Architecture and the Environment Paper

PSY/460
Tuesday 6, 2012

Design Paper
When discussion of the design of any building, it is a balancing act with the environment and the material that will be used to build buildings. The very core of building design is to find a solution between the affects upon of the building and the environment. According to Arkkelin and Veitch, there are two basic types of buildings, commercial and residence, are designed in order to meet the needs of the clients as well: requirements, needs, and activities which are the commercial and residential (1995).
Designing a commercial build needs to address the concern of serving the general public, corporate aspect, and to fulfill the needs of the needs of the society: like schools, prisons, and hospitals to name a few.
Taking a closer look at the overall reasoning behind the design of a commercial building is two sided. The first is how the building needs to operate; the building must offer an easy avenue t atients, inmates, merchandise as well as the design must be to facilitate a smooth operation of the building. The second aspect is what the building is offering and maintaining security, privacy, and yet at the same time the means for the ability to interact with others. On the other side of the coin is the design of residential, strives to streamline the functioning of the private needs behind close doors of the residence. This paper will address the differences between the areas referred to above with more detail as well as the floor plans and the over all thoughts of designing these two types of buildings.
Designing Commercial Buildings
Today’s hospitals are designed to a set standard across the US which is the ideal for consistency and efficiency, yet simultaneously not offering privacy for the staff and the patients which is promoting the environment of depersonalization of individuals within (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). In spite of the uniformity of the hospitals floor plan across the US, the buildings are designed to maintain multiple operations all at the same time, such as surgery, therapy, rehabilitation, and confinement. There is a codependency between the operations and the means needs to maintain these operations such as staff, administrative staff, supporting staff, visitors, doctors, nurses, many different types of techs, as well as radiologists. The overall goal for designing buildings is be able to reconcile the needs of the clients and the architectural needs of the environment, the diversity by nature of the hospital(s), offers multiple areas to overcome by the designers.
Privacy
The balancing act between the users and the environment of the nurses station in proximity of the patience’s room. The need for the station to be located closer the patients’ room is vital to the care of the patients’ immediate needs as well as emergencies. By locating the station closer to the rooms the faster the response of the nurses to the needs of the patients yet at the same time the privacy of both the staff and the patients is greatly deceased (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). It is vital that there is a balance that can be found between the locations of the stations and the privacy that is needed by both sides. Nurses requires some privacy in order to complete other tasks that are asked of them as well as the patients in order to be able to socialize and it is vital to the patients rehabilitation.
Lighting
There are studies that show that the level of lights and the hue are connected to the patients’ recovery time and the satisfaction (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). Comparing patients in rooms with windows to those without after surgery, rooms without are not and recovering as quickly as well as more complications compared to rooms with windows. There are more that needs to be considered concerning lighting, such lighting needs to be bright enough to support clear visibility yet not so bright to cause squinting or glare. Further more the use of fluorescent lights provide a more blending of the light and are more efficient in using energy than compared to the incandescent lights. The continuing climate changes are issues that are steam within the realm of the geo politics (Thompson, 2010). The UN and other government agencies a continually growing concerning the desire for improving the means to offer energy efficiency in both the commercial and residential buildings. The fluorescent lights offer the balance that is needed in commercial building like hospitals and the economy.
Designing Residential Buildings Within the designing of residential building there is a shift. Whether it is due because of family make up or the economic factor a leading the building in more urban setting in the later part of the 20th century (Steven, 2002). In spite of the draw to the "urbanization" the single family homes is the preferred by the hardworking Americans either by practice or in preference. When designing residential buildings it is vital to have a separation between the place and the space (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). Physiological and psychological aspect that humans coin the place within the residents and the physical area of the house is referring to the space. The individual's needs and the environment need to be balanced out with these two aspects of the areas within the residency.
Privacy
One of the driving factors in families moving to the urbanization in the later part of the 20th century is for the idea of territory and the privacy that the urban living brings (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). In the setting of the urban single family home there are byproducts that occur, such as great distances from other houses and termination of interaction with neighbors in a social setting. Also, the design of the house, balancing out privacy and the availability of interactions of other family members is reached. Residential houses have two types of floor plans in general, and open floor plan and a closed one. An open floor plan consists of few walls and large gathering areas in order to promote social interaction among the family members. A closed floor plan does not have any large gathering areas but more walls in order to promote privacy and separation among the family members.
Lighting
Within the realm of the uncomplicated and the ordinary building style designers took into account the environment in building these buildings (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). In the older time of building these types of residences building the designer took into account the travel of the sun and how to properly ventilate these building in order to have the best lighting and the climate. As the advancements in technology through time evolved the ability to control the climate and the light became easier and more efficient. As a result the manner in how designs were considered began to sway to becoming more environmental friendly in building houses. It has only been over the last decade the concept of solar designs going back to the location house in ensuring that it is the direct path of the sun. Regaining the use of the sun within the design of houses is vital to becoming eco friend environment. Using the sun to generate power, heating and hot water is a step into the future as designers are drawing from the far past examples.
Conclusion

It is quite noticeable that the concerns between the residential and commercial builds are very different in purpose and floor plans, at the same time it can also be noticed that there is a common thread the runs a midst both. Looking that over all design hurtle is the relationship between the patients and the staff. When the efficiency is increased because of the distance between the two locations is decreased, the sense of privacy is lessened for each side. In turn causes the feeling of the inability of socialization. Just as with residential, a single family unit, the ample space between houses offers the increased privacy that cannot be found in multi family units. Within both the residential and the commercial building the solar design is vital. At hospitals solar design aids to the recovery of the patients in residential units it aids to become more eco friendly and more efficient. The overall idea for both building designs is to ensure there is adequate light source. Not so much it blinding and glares. Rather just enough to promote ideal seeing.

References
Arkkelin, D., Veitch, R. (1995). Environmental psychology: An international perspective, 1e. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Steven, T. (2002). The urbanism and English residential design guidance: A review. Journal of Urban Design, 7(3), 353-376
Thompson, A. (2010). Rational design in motion: Uncertainty and flexibility in the global climate regime. European Journal of International Relations, 16(2), 269-296.