Friday, September 30, 2011

Module 2-Annotated Bibilos-Part 1

Epp, Gayle.  "Furnishing the Unit from the Viewpoint of the Elderly, the Designer and HUD" (1980).
 In her paper, Gayle Epp presents an interesting study of the design and furnishing layouts for Elderly Housing Units. 
Similar envelopes of space (one-bedroom units) were given to each of two groups, architectural students (Students) and Interior Designers (Designers) and were compared to that done by a study at MIT of actual elderly housing units (MIT Study), and the HUD (Housing and Urban Development Office) Property Standards for the Elderly (HUD).  Grounds for comparison between the four were average number of furniture pieces used in whole apartment, types of furniture used, and the arrangements of the pieces themselves in the apartment, though HUD was only included in the comparison of amount of furniture pieces used.
  • Results showed quite a disparity between the MIT Study and Students, Designers, and the so called "minimums" set up by HUD when it came to amount of furniture used.  One can deduce that these minimums are seen as maximums by those who program and design, as minimums often are when it comes to design, and adherence to building codes and regulations.
  • The Elderly they are seen to have "crowded" spaces filled with collections and memories, which creates the need for storage and display case pieces, such as dressers, cabinets, and tables which comprise the difference in numbers.  Should we not, as Designers and Students satisfy this need to personalize?  Should HUD not acknowledge this?
  • Interestingly, the elderly spaces in the MIT Study while considered crowded, still maintain the most intuitive use of space over the Students and Designers, as their dressers are close to their closets for proper dressing space, and their dining areas are close to their kitchens which creates less transit between stove and table.  While circulation and functionality are the motivation of the S & D, how does that translate to overall human interaction with space?
  • One wonders how this study would result if performed today, which is 30+ years on from the original.  Things to consider would be how much the elderly are living as independently as they were before, and how the design of furniture, which is much more largely scaled compared to the past, would impact both arrangement and numbers.  Quality of furniture is also a consideration, as things just are not made like they used to be; therefore, will they hold the same sentimental value to the elderly

Monaghan, Peter. "Modern Play Spaces May Be Safe, but They're Stultifying, Some Experts Say." The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 7, 2000.
 In this article, Monaghan summarizes the opinion of various "experts" on Play Spaces.  Social Reproduction is the handing on, with modifications, of social practices and institutions, and these experts wonder what of value children will be able to hand onto future generations given the changing landscape of home and how we live, what is happening in these neighborhoods, changes in parental roles in a child's life, and how children are subsequently being encouraged to play in their environments.
While such "authoritarian environments" such as a Chuck E. Cheese, are considered generally "safe" from predators, and kidnappers, and the like, these spaces are considered to stunt a child's development and prevent proper social reproduction, so says Stuart Aitken, a cultural geographer.
Presented also is a debunking of the "Piaget Approach" by these experts.  Piaget's theories were too general and did not include the consideration of social factors in looking at childhood development.
Instead, these experts want to see control given back to children when it comes to molding and seizing their play spaces, much like Michael Chabon does in his essay "Manhood for Amateurs:  The Wilderness of Childhood."
  • Cultural Geography is the study of how societies use and are shaped by spaces and places.
  • Spatial Cognition/Mapping Ability is seen as a combination of physical , psychological, social and cultural processes.
  • The article goes a long way to devalue the Chuck E. Cheese type environments that we have developed so wrongly for children, yet at the end, Mr. Aitken admits to the author that "My kids love coming here," so where does a child's voice come in?
  • There is more to this, as there is in Chabon's essay, that speaks to a parent's role in child rearing, and how their own agendas and schedule's get in the way of raising their children

Weber, Rachel N.  "Manufacturing Gender in Commercial and Military Cockpit Design in Science." Technology & Human Values, Vol. 22, No. 2 (1997):  235-253.

What Weber presents in this article is her findings in the study of the case of the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS), and an evaluation of the design of cockpits in both military and commercial use aircraft and how these do, or do not, accommodate the female body, and by extension, the female gender .  She further delves into the willingness to alter such designs and how this is handled by both parties and what may have influenced the change if adopted. 
Weber discovers that the design of such cockpits, based on collection of anthropometrical data (such as seating height, reach, etc.) with ergonomic response , represents a bias toward both women and men of smaller stature. 
The military responded to political changes in the role of women in combat in 1993 and its realization that there is a decreasing pool of potential recruits, as well as the ire of special interests, politicos, pragmatists and feminists, and proposed a new seating height to accommodate more women.
The commercial aircrafts were less than open to such accommodation as they answer to the "intersection of technological capability, labor relations, and profit margins," and the design process is often different from manufacturer to manufacturer.  There is also an overwhelming call for negotiation on wage and benefits by the mostly male pilot population, that design is not on their list.  Fear of litigation on a discriminatory basis exists, but not enough to promote research and change.
  • Anthropometrics is defined as  the measurements of the human body and its physical characteristics
  • Ergonomics is the relationship between the human body and the built environment.
  • Human Engineering refers to the" efforts made to design equipment that would be more suitable for human use 
  • While universal design theory encourages flexibility in accommodating people of varying body type, there are systematic limitations, such as the need for ejection from military aircraft, therefore, adjustability of existing conditions is not the sole answer, and can, in fact, open up a proverbial "can of worms" where the need for further design overhaul requires review.  Can the military afford spending to achieve such a complete overhaul?
  • Given what Weber has presented,  the true reason for the military's willingness to adjust the JPATS sitting threshold is really less about accommodating women, and more about accommodating these smaller statured men and the potential for foreign military sales to countries where anthropometrical data shows smaller than our average builds (men and money.) Does it really matter so long as women benefit, I do not know, but the military should not be wholeheartedly rewarded for this proposal.  The means may not justify the end. 
  • Not sure the title of "Manufacturing Gender..." is appropriate here.  Giving such control to the Aviation industry seems like we are giving up our identity so easily, no?

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