
completing
forms Reception desk

M126 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

PUBLIC PLACES-
OUTSIDE

This category deals with public spaces that are open and available to the public
without the payment of admission fees. It obviously includes spaces in the public
domain such as parks, plazas, playgrounds, and the grounds of public buildings.
To a limited degree it also includes college campuses, some school grounds, and
open spaces such as shopping center malls that are privately owned but are availa¬
ble to the public for restricted use.
Open spaces such as these are an important part of the fabric of any commu¬
nity, but they represent only a tiny fraction of the total open space of a city. It is
the streets, sidewalks, arcades, alleys, and other unrestricted public spaces that
constitute an underutilized community resource of vast proportion.
All of the spaces enumerated above serve some primary practical functions by
providing for access, transportation, recreation, and education. In addition they
could, and should, serve equally important but not so obvious functions as places
for informal social contact and communication.

IN THE PARK
A park functions principally as a public service for the area in which it is situated.
It should reflect the special needs of its service area. A park in a downtown busi¬
ness district, used principally during the working week, will have purposes and
characteristics that are different from those of a regional park that provides
unique recreational opportunities for the residents of a wide area. A neighbor¬
hood of single family dwellings, where each family has some private yard space of
its own, will have needs different from those of an apartment house neighbor¬
hood where the park may provide the only accessible open space for hundreds of
families.
The function of most parks is to provide the public with access to experiences
that are not normally available to them on their own premises. These experiences
fall within the general category of recreation. This may be active recreation, rang¬
ing from shuffleboard to basketball, or passive recreation, ranging from bird
watching to sunbathing. Regional parks may offer activities as diverse as golf
courses, skeet ranges, and model airplane flight centers. Vest-pocket parks may
offer nothing more vigorous than chess and checkers. In any event, the accent is
on leisure time activities rather than working activities.
Parks also serve other purposes. The fact that people are brought together in
pursuit of leisure activities inevitably generates social involvement. Wherever peo¬
ple gather for social purposes they constitute a potential audience. An audience
inevitably attracts performers. The result is that if a park attracts many users, their

127 ■
 presence generates more activities which in turn attract more users. If park char¬
acteristics and facilities are precisely matched to the needs of the service area at all
age levels, a park can be a dynamic element in any neighborhood.
Apart from the recreational aspects of park use, there are behavioral considera¬
tions that have a great deal to do with the amount of use a park receives.

PERSONAL SAFETY
There are some parks in this country that are safe to use at any time of day or
night. Unfortunately, this is not universally true. Other parks, particularly in ur¬
ban centers, are not safe to use after dark and some are subject to violence at any
time. Where such hazards exist, adults are reluctant to permit their children to use
the park and equally hesitant to use it themselves. What should be a neighborhood
asset becomes a neighborhood liability. While no magic formula exists by which a
designer can completely eliminate such hazards, there are things that can be done
to create situations that are inherently less subject to criminal activity.
■ Design for the needs of the local residents. This may seem a truism hardly
worth mentioning, but it is by far the most effective measure that can be taken
to insure a successful, well used park. The more a park is used by all segments
of the local population, children and adults, the more they are likely to take the
actions necessary to defend it. Unless the local community has strong feelings of
“ownership” about their park, and develops political pressure to keep it safe,
there is little that anyone can or will do to insure that it is a safe place.
■ Concentrate activities in a limited number of areas. Concentration of activi¬
ties results in concentration of people. To some extent there is safety in num¬
bers. The more people there are the more surveillance there is. To the extent
that surveillance is a deterrent to crime, concentrating people is helpful in mak¬
ing a park safer.
■ Increase foot traffic through the park. Increasing traffic is a means of increas¬
ing the number of people in the park at any time. There are a number of things
that will make a park more attractive to foot traffic simply because it is more
interesting than the alternative paths. Food service, event centers, information
centers, water displays, floral displays, and playgrounds are all features that
make walking through the park more attractive than walking down the street.
The most certain way to generate foot traffic, however, is to provide a shortcut
to an important destination such as a bus stop, a shopping district, or a school.
■ Maintain good visibility into the park. One means of improving surveillance
of activities in a park is to make it possible to see into the interior from the
boundary streets and walks. If the park is to receive any appreciable amount of
evening activity, there must be lighting in the activity centers and along the
walkways.
■ Provide a protected area for small children. Even in orderly, safe, park en¬
vironments, small children can be subject to hazards simply because of their age
and size. Play areas for small children should be fenced off so that they will not
wander off into street traffic. The fenced area should also protect them from
the rough play of older children. Their best protection, however, comes from
providing comfortable and convenient seating for their parents or relatives.

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
GROUP MEMBERSHIP
A park designer needs to know the nature of the park’s service area and the
recreational needs and preferences of its residents. In providing facilities to ac¬
commodate these needs, a designer can also make a contribution to friendship
formation in the community.

■ 128 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Wherever there are
birds there will be bird
feeders and bird
watchers.

Any area in a park that generates activity will also generate spectators. If the
park provides shuffleboard courts, there will be shuffleboard spectators, commen¬
tators, and critics. If the park supports a population of pigeons or water birds
there will be bird feeders and bird watchers. If the park accommodates any sub¬
stantial amount of pedestrian traffic the benches along the walks will be manned
by people watchers. If food can be purchased in the park there will be people
clustered at the food service area. Activities generate traffic and audiences.
If some of these activities can be clustered, without inhibiting their usefulness,
they can form social centers as well as activity centers. This effect is strengthened if
the activities are located at a point where important circulation paths intersect. As
traffic is drawn to such centers, the chance of meetings between friends and ac¬
quaintances increases. If there is a place to stand outside the flow of traffic or,
even better, a comfortable place to sit down, a social contact develops. If this kind
of event recurs regularly, a social center is born.
Certain conditions should be created to increase friendly contact.
■ Make activity areas visible from the perimeter of the park. This is simply a
matter of making the park’s attractions apparent to people passing by.
■ Provide attractive shortcuts through the park. As stated above, shortcuts gen¬
erate traffic and increased traffic leads to more social contacts.
■ Arrange walkways to traverse areas of diverse activity. The more diverse
the activities, the greater the possibility that a pedestrian passing by may stop
and become a spectator.
■ Provide performance areas along the walk or in the center of the walk. If
the park sponsors performances or encourages spontaneous performances,
such locations insure an audience for the performers and added interest for
people passing through the park, (see Chapter 6, Open Assembly)

PUBLIC PLACES—OUTSIDE 129 ■

A shortcut is one
means of generating
traffic through the
park.

■ Provide seating at park entries and each activity area. As game courts and
play equipment are essential for active park users, seats and benches are essen¬
tial equipment for sedentary park users.
■ Arrange seating to facilitate informal social groups. Much park seating is
relentlessly linear, an arrangement that inhibits group formation because it is
hard for a group to converse if they are seated side by side (see Communications,
Chapter 3). Where they can do so, people arrange their seats so that they can
face their conversational partners at an open angle. The best solution is to pro¬
vide flexible seating so that it can be shifted to suit the needs of the users. If that
is not possible, seating should be arranged at right angles or in open squares so
that groups can form conveniently. Any seating plan must take into account the
fact that some people do not want to be sociable and prefer solitary seating.

■ 130 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Linear seating makes it
difficult for social
groups to form, unless
someone is in a wheel¬
chair.

People adopt a normal

arrangement facing
each other whenever
park seating makes
this possible.

PUBLIC PLACES—OUTSIDE 131

Options that make
public seating more
comfortable and use¬
ful.

Tablet arms on
benches

Park entrance char¬

acteristics.

m 132 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

COMMUNICATIONS
Like any other institution, parks need to communicate with their potential users if
they are to benefit the greatest number of people. It cannot be assumed that
“everyone knows” what is in the park. Our national mobility insures that there will
always be newcomers in the community who need to be introduced to park re¬
sources. The park design will communicate a great deal of information in itself,
but there is also a need for the more prosaic but indispensible bulletin board
announcing events and programs, telling how to reserve barbecue sites or tennis
courts, and establishing the rules of use.
■ Locate park activities so they can be seen by anyone passing by. An effec¬
tive way to tell the neighborhood what is going on in the park is to let them see
for themselves.
■ Create clearly defined park entrances and develop them as information
centers. Each entrance should have a sign giving the name of the park, the
activities provided, and the rules for use. In addition there should be a bulletin
board to accommodate changeable announcements about events and seasonal
programs.
If the park is large there should be a “you-are-here” map at each entrance
(see Cue Searching, Chapter 3).
B Provide a neighborhood bulletin board at each entrance. If a park becomes a
vital center of neighborhood activity it may also serve as a neighborhood com¬
munication center. A bulletin board for public use at each entrance can accom¬
modate announcements of neighborhood organizations and individuals alike.

ON THE STREET
A universal aspect of community life in every age is the public way. This is just as
true of nomadic tent cities as it is of the world’s great metropolises. Property
rights, even transient ones, are of little value unless there is some means of access
to the property.
The public way has come to be important in other ways as well. In addition to
being the vital artery for the movement of people and goods, it is the setting for
the public life of the city. The practice of using the streets for barter and trade, for
political rallies and religious revivals, for social gatherings and courtship rites, has
dwindled in recent times but has never vanished.
In its original form the street was a pedestrian way. When vehicle traffic made
joint use of streets hazardous, pedestrians moved to sidewalks. Vehicles have con¬
tinued to encroach on the pedestrian space ever since. It is true that increased use
of automobiles has reduced the need for sidewalks in some areas. There are other
areas, however, where the need for hazard-free pedestrian traffic has reversed
this trend. Heavy truck traffic has been removed from many city streets and, in
some shopping districts, the streets have been closed to vehicular traffic com¬
pletely. Such downtown malls, and the ubiquitous suburban shopping mall, return
the street to something like its original role as a setting for the public life of the
community. They demonstrate that people are still able to walk and will do so if it
is worth their while.
Street and sidewalk needs differ in different districts of the city. The features
required in a downtown business district, with heavy pedestrian traffic, differ
from those that are required in an apartment district. The sidewalks in a neigh¬
borhood of single family dwellings, if any, serve yet another set of requirements.
The fundamental difference between these examples relates to the presence of
children. If there are children living in the district, sidewalks are an important
asset for them.

PUBLIC PLACES—OUTSIDE 133 ■

Traffic barriers protect,
and reassure, pedes¬
trians on the sidewalk.

Surface texture on the

sidewalks can be used
to provide a tactile
warning to pedestri¬
ans.

134 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 The following discussion deals with the social and behavioral aspects of the
public way rather than its function as a traffic artery.

PERSONAL SAFETY
While people can injure themselves in many ways on streets and sidewalks, by
slipping on icy pavement for instance or colliding with a mailbox, the prinicipal
hazard is the close proximity of moving vehicles. Anything that will keep the two
streams of vehicular and pedestrian traffic separated will improve the safety of the
streets for pedestrians.
■ Deploy barriers between cars and pedestrians. Continuous barriers are best.
If they are not possible, deploy the sidewalk furnishings, lamp posts, mailboxes,
fire hydrants and traffic standards along the curb to provide an intermittent
barricade. These can be annoying to motorists who park at the curb but if they
are positioned properly they can create a protected sidewalk without interfering
seriously with parking.
■ Provide frequent controlled crossings. These are a nuisance to motorists and
a blessing to pedestrians. There is not much room for compromise here. If
there are not frequent controlled crossings, pedestrians are tempted to cross
wherever they choose in spite of the hazard.
■ Locate traffic signals for pedestrian use. Traffic signals are sometimes lo¬
cated as though they were exclusively for the control of automobile traffic. If
they are also to safeguard pedestrians they must be positioned so that they are
equally visible from the sidewalk.
■ Use surface textures to warn pedestrians of traffic hazards. Pedestrians who
are involved in conversation may be relatively oblivious to the hazards of their
surroundings. If they have been moving along a protected sidewalk they should
be warned that they are approaching an exposed corner. One effective way to
alert them to change is to alter the sidewalk texture drastically at the corner and
along the curb.

CUE SEARCHING
In any part of a community where significant numbers of visitors or newcomers
may be found, the streets should provide the kind of information that they need
to navigate safely and effectively in a strange milieu. This situation is most likely to
be found in major business or commercial districts. The visitors there are not
necessarily from out of town. They may be suburbanites who do not get into town
frequently enough to know their way around.
■ Provide "you-are-here" signs at principal corners. Properly designed and
located, these can be a real boon to city visitors.
■ Provide transit maps and schedules at transit stops. Another boon for city
visitors. People who use a transit system every day have no idea how confusing it
can be to a newcomer.
■ Provide directional signs for important locations or events. All information
signs would be more effective if they were concentrated in a coordinated dis¬
play at a consistent, predictable location at each intersection.

COMMUNICATIONS
People moving along busy downtown sidewalks appear to be rather oblivious to
their surroundings. That is why tourists and visitors are so easily spotted in such
crowds. They move in a more uncertain manner, visually exploring their sur¬
roundings. These different modes of movement are both normal. In a new en-

PUBLIC PLACES—OUTSIDE 135 ■

 vironment people tend to move in an exploratory mode, proceeding slowly and
scanning the environment carefully. In familiar surroundings they move in an
habitual mode, moving with confidence and paying little heed to surroundings.
This would seem to indicate that tourists and newcomers are the only ones who
are actively searching for cues and are interested in new information but this is not
correct. Anyone on the sidewalk, even those who appear to be moving in a trance,
will quickly respond to interesting information and events. In spite of the move¬
ment and confusion, the sidewalk can be a good place for certain kinds of com¬
munications.
■ Provide a window shopping lane. Pedestrian traffic can also be quickly diver¬
ted by merchandise displays. In districts where the sidewalk frontage is occu¬
pied by retail shops, a narrow lane or series of alcoves should be provided so

Useful information, lo¬

cated where it is
needed.

MM

••••••

■ 136 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 that pedestrians can stop and window shop outside the stream of traffic. These
may be on the public right-of-way or an easement over the commercial front¬
age. The window shopping lane should be a different texture and color.
■ Provide a protected area for news vending. Protected in this sense means out
of the line of traffic. People on the sidewalk seem to have a boundless appetite
for news. Even the most purposeful executive can be diverted by a headline.
There should be some place to stand while scanning a headline without being
trampled by other pedestrians or creating a sidewalk bottleneck.
■ Provide signboards for community communications. The sidewalks offer an
excellent opportunity for a community to communicate with its citizens. Com¬
munity programs and coming events of general interest can be publicized effec¬
tively in this manner.

A window shopping
lane eases sidewalk
congestion.

PUBLIC PLACES—OUTSIDE 137 M

Headlines, and pic¬
tures, are irresistible.

f,

FRIENDSHIP FORMATION
Sidewalks have not completely lost their function as a place for social contact. The
big city practice of taking an office building elevator down to a basement garage,
driving a few blocks to another basement garage, and taking an elevator up to a
roof top restaurant or luncheon club does reduce the likelihood of chance en¬
counters with friends on the sidewalk. There are some limits, however, to the
sensible use of automobiles, so that sidewalks will never be completely abandoned.
If they were better designed, they might attract more people out of their cars.
An essential element of friendship formation is repeated contact. Acquain¬
tances encountered on the sidewalk might become friends but only if the contact
moves beyond perfunctory greetings. Certain conditions are necessary before this
is likely to happen.
The first step in social contact is almost always eye contact. Once eye contact is
made with someone you know, it would generally be considered rude not to make
some further acknowledgement of the meeting. Such an acknowledgement can be
expanded if there is a place for it and if both parties are willing.

■ 138 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

■ Provide a place for people to stand outside the stream of traffic. This does
not require much space. The eddy in pedestrian traffic caused by a lamp post or
mailbox is enough space for two people to converse.
■ Provide a place for people to sit outside the stream of traffic. This requires
more space than standing room. Sidewalk seating is rather rare in urban busi¬
ness districts but it can be a valuable addition to the street scene. Not only does it
offer a place for friendly discourse and impromptu business deals, it also offers
weary shoppers an opportunity to contemplate their feet.
■ Provide a place for children to play. Children’s needs for socializing and play
space are an important consideration in street and sidewalk. Children also need
to make friends and the process requires the same continuing contact that is
required for adult friendship formation. Blocked streets and true cul-de-sacs
provide a reasonable opportunity for street play. Streets that carry significant
amounts of through traffic require some other solution. Other than occasional
parks and playgrounds, the only other options for children’s play are the public
sidewalks and private lawns. If sidewalks in residential districts could provide
wider areas for small groups of children to congregate it would greatly improve
children’s play options.
The recommendations made here for making sidewalks more useful and ap¬
pealing, whether in public ways or in shopping malls, would undoubtedly require
more space than is usually assigned to this purpose. The importance of sidewalks
in the public life of the city clearly justifies an additional commitment of both
space and money.

PUBLIC PLACES—OUTSIDE 139 ■

 ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The conclusions presented in this book are based on research information drawn
from many sources. Much of it stems from research activities undertaken by the
author, in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Lasswell, in connection with various
architectural design projects. More of it, however, comes from the Proceedings of
the Environmental Design Research Association, from periodicals such as Environ¬
ment and Behavior, and from privately circulated papers. Many books were also
consulted, ranging in subject matter from urban anthropology to street behavior.
Many of these sources would be difficult for most readers to obtain. The follow¬
ing list of books has been selected because they are especially relevant to the design
held and should be available in many research libraries.

Alexander, Christopher. Notes on the Synthesis of Form. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer¬
sity Press, 1964.
An important book on design theory. Discusses the process of generating architectural
forms from social, psychological, and functional needs.
Appleyard, Donald. Livable Streets. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
Discusses the impact of traffic on the neighborhood and explores planning options for
making the streets more livable.
Berelson, B., and Steiner, G. Human Behavior. New York: Harcourt, Brace 8c World, 1964.
An encyclopedic compendium of information about human behavior, covering such topics
as perceiving, learning, motivation, communications, and attitudes.
Canter, David. Fires and Human Behavior. New York: John Wiley 8c Sons, 1980.
A collection of articles and essays on fire hazards in buildings and human behavior in
actual fires.
Cooper, Clare. Easter Hill Village. New York: Free Press, 1975.
A comprehensive post-occupancy evaluation of a public housing project. Examines the use
of space outside and inside, the children, and residents’ reactions to design features.
Deasy, C. M. Design for Human Affairs. Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman Publishing Co.,
1974.
Demonstrates the importance of using information and procedures from the human sci¬
ences in the design process with actual examples from the author’s own architectural
practice.
Farbstein, Jay, and Kantrowitz, Min. People in Places. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,
1978.
Discusses how people relate to the places they use and enjoy.
Hall, Edward T. The Hidden Dimension. New York: Doubleday 8c Co., 1966.
An anthropologist looks at the human response to space and how our sense of personal
space is determined by culture.
Hall, Edward T. The Silent Language. New York: Doubleday 8c Co., 1959.
Discusses how our social mannerisms, which are dictated by culture, serve as a form of
communication.

■ 140
Harrigan, John, and Harrigan, Janet. Human Factors Programs for Architects, Interior De¬
signers, and Clients. San Luis Obispo, Cal.: Meyer, Merriam 8c Associates, 1976.
Deals with the value of human factors studies in solving architectural design problems.
Describes research methods such as observations, questionnaires, interviews, and activity
analysis.
Lifchez, Raymond; Williams, Dennis; Yip, Chris; Larson, Michael; and Taylor, Joanna.
Getting There. Sacramento: California Department of Rehabilitation, 1979.
Examines problems of access for handicapped people. Defines means of identifying such
problems and developing effective solutions.
Manning, Peter. Office Design: A Study of Environment. Liverpool: University of Liverpool,
1965.
An unusually thorough post-occupancy design study of the headquarters building of a
large insurance society conducted by the Pilkington Research Unit of the University of
Liverpool.
Marans, Robert, and Spreckelmeyer, Kent. Evaluating Built Environments: A Behavioral Ap¬
proach. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1981.
A comprehensive post-occupancy evaluation of the Federal Office Building in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, based on surveys of the building occupants and the using public.
Newman, Oscar. Defensible Space. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1973.
A study of crime problems in urban housing, especially public housing, and the effect of
building design on the safety of the occupants. An important source for anyone involved
in the design of urban housing.
Panero, Julius, and Zelnick, Martin. Human Dimensions and Interior Space. New York:
Whitney Library of Design, 1979.
A collection of anthropometric data applied to a wide variety of architectural settings.
Makes recommendations in a form easily used by designers.
Proshansky, Harold M.; Ittelson, William H.; Rivlin, Leanne G. Environmental Psychology.
New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970.
A collection of essays on various aspects of behavior and environment: theory, research
methods, individual needs, and environmental planning applications.
Sommer, Robert. Design Awareness. San Francisco: Rinehart Press, 1972.
An early work by one of the pioneers in the held of environment and behavior. Discusses
the need people feel to participate in the decisions that affect their lives and their environ¬
ment. Proposes an evaluation system for buildings and parks and the development of a
data bank for future use.
Sommer, Robert. Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1969.
A classic in the held.
Sommer, Robert. Social Design. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1983.
A discussion of the process by which behavioral information can be obtained and used in
the architectural design process by a psychologist who has served as a consultant to both
architectural hrms and public agencies.
Steele, Fred I. Physical Settings and Organizational Development. Reading, Mass.: Addison-
Wesley Publishing Co., 1973.
Focuses on how physical surroundings influence the effectiveness of an organization. Con¬
siders such factors as security, social contact, tasks, and symbolism.
Van der Ryn, Sim, and Silverstein, Murray. Dorms at Berkeley. Berkeley: Center for Plan¬
ning and Development Research, University of California, 1967.
A study of high-rise dormitories on the Berkeley campus. Observations, interviews, and
activity logs were used to determine how the facilities were actually used in contrast to the
program assumptions.
Zeisel, John, and Griffin, Mary. Charlesview Housing. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer¬
sity School of Design, 1975.
A study of public housing in Boston using observations and interviews to compare the
actual building use with the designer’s assumptions about its use.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 141 ■
INDEX

Apartments, 48-56 in hospitals, 114

friendship formation in, 54-56 in open assemblies, 86
personal safety in, 48-51 in parks, 133
personal space in, 52-53 in performance spaces, 83
personal status in, 53-54 personal, 29-30
territoriality in, 27, 51, 52 in schools, 98, 100-101, 105
see also Homes in shopping places, 89-91
Assembly, open, 83-86, 129 on sidewalks, 135-137
signs in, 30, 32
Bathrooms, 46, 47 Conference rooms, 75-79
Behavior Corridors, 50, 51, 57
environment and, 9-10, 17-39 Cue searching, 34-38
incorrect assumptions about, 11-13 in entranceway, 121-122
motivating factors in, 17-18 in hospitals, 113-115, 118
research, and design, 10-11, 14-16 in open assemblies, 83-86
see also Communications; Cue searching; in performance spaces, 82
Friendship formation; Group in schools, 104
membership; Personal safety; Personal sensory overload and, 35
space; Personal status; Territoriality on streets and sidewalks, 135
Birthing centers, 112, 118 wayfinding systems in, 35-36
Boundaries, 27; see also Territoriality
Building design Distancing, 21-24
behavior research and, 10-11, 14-16 intimate, 21
communicating information with, 32-33 personal, 23
of eating places, 92-95 public, 23
of health care facilities, 112-119 social, 22, 23
image and status and, 24, 26, 36, 38 Dormitories, 56-60
of learning centers, 96-111 friendship formation in, 19, 59-60
of living spaces, 40-63 personal safety in, 56-57
of meeting areas, 74-86 personal space in, 58
of public spaces, 120-126 territoriality in, 57-58
of shopping places, 87-92
of workplaces, 64-73 Eating places, 92-95
communications in, 93
Campuses, 96-104 group membership in, 94
Case, F. Duncan, 19, 20, 59 Elderly, in shopping places, 92
Children Entrances, 12, 13, 33
safety of, 42, 128 to apartments, 49, 50, 51
in shopping places, 92 to dormitory rooms, 56, 59, 60
see also Learning centers; Play spaces to homes, 44, 48
Classrooms, 104-107 to hospitals, 113
communications in, 105 to performance spaces, 83
territoriality in, 105-107 to public places, 12, 13, 121-125
Clearance hazards, 38 to shopping areas, 89, 91
Colleges, see Dormitories; Schools and colleges Environmental design
Collision hazards, 38-39 behavior research in, 10-11, 15-16
Color coding, 36 motivational factors and, 17-39
Communications, 29-34
in building design, 32-34 Friendship formation, 18-20
in conference rooms, 75-79 in apartments, 54-56
in eating places, 93 in dormitories, 19, 59-60
 in neighborhoods, 47-48, 62 performances and, 80-83
in parks, 128-132 Myrick, Richard, 98
proximity and, 19-20, 41
on sidewalks, 138-139 Neighborhood
in workplaces, 65 bulletin board, 133, 137
friendship formation in, 47-48, 62
Goodrich, Ronald, 64 personal safety and, 63
Group membership, 20 personal status and, 61-62
in dormitories, 59 territoriality in, 27-28
in schools, 97-103
size of group and, 20, 98 Object hazards, 38
in workplaces, 65, 69-71 Office, private, 71-73
Group property, 27 personal space in, 72
personal status and, 72-73
Hall, Edward T., 21, 23 territoriality in, 73
Handicapped, 92, 117 Open assemblies, 83-86, 129
Health care facilities, 112-119 communications in, 86
communications in, 114 cue searching in, 83-86
cue searching in, 113, 114, 118 Open-plan layout
entrance and circulation in, 113-115 in classrooms, 105, 107
patient rooms in, 115-117 in workplaces, 69
personal status in, 116-119
territoriality in, 115, 116 Parks, 127-133
visitor facilities in, 118-119 communications in, 132, 133
Herchberger, Robert, 32 friendship formation in, 128-131
Homes personal safety in, 128
friendship formation and, 47-48 Patient rooms, 115-117
personal safety in, 40-43 personal status in, 116-117
personal space in, 41, 45-47 territoriality in, 116
personal status and, 41, 47, 63 Payne, Ifan, 32
territoriality in, 41, 42, 44, 45, 48 Performance spaces, 80-83
see also Apartments audibility and visibility in, 80, 83
Hospices, 112, 118 communications in, 83
Hospitals, see Health care facilities cue searching in, 82
Human nature, see Behavior Personal distance, 23
Personal property, 26
Intimate distance, 23 Personal safety, 38-39
in apartments, 48-51
Learning centers, 96-111 cue searching for, 34-35
campuses of, 96-104 in dormitories, 56-57
classrooms of, 104-107 in homes, 40-43
lecture halls in, 107 in neighborhood, 63
libraries as, 107-111 in parks, 128
see also Schools on streets and sidewalks, 38-39, 135
Lecture halls, 107 Personal space, 20-24
Leighton, Alexander, 17 in apartments, 52-53
Libraries, 107-111 culture and, 20-21
territoriality in, 111 distancing and, 21-24
wayfinding in, 108-111 in dormitories, 58
Living spaces, 40-63 in homes, 41, 45-47
apartments as, 48-56 in schools and colleges, 103
dormitories as, 56-60 in workplaces, 23, 66-68, 72
homes as, 40-48 Personal status, 24, 26, 36, 38
neighborhoods and, 61-63 in apartments, 53-54
Lobbies, 121-125 cues to, 36, 38
in hospitals, 114 in entrances, 122-125
in theaters, 82 in homes, 41, 47, 63
in hospitals, 116-119
Manning, Peter, 19 in neighborhood, 61-62
Maps, “you-are-here,” 35-36, 104, 108, 133, in schools and colleges, 104
135 in shopping places, 91-92
Maslow, Abraham, 17 in workplaces, 26, 65, 69, 72-73
Meeting spaces, 74-86 Play spaces
conference rooms as, 75-79 in apartments, 54
function of, 74-75 in homes, 42, 43, 48
informal, 79-80 neighborhood plan for, 62
open, 83-86 in parks, 128

index 143 ■
 on streets, 139 Signs
Privacy, see Personal space in entrance, 122
Property scale of, 33
group, 27 for wayfinding, 30, 32, 36
personal, 26 “you-are-here” maps as, 35-36, 104, 108, 133,
Proxemics, 21-24 135
Public distance, 23 Social centers, 98, 99
Public performances, see Performance spaces Social distance, 23
Public places, inside, 120-126 Social interaction, see Friendship formation;
approaches to, 120 Group membership
entrance areas in, 121-125 Sommer, Robert, 93, 111
open assemblies in, 83-86, 129 Space, see Personal space
waiting rooms in, 125-126 Stability hazards, 39
Public places, outside, 127-139 Status, see Personal status
parks as, 127-133 Streets and sidewalks, 133-139
streets as, 133-139 collision hazards on, 38-39
communications on, 135-137
Queueing system, 123-125 cue searching on, 135
friendship formation on, 139
Receptionist in neighborhood plan, 62
in building entrance, 121-122 personal safety on, 135
social distance and, 23 Symbols, communication with, 33, 89
in waiting rooms, 125-126
Restaurants, 92-95 Territoriality, 26-29
in apartments, 27, 51, 52
Safety, see Personal safety in classrooms, 105, 107
Schools and colleges, 96-106 in dormitories, 57
classroom design in, 104-107 group, 27-28
cue searching in, 104 in homes, 41, 42, 44, 45, 48
grounds or campus of, 96-104 in hospitals, 115, 106
group membership in, 97-103 in libraries, 111
informal study areas in, 101-103 personal, 26-28
information centers in, 98, 100-101 in workplaces, 65, 68, 73
lecture halls in, 107 Theaters, see Performance spaces
libraries in, 107-111
personal space in, 103 Universities, see Dormitories, Schools and col¬
personal status in, 104 leges
size of, 98
social centers in, 98, 99 Visitor facilities, in hospital, 118-119
Seating arrangements
in classrooms, 105, 106 Waiting rooms, 125-126
communications in, 30, 31 Wayfinding, 35-36
in conference rooms, 75-79 in hospitals, 113-115
in entrance areas, 123, 126 in libraries, 107-108
for group membership, 20 Workplaces, 64-73
in libraries, 111 friendship formation in, 65
in parks, 130-132 group membership in, 65, 69-70
personal space and, 23-25 open plans for, 69
in shopping places, 91-92 personal space in, 23, 65-68, 72
Security, see Personal safety personal status in, 26, 65, 68, 72-73
Shoppers, categories of, 87 private offices as, 70-73
Shopping places, 87-92 shared, 69-70
communications in, 89-91 territoriality in, 65, 68, 73
personal status in, 91-92
Sidewalks, see Streets and sidewalks “You-are-here” maps, 35-36, 104, 108, 133, 135

Edited by Stephen Kliment and Susan Davis

Designed by Areta Buk
Drafting by Vantage Art
Text set in 11-point Baskerville

■ 144 DESIGNING PLACES FOR PEOPLE

 C.M. Deasy, FAIA, is an architect and founder
and former senior partner of Deasy, Bolling, and
Gill, of Los Angeles. He is the author of Design for
Human Affairs and numerous articles on be¬
havioral design, and he has taken part in many
research projects involving application of human
behavior to design. A graduate of the University
of Southern California, Deasy has served as direc¬
tor of Booth Memorial Hospital and the Los An¬
geles Library Association. He also helped create
California Living, two 26-week series on KABC-TV
on residential architecture in southern California,
and Quest, Los Angeles, six half-hour programs on
the human and physical resources of the city of
Los Angeles that appeared on KCET.
Thomas Lasswell, Ph.D., is professor of so¬
ciology at the University of Southern California
and a frequent consultant to architects and build¬
ing owners on human behavior design. He has
written numerous books, papers, and articles on
this subject. He is a graduate of Arkansas College
and has Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the Uni¬
versity of Southern California.

Also from the

Whitney Library of Design:

HUMAN DIMENSION &

INTERIOR SPACE
Julius Panero & Martin Zelnik
I his is the first major reference book of design
standards based on anthropometries—the study
of human body measurements. The book is for
use by all those involved with the physical plan¬
ning and detailing of interiors, including inte¬
rior designers, architects, furniture designers,
builders, industrial designers, and students of de¬
sign. It contains illustrated anthropometric tables
and hundreds of dimensioned drawings. All di¬
mensions include metric conversions. 352 pages.
9x 12. 300 illustrations. Bibliography. Index
8230-7271-1. $32.50

Cover: Concourse, University Union, California

State University,. Los Angeles. Deasy, Bolling,
and Gill, architects
Cover illustration by Jan Pyk
Printed in U.S.A.

WHITNEY LIBRARY OF DESIGN

 *

CONTENTS Seating that can be moved

Foreword, by MacDonald G. Becket to suit individual preferences
is most satisfactory.
Preface
11 HUMAN BEHAVIOR
AND THE DESIGNER
Environment Influences Behavior
Utilizing Behavior Research
Human Nature Cannot Be
Predicted Intuitively
12 USING BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
IN THE DESIGN PROCESS
Constructing a Behavioral Program
13 THE NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE
Friendship Formation
Group Membership
Personal Space
Personal Status
Territoriality
Communications
Cue Searching
Personal Safety
4 LIVING TOGETHER
At Home
In an Apartment
In a Dormitory If seating cannot be moved,
make it possible for the
In the Neighborhood
individual to shift or move.
5 WORKING TOGETHER
The Personal Workplace
Shared Workplaces
The Private Office
6 MEETING TOGETHER
Conference Rooms
Informal Meeting Areas
Public Performances
Open Assembly
7 SHOPPING TOGETHER
A Place to Shop
A Place to Eat
8 LEARNING TOGETHER
The Schoolground or Campus
Classrooms
Lecture Halls
Libraries
9 HEALTHCARE
Going to the Hospital
Entrance and Circulation
Patient Rooms
Visitor Facilities
10 PUBLIC SPACES—INSIDE
Building Approaches $&/%/{■■• v\ <•* 0 Ai’/' > l ''-'HkI *“

Inside the Building—Entrance Areas

Waiting Rooms
11 PUBLIC SPACES—OUTSIDE
In the Park Write for free catalog:
On the Street WHITNEY LIBRARY OF DESIGN
An imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications
Annotated Bibliography • Index 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036 ISBN 0-8230-7152-9
>20.101
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