Sunday 20 March 2011

Key Notes

To understad the true complexities of architecture and create a comprehensive grasp of a design, it is important to to identify and evaluate the necessary components of design being; the house as an environmental filter, a container of human activity and a delightful experience.


The house as an Environmental Filter:


- Separates/connects internal and exterior spaces - Are spaces divided on purpose? Privacy? Do spaces flow and are they appropriately inter-connected? 
- Provides climatic responses where necessary (Solutions to temperature and weather conditions) 
- The interaction of the house with its surroundings, including its orientation, integration with natural topography and natural environment. Does the building respect its surroundings?
- Material selection - Does it correspond with surrounding structures and natural environment? How do the materials handle the local weather conditions and respond to temperature? Are they aesthetically pleasing and suit their positioning? Does the house contrast or blend into the surrounds?
- Noise/air filtering - Is sound effectively kept out, let into particular spaces? (Cars, animals, people etc.) Is the air quality kept at sufficient and healthy levels? (Pollution) 
- Light usage - Is natural light taken advantage of? (Positioning and movement of sun) Specific lighting atmospheres in certain rooms? (Dark rooms vs. bright rooms)
- Cultural and social awareness within design
- Location - Urban or natural environment? Context of site? Have views been taken into consideration? Have surrounding facilities and services are noted? Accessibility to site?
- Effectivity of technological installations - Are they sustainable? Do they suit the design? Does the technology provide services and is it efficient? (Heating/cooling, lighting and water control etc)
- Structural integrity and overall building performance




The House as a Container of Human Activity:


- Functionality (Facilitates necessary human functions) Are the spaces of adequate size size for given use? Appropriate adjacency? How do people move through these spaces?
- Materials - Are the materials suitable to the spaces use? (Which ares get wet? Tiles?) Do the materials identify spaces? Do the materials aesthetically suit the space? (Is the bedroom a comfortable place to sleep? No to busy in appearance?)
- Public and private spaces (Zoning) - Is there privacy? Are shared areas connected and individual spaces hidden/separated?
- Does natural light allocate when spaces are used? (Orientation of spaces) Are the spaces purely interior or exterior or in-between? 
- Human scale within the space.
- Relationship within the spaces - Does the space provide a service, or is it serviced by another? Is the space multi-purposed or does it provide an individual function? Are the spacial adjacencies effective?
- Flexibility - Are the spaces able to change over time, or with the change of occupancy? Are the spaces limited by time of day or availability of light? Do the spaces increase/reduce in size with the movement  of doors/wall/windows?
- Are spaces easily identified in relation to their function? (Does the kitchen look like a kitchen?) 
- Are spaces easily used? Are all facilities efficiently provided? Is technology integrated appropriately and to an extent which is appropriate?




The house as a Delightful Experience:


- Physical comfortability - Does the space please all five senses? (Clean air, noise barriers etc) Does the space provide protection from exterior elements? Is a suitable temperature contained within a space? Is it easy to move between spaces?
- Materials - Are the selected materials visually pleasing? Do they create pattern and order or contrast each other? What textures do these materials make? (Hard, soft etc) Is their co-ordination between colours and materials? 
- Aesthetics - Are spaces created by anything other than walls? (Windows, furniture, structural elements) Are their views? Do windows bring exterior aesthetics indoors and visa versa? 
- Which takes priority, structural components or visual aesthetics, or the latter?
- Emotional responses - What emotions do given spaces evoke, happiness, calmness (Colours/textures) Are the emotions created by the space or do these given emotions determine the use of the space?
- functionality - Do the spaces fulfil the needs of the user? Do they adequately provide enough room for the amount of people whom would use the space?







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