ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN EVALUATION

Transcription

1 ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN EVALUATION Arnold Friedmann University of Massachusetts, Amherst Craig Zimring Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Ervin Zube University of Arizona, Tucson This concise, highly readable volume is the only analysis of environmental design evaluation that makes extensive use of the case-study approach. The case studies extend to each of the basic areas in environmental design evaluation: interior spaces, buildings, and outdoor spaces. These chapters are further divided into detailed subsections which include an abstract, a discussion, and retrospective evaluations of related projects solicited from experts in the field. Major conceptual and methodological issues are examined without the use of obfuscating jargon. In addition to fundamental physical and economic factors, the book takes into account such behavioral factors as human needs, work performance, and standards of life quality. Thus Environmental Dest"gn Evaluation provides the basis for developing initial guidelines for the design process. The book will serve as a text, reference guide, and general interest work for design professionals, behavi.oral scientists, and other professionals interested in environmental design.

2 Environmental Design Evaluation

3 Environmental Design Evaluation Arnold Friedmann University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts Craig Zimring Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia Ervin Zube University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

4 Friedmann, Arnold. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Environmental design evaluation. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Architecture - Environmental aspects - United States. 1. Zimring, Craig, joint author. II. Zube, Ervin, joint author. III. Title. NA F ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Graphics and Figures by Alyce Kaprow Springer Science+Business Media New York Original1y published by Plenum Press in 1978 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1978 AU rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher

5 Preface As the nature of the field of environment-behavior relations is interdisciplinary, the collaboration of three persons of diverse professional backgrounds in writing this book is therefore not surprising. This collaboration started in 1972 with the offering of a graduate seminar "Environment, Behavior, and Design Evaluation" at the University of Massachusetts. Several research projects dealing with design evaluation which have been conducted at the University are also included as case studies in this book (Chapter III): the ELEMR study and the Visitor Center study. Two of the authors have worked as part of the instructional team in the seminar, and all of the authors have participated in varying degrees in the ELEMR Project. The authors' backgrounds in design, psychology, and landscape architecture suggest, by example, that professionals with diverse backgrounds but a common interest in environment-behavior problems can indeed learn to communicate and to collaborate. Since design evaluation is a new field and very little specific literature on the subject exists to date, we hope this book fills a current need. In developing plans for the book, it became obvious to us that a theoretical orientation toward the subject would be of little direct help to design practitioners and students. Hence we arrived at the current format of the book, which also provides an assessment, albeit indirect, of the state of the art. We hope the book will serve as a text for students, as a reference and guide for design professionals and behavioral scientists, and as a work of general interest to all those involved in this field. We have attempted to abstract sometimes lengthy case studies while retaining important distinctions of study purpose and methods, and we have tried to avoid the use of jargon in these presentations. The book consists of five chapters. Chapter I introduces the subject of design evaluation and discussed major conceptual issues, drawing upon the case studies which follow as a means of illustrating the issues. The next three chapters consist of case studies dealing with interior spaces, buildings, and outdoor spaces, respectively. Each of these chapters has a brief introduction which directs the reader to important disv

6 vi PREFACE tinctions among the case studies. The final chapter summarizes our thoughts on environmental design evaluation and discusses methods, techniques, and various special considerations for evaluative studies. For many readers it might be best to read Chapter I and V first in order to gain an overview of the subject. Depending upon specific interest, the reader can then select the most relevant case studies or can proceed chronologically with all of the studies. Each case study heading provides the title, names of researchers, methods used, description of the type of project, and information source. We also refer the reader to a rather extensive bibliography which contains both specific design evaluation and methodological references and references on the general subject of environment-behavior relations. We wish to express our thanks and appreciation to the many researchers who permitted us to use their reports as case studies for inclusion in this book. We also wish to express appreciation to- the many colleagues who have advised us on both format and individual cases, and who have read the manuscript and provided valuable criticism. Foremost among those are Joseph Crystal, Joanne Green, Geoffrey Hayward, Min Kantrowitz, R. Christopher Knight, Jan Reizenstein, and William W eitzer. We extend special thanks to Stanley Moss who was a strong supporter of the ideas behind this book and our colleague in the graduate seminar over the last 5 years. Every effort was made when abstracting the original studies not to alter the meaning or leave out key points. We accept responsibility for any errors of fact or erroneous interpretations and extend an apology to those whose work we may have misinterpreted. We are also grateful to those who have allowed us to reproduce their photographs. Original artwork for many of the charts, graphs, and maps was not available to us so they have been redrawn for inclusion in this book. We thank the authors for permission to use these, and extend our gratitude to Alyce Kaprow for her excellent work in preparing them. Amherst, Massachusetts Atlanta, Georgia Tucson, Arizona Arnold Friedmann Craig Zimring Ervin Zube

7 Contents Chapter I Chapter II Introduction: A Structure-Process Approach to Environmental Design Evaluation... 1 Interior Spaces Changes in Employee Attitudes and Work Practices in an Office Landscape Butterfield Hall: Evaluation of a Renovated Dormitory at the University of Rhode Island Some Major Causes of Congestion in Subway Stations Cambridge Hospital Social Service Offices An Evaluation of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Chapter III Buildings-as-Systems Effects of the Living Environment on the Mentally Retarded (ELEMR) Project Designing for Mentally Retarded People: A Social-Environmental Evaluation of New England Villages, Inc Charlesview Housing National Parks Visitor Centers Chapter IV Outdoor Spaces Evaluation of a Campus Space First National Bank Plaza Urban Park Evaluation Housing Site Evaluation Planned Unit Development Evaluation Chapter V Environmental Design Evaluation: Epilogue Selected Bibliography Index vii