Is it necessary to poll hundreds of coffee drinkers to determine that round tables "protect self-esteem for those...flying solo"? Or could an architect have come to the same determination by believing their impression that round tables work better in some environments than square tables, be it by observing patrons at a local cafe or in a public park, or by choosing a round table over a square one themselves? — archidose.blogspot.com
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2 Comments
Very nice.
"... by focusing on users as a distinct group of people—them, not us—former-architect Outram is perpetuating the gulf between the two." By not focusing on users is where the gulf actually comes from, because they are us, only more of them, and therefore a more accurate barometer of human nature.
"Is it necessary to poll hundreds of coffee drinkers to determine that round tables "protect self-esteem for those...flying solo"?" No, it's not necessary. But is it harmful? And in the end, does it matter where one gets that kind of data? I think it's more important that it affect ones work rather than it's provenance.
"So then why don't architects listen to what's inside?" I don't know. You could ask the same of people in dysfunctional relationships. By that standard, woundn't therapists have the best personal lives since they are trained to think about personal issues?
"But traditionally the client's bottom line has driven decision-making, therefore conditioning architects to prioritize that over human needs" But wouldn't listening to human heeds (thus studying them), improve a client's bottom line, assuming they don't think human nature is a bunch of mushy gobley goop?
I agree with Mr. Hill that architect's don't need to conduct polls to understand human needs, that we could simply observe life around us and that we could very well just look inside of ourselves. But that assumes they haven't lost the sense of what it's like to experience the environment without 5-7 years of architectural school. Becasue if we're saying that archtiecture school prepares one to understand and design for human nature, our environment as built over the last 50 years would look very different indeed.
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