Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology

Research
in
Design 2

Arch. Evan Vinuel Tabilog

Instructor

Aprille Joy D. Flor

BSA 1-A
 ANTHROPOMETRICS

What is anthropometrics?

 Anthropometrics is the comparative study of the measurements and capabilities of

the human body. It derives from the Greek words 'anthropos' (meaning human), and
'metron' (meaning measure).
 Anthropometry influences a wide range of industries, processes, services and
products and has a considerable importance in optimising the design of buildings.
 Human dimensions and capabilities are paramount in determining a building's
dimensions and overall design. The underlying principle of anthropometrics is that
building designs should adapt to suit the human body, rather than people having to
adapt to suit the buildings.
 The use of anthropometrics in building design aims to ensure that every person is as
comfortable as possible. In practical terms, this means that the dimensions must be
appropriate, ceilings high enough, doorways and hallways wide enough, and so on.
In recent times, it has come to have particular significance for workplace design, and
the relationship between desk, chair, keyboard and computer display.
 The building regulations provide a range of standard requirements and approved
solutions for designers to help develop suitable designs. However, it is important to
consider the specific purpose and requirements of end users. Attempts to apply
standardised dimensions may not reflect the true need of the space requirements.
 Older people, children, people with mobility issues, wheelchair users and so on may
have specific requirements. In particular, good accessibility and easy manoeuvrability
around the building must be considered when designing stairs, lifts, ramps and other
features. See Accessibility in the built environment for more information.
 Anthropometry may also impact on space requirements for furniture and fittings. For
example, a bathroom must have enough space to comfortably fit a bath and sink; a
bedroom must have enough space to comfortably fit an average-sized bed; an office
building must have enough space to fit desks, air-conditioning units, communal
areas, meeting rooms, and so on.
 Anthropometric data is regularly updated to reflect changes in the population.

Dimensions of the Human Figure

Dimensions of Adults

The dimensions ond clearances shown (Fig. 2) represent minimum requirements for
use in planning building layouts and furnishings. If possible, clearances should be in-
creased to allow comfortable accommodations for persons larger than average. The height
of tabletops shown on the next page is 2 ft 5 in; some authorities prefer 2 ft 6 in, or
sometimes 2 ft 6V» in. Since doorways and passageways must normally be dimensioned to
permit the movement of furniture, they should seldom be designed merely on the needs of
the average adult.

Dimensions of Children

Children do not have the same physical proportions as adults, especially during their
early years, and their heights vary greatly, but their space requirements can be
approximated from the following table.
 ERGONOMETRICS

What is Ergonometrics?

 The word Ergonomic derives from the Greek word ἔργον, or ergon, meaning work,
and nomoi, meaning natural laws.
 Ergonomics describes the scientific study of the efficiency of man in his working
environment. This relation of interaction between humans and other elements of a
system can apply to theories, principles, data and methods of design. These
interactions are all done for the purpose of optimizing a human’s well-being and
overall system performance.
 The main goal of ergonomics is to strive for the most efficient and comfortable
working environment to work within and around.
 The skill of reaching an ergonomic environment is very important to achieve human
resourcefulness and usefulness. Ergonomists, who are the practitioners of
ergonomics, those who study work and how work is done and how to work better, try
to achieve this goal through design. When designing an object, it should suit most
needs of the user, both structurally and aesthetically.
 When designing a home environment, for example, an architect needs to take into
account the most comfortable and efficient ways of working around a space, but still
maintain an interesting design to the area.
 In a kitchen, for example, there needs to be enough space to move around freely, but
still be able to reach to different cabinets, drawers and utilities with ease and
frequency. An ergonomic innovation for kitchen space is the kitchen work triangle,
where the three major working functions of a kitchen, which are the refrigerator, the
sink and the stove, are in close proximity to each other but not close enough to make
someone feel contained and uncomfortable, so they are able to work efficiently in the
space.

Living Areas
Planning Consideration!
 Through traffic should be separated from activity centers.
 Openings should be located so as to give enough wall space for various furniture
arrangements.
 Convenient access should be provided to doors, windows, electric outlets,
thermostats, and supply grills.

Furniture Clearances
To assure adequate space for convenient use of furniture in the living area, not less
than the following clearances should be observed.
60 in between facing seating
24 in where circulation occurs between furniture
30 in for use of desk
36 in for main traffic
60 in between television set and seating
Seating arranged around a 10-ft diameter circle (Fig. 1) makes a comfortable grouping for
conversation. Figure 2 indicates clearances, circulation, and conversation areas.
Dining Areas
Dining areas must accommodate furniture — either portable or built-in — for eating,
sitting, serving and possible storage. Equipment for these dining func tions may also be
adapted to meet other possible requirements for this space — as studying, game- playing,
etc. Table space requirements per person are as fol- lows: for crowded seating, 1-10" on the
table's perimeter; for comfort, 2 -0''. Adequate clearances for use are indicated on diagrams.

Furniture Sizes
Portable Tables, round (A): 2'-7" to 5'- 10" diom.
Portable Tables, rectangular (C): 2'-6" to 4'-0" by 3'-6" to 8'-0"; or 21-0" to 4 # -0"
square
Dining Chairs, portable: T-6" to 2'-0" by l'-6" to I'- 10"
Serving Table (B): 2'-6" to 3'-6" by I '-2" to I '-9"
Sideboard or Buffet (B): 4'-0" to 6'-6" by I '-5" to 2'- 1"
China Cabinet (B): 2'-8" to 3'-8" by l'-2" to l’-9"
Furniture Clearances
To assure odequate space for convenient use of the dining area, not less than the following
clear ances from the edge of the dining table should be observed.
32 in for chairs plus access thereto
38 in for chairs plus access and passage
42 in for serving from behind chair
24 in for passage only
48 in from table to base cabinet (in dining- kitchen)
Figures 4, 5, and 6 illustrate proper clearances.

Bedroom
Diagrams indicate minimum clearances that should be provided for use of the
bedroom furniture shown, dimensions for which are listed below. Many types and sizes of
furniture are available; but those listed are most common ond can serve as a basis for
bedroom design. At least 2 in should be allowed os clearance between walls and furni- ture;
3 in between furniture units.
Kitchens
The kitchen is not a specialized work- room, for it has many uses. It is used for
preparation of meals, food preservation, storage of food and utensils, and also, in many
cases, for eating, laundering, entertaining, and child care. In it a woman uses her own labor
and also makes full use of electric power, tap water, and manufactured or bottled gas; she
uses refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, mixers, toasters, and garbage-disposal units, as
well as various kinds of storage compartments and work surfaces.

Critical Dimensions
The "critical dimensions" for working space are illustrated in Figs. 1-4. These
dimensions are recommended on the basis of research and do not necessarily coincide with
either current practice or currently available cabinets and equipment.
 Concepts of Complex Residential Design

A complex usually refers to some sort of multi-family housing, i.e. apartment

complex. Because you specify housing, it perhaps refers to a triplex or a quadplex (3 and 4
unit multi-family) or perhaps a townhome community that has 2 or more units with adjoining
walls. Cluster of close by and interconnected buildings, facilities, or structures (usually
isolated from the surroundings by a fence or wall) built to serve a common function, such as
a housing complex, medical complex, military-industrial complex.

Customization

Customization derives from “to customize” or "to build, fit, or alter according to
individual specifications". It could also have the meaning "to personalize" or "to make
personal or individual" and "individualize" or "to adapt to the needs or special circumstances
of an individual".

Therefore, to customize a house means to design and build a place to live according
to the specific needs or demands of those who will occupy it, or to alter an existing place to
meet such needs or demands. To design and build customized dwellings in collective
housing, it is necessary to apply the term "mass customization", which is the opposite of
"mass production". To mass-produce a house means to build the same model many times in
order for it to be useful to many people.

Unfinished or expandable houses are buildings designed by architects but whose

inhabitants conclude the process, meaning they continue to build their homes. In this case
the architects can design cores or half-finished houses, planting the seed and leaving certain
guidelines. Thus a dwelling is not a finished product but is part of a process.

Flexibility and Variability

Housing flexibility and housing variability can be defined as the design of dwelling
structures with an understanding of the prospective development of the site as well as life
and social scenarios, and with the possibility of making appropriate changes in the living
environment.

Flexibility and variability enable one to change the living environment according to
the new requirements in the course of their existence. It can be applied to urban and
architectural design related to the actual and future needs of the people living there. In the
urban context it applies mainly to the structure of amenities of a city and community in order
to design specific areas for shops, services, offices, leisure and culture.

A variable apartment is a dwelling with a layout that allows for certain simple,
inexpensive modifications without changing the total area of the apartment. A variable
apartment allows the change of layout through inexpensive modifications to the overall
building.

A Flexible apartment is a type of flat that allows the adaptation of its layout to current
needs in a highly flexible but uncomplicated and effortless manner, without a change to the
building itself, such as in the use of sliding walls and a variety of mobile furniture elements.
The total area of the apartment remains unchanged. Such an apartment can be compared to
a theater scene that can change very quickly. Mobile furniture elements are generally used
for furnishing the day zone, which can eventually adapt to different situations.

Gated Communities

Gated communities comprise physical areas that are fenced or walled off from their
surroundings. The entrances to these areas are usually prohibited or controlled by means of
gates or similar physical obstacles.

Gated communities are by nature separate and enclosed areas, being isolated from
the broader urban environment and enclosed through physical barriers. Besides the main
purpose, which enables a specific lifestyle of a group within the enclosed area or to protect
the residents from possible intruders, gated communities reflect an urban entity that is
physically -- often socially and economically -- differentiated from the surrounding urban
environment.

Housing Amenities and Utilities

The terms “housing amenities” and “utilities” represent a very important part of
architectural and urban planning design.

In the architectural context it implies the items of everyday usage, which increase the
standard of living. Housing utilities are all the things that are necessary in order to live.
Water, electricity, heating, air conditioning, kitchen equipment, furniture, balconies, terraces,
garage, parking lots, etc., are what most people consider utilities when looking for a place to
live. Some items can be considered as „luxury“ because they aren‘t necessary for living,
such as cable TV, satellite, the Internet and telephone. They influence the quality of housing.

Impact of ICT on the Human Psyche

Innovations such as the World Wide Web and related technologies, including virtual
social networks, have emerged and dramatically expanded over the past 20 years.
Consequently, as new machines become part of our lives, we become more dependent to
them. Therefore, a daily living pattern within housing is affected by these virtual activities.

Two main parts are to be discussed in relation to human nature: human needs and
the mental map for housing spaces. The possibility of presence within the house is centred
on TVs and computers. It leads the users to be more alone with their virtual devices.
Consequently, this phenomenon changes the mental map in the human mind about one’s
housing environment and affects his/her living pattern.

Mixed Urban Functions as Factors of Proximity

Urban functional diversity is generally regarded as a condition for the reduction of

social distance by reducing spatial distance. The mix of functions is thus seen as a tool for
managing flows and relationships between spaces. The connection to urban planning and
housing diversity is obvious. Everyone recognizes the problems caused by mono-functional
spaces, which are land-locked and poorly accessible, resulting from "zoning" areas for
housing, industry or commercial use.
 The spatial dimension of urban development is the right scale where we can
adequately address and manage these flows and connections between places. Reflection on
the urban mix is a very topical issue. Urban mono functionality consumes more space in
urban development; it poses new constraints through economic, financial, regulatory and
environmental (land) pressures, thus motivating the production of smaller, more diverse
housing units.

Mixed-Use Housing

Mixed-Use Housing Development, also been known as “Compact Development”, is

not just a design/planning pattern that involves a multi-storey building whose ground floor is
made up of commercial units and other floors having residential facilities; instead, it is a
development that encompasses three or more significant revenue-producing and related
land uses whose closeness of proximity shortens trips, lessens dependence on automobiles
and encourages alternative modes of transportation such as walking, cycling and public
transportation.

Mixed-use development offers numerous benefits to its inhabitants. However, the

most frequently stated benefits of this development pattern are sustainability and compliance
with housing needs. Mixed-use may be developed at three scales, namely mixed-use
buildings, mixed-use parcels/sites and mixed-use walkable/transit areas.

Because housing is a very sensitive component of any town or city, the concept of
mixed use seeks to rediscover the vitality and attractiveness of town centers; recognize the
role of partnership in promoting affordable housing; and tackle the economic, environmental,
social and political problems of providing livable communities in contemporary cities.

Neighborhood

In a first sense, the term “neighborhood” -- herein being an area or district --

designates a part of the city that can be defined by its physical geography, history, housing
and architectural aspect or by its residential, industrial, commercial and administrative
functions.

In the latter sense, the notion of neighborhood means the place where people live.
The neighborhood represents then an intermediate space between the housing and the city,
a practical device that allows the link between what is the most intimate (the private space of
the housing) and what is the most unknown (the whole city). According to the individuals,
and according to their daily spatial practices and their social relationships, the neighborhood
can have vague, variable outlines. This neighborhood can be coincident with the street
frequented by the individual, as it can coincide with wider entities such as the city centre or
even the city as a whole.

Participatory Processes

Participatory processes are spaces for reflection where architects and inhabitants try
to reach a consensus. The architects contribute their knowledge about the built environment,
and the inhabitants contribute their personal experiences from living in different places.

Contemporary collective housing, usually homogeneous, is occupied by diverse

individuals, who often do not know each other or are unrelated. These individuals try to
distinguish themselves and reflect their identity by altering their domestic spaces. In the
participatory process, architects determine the similarities or common goals, as well as the
differences between the inhabitants of collective housing, so that they help them to create
living places that reflect their respective identities. By finding a common denominator, they
assist in defining the character of the community, which responds to the conventions of the
group. By finding the differences, they facilitate each inhabitant’s ability to personalize his or
her home.

Pattern

Housing conveys repetition and variation over time, at different scales (town,
building, and house) and periods (a lifetime, a generation, etc.). A housing type, repeated
throughout different generations, gives rise to a town structure. The repetition is not just
duplication, because it also conveys an adaptation to changing needs. Over the centuries,
vernacular housing has proceeded in this way: maintaining a particular way of building
throughout time, “a timeless way of building”, using the expression of Christopher Alexander
(1977).

Alexander gave the term “pattern” to the archetype, which in itself contains a set of
rules -- deeply embodied in the unconsciousness of people -- to be reproduced throughout
time. Because the rules are understood by the inhabitants, the process of repetition and
adaptation can be applied to the design and construction of the built environment generation
after generation, thereby determining a particular way of living and building that
characterizes a culture.

Proximity

Proximity is clearly about distance, but we should not simply define a distance as the
length between two points. Its meaning should widen and define proximity as a mix of social,
territorial, symbolic and physical aspects. For example, one can utilize the physical proximity
while experiencing a set of important social boundaries. This is exemplified in a housing
block where one lives close to neighbors but have no real social relationship. The opposite
situation can occur as well: living in a house with a surrounding garden and having a real
intense relationship with one’s neighbors. Likewise, we can notice the difference between
rural or more urbanized areas that affect the model of proximity: density, functional mix,
accessibility and the way of defining limits affects the reading of relative distances.

In other words, proximity does not refer to absolute values but is a relative issue,
lately in an increasing way. New technologies define new models of proximity, thereby
configuring relationships based on car traffic or public transport, wireless technologies,
eliminating distances. On the macro scale, air traffic also changes the way we inhabit the
contemporary landscape.

Reconversion and Regeneration

The concepts of reconversion and regeneration designate a state of transition for

spaces that have been abandoned or have undergone economic decline, such as religious,
military, rail road, harbor or industrial wastelands. These abandoned or economically
depressed spaces are the object of transformation today. Some become mono-functional
spaces as residential spaces and/or cultural spaces, whereas others become multifunctional
as residential, cultural and economic spaces, etc.
Social Mix

The social mix becomes a main theme in the new tastes for city and neighborhoods.
Planners have for many years endeavored to encourage neighborhoods, specifically those in
Western Europe and North America containing the appropriate social mix of residents along
with a variety of public policies, to achieve diversity among their residents. The image of the
”livable city” has thus become a key factor. The postindustrial cities have a growing interest
in marketing themselves as being built on a foundation of neighborhoods and therefore
being capable of harmoniously supporting a blend of incomes, cultures and lifestyles.

Social Diversity and Availability

Architecture and urban planning are part of the physical manifestations of a society,
being expressive of its values and resources. A city, as a complex system comprising a
multitude of elements, is thus generated in the course of a city development. The
phenomenon of architecture and urban planning should reflect social diversity in providing
living environment forms that are socially generated.

Social housing diversity and housing availability are significant factors in the
phenomenon of city formation; they introduce a very wide scope of problems connected with
the social and economic aspects of life.

The understanding and implementation of social differences in the planning of living

environments helps to fulfill the various desires of humankind in the process of constructing
dwelling forms, thereby contributing to the examination of these forms for various social
groups. Social diversity and availability are basic parameters of the scenario of social quality
in the scope of effective housing, taking into account the different social profiles of the
dwellers.

Suburban Housing

The word “suburb” generally refers to a residential area. It may be a residential area
of a city or a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city. Most
suburbs have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods. Suburbs grew in the
nineteenth and twentieth century’s as a result of improved rail (and later road) transport.
Suburbs tend to proliferate around cities that have an abundance of adjacent flat land.
Suburban housing is a phenomenon that occurs in the process of town development,
substantially affecting the characteristics of the living environment.

The current trends represent the two different directions of the construction of new
residential areas. One focuses on the extensive form of construction at the edges of cities
and rural settlements without a comprehensive settlement of the services and amenities, and
the second focuses on the densification of existing residential structures that were built in the
past, in contact with the existing areas.

System

Housing can never be seen in isolation. It is always part of a larger ensemble: a

settlement, a city and the built environment. Considered as an object, a house is always in
relationship with other elements: houses and buildings, the surrounding spaces and the
landscape. In order to address housing planning and design, we cannot lose sight of the fact
that a house is always part of a greater assemblage of interrelated elements.

An organization of parts within a whole is usually understood as a structure. A

system, on the other hand, is a structure with a functional purpose. A structure is a stable
organization, while a system is a dynamic set of interactions. A systems-oriented approach
to housing conveys not only an understanding of its structural condition but of the functional
purpose of the system in which housing is embedded. For example, we can see housing as
part of an ecosystem aimed at reducing energy consumption or as part of an industrialized
system whose goal is to produce the maximum number of housing units at a minimal cost.
The notion of a system is equally applicable to living beings, physical reality and abstract
thinking. In fact, systems-oriented thinking blurs the separation between these realms,
between the natural and the artificial, and between the physical and the abstract (von
Bertalanffy, 1968).

Universal Design

”Universal design shouldn’t be a matter of choice, it is a moral necessity”.

The term “universal design” was coined by the late Ronald L. Mace, from the College
of Design, North Carolina State University, USA. In 1988 he defined the term in the following
way: “Universal design is an approach to design that incorporates products as well as
building features which, to the greatest extent possible, can be used by everyone. Universal
design is a simple concept, but one that requires a fundamental shift in thinking.

Traditionally, design has catered to averages, creating a world in which few people
can actually thrive. Universal design strives to encompass the widest possible ranges of
size, strength and capability, doing so without the need for adaptation or specialized design.
The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making products,
communications and the built environment usable by as many people as possible.”