ensis wood processing the joint forces of csiro & scion wood in the interior environment...

Ensis Wood Processing

THE JOINT FORCES OF CSIRO & SCION


Wood in the interior environment

Subjective meaning revealed using a non-prescriptive sorting methodology

Bradley G. Ridoutt, Shuzo Sueyoshi, Roderick D. Ball,

Yoshifumi Miyazaki and Takeshi Morikawa


People and place

Dovey (1985) describes:

“… a certain bonding or mergence of person and place such that the place takes its identity from the dweller and

the dweller takes his or her identity from the place.

There is an integrity, a connectedness between the dweller and the dwelling”


Brunswick lens model

Cue 1

Cue 2

Cue 3

Cue 4

Person Observer

Cue utilizatio

nValidity of cues


Impression formation

People have a tendency to form evaluative judgments of others based on limited information

Part of everyday lifeAssists with functioning in the

worldCulturally universalCan be surprisingly accurate

even in situations of zero acquaintance

These judgments can guide behavior, perhaps without our awareness


Interiors and exteriors

1. Reinforced concrete house with texture finish2. Wood house by Japanese carpenter with cement wall panel3. Wood house with Japanese wood cladding4. Reinforced concrete house with exterior tiled finish5. Wood house by 2x4 method with cement wall panel6. Wood house with imported wood cladding

MATURITY

INTERPERSONAL STYLE

CONFIDENCE

youthful

low

high

cold

warm

mature


Issues of methodology

Restrictive explorationsConstrain the concepts people can reveal by providing them a set

of terms to which they can respondDriven by the conceptual view of the researcherEg. Semantic differentials, standard questionnairesProvide simplified data analysis

Open-ended, non-prescriptive explorationsAllow the person to frame their own answersThe individual’s conceptual system can be expressedAcknowledge that each individual can have a unique way of

construing the worldBest suited to studies of subjective or personal meaning


Non-prescriptive sorting method

Does not impose a view of the likely structure and content of an individual’s conceptual system on the interviewee

A

B C D

E

1

2 4

3


Non-prescriptive sorting method

AB

C

D

E

1

2

4

3

A

B

C

D

E

1

2 43A

B

C

D

E

1

2

4

3

3 groups 2 groups 6 groups


Participants

28 students from a major Japanese National University Interviews in Japanese language by native Japanese speakers Background variables

12 Males, 16 FemalesAged between 18 and 24 (1 exception) Japanese ethnicity 11 different Colleges 19 different Prefectures (north and south, urban and rural)Childhood home

Detached family home (22), apartment (6)

Urban (6), suburban (15), village (7) Rationale offered to participants

A study of what people think and feel about organizations based on their interior designs


Images


Multidimensional scaling analysis


First interview question

After sorting, for each group participants were asked:

“What do you think it would be like to work at these companies?”

Size of organization Small/med; large 12

Originality of the organisation and its business

Traditional; pioneering 9

Capability of the workers Average; elite 8

Workplace atmosphere Calm; busy; negative; positive

16

Relations between workers Formal; friendly 14

Classification scheme Categories % of data

544 units of text


Small/medium

Correlations with MDS variables

Offices without wood

Offices with wood

negativeelite workers

large

traditional

average workers

calm

friendly

busy

positive

pioneering

formal

small/ medium


Second interview question

Question 1

“What do you think it would be like to work at these companies?”

Question 2

“What gives you that impression?”

Wood Warm, calm, high quality, homely, bright, natural, luxurious, soft, profound

Metal Impressive, modern

Concrete/stone Hard, cold, lifeless

Glass Light, spacious

Carpet Warm

Artificial materials

Artificial, cold

Material Descriptors

58 units of text referring to materials


Color analysis: Hue

Green

-35.0

-25.0

-15.0

-5.0

5.0

15.0

25.0

35.0

-15.0 -10.0 -5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 Red

Blue

Yellow


Color analysis: value and chroma

Vivid

Pale

40.0

45.0

50.0

55.0

60.0

65.0

70.0

75.0

80.0

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0

Dark

CHROMA

VALUE

Grayish


MDS variables and color

Value (lightness) 0.31 0.10

Chroma (saturation)

- 0.65 -0.43

Hue (Green-Red) -0.61 -0.04

Hue (Blue-Yellow) -0.72 -0.31

Correlation

MDS variable 1 MDS variable 2

Significance level 0.01

Significance level 0.001


Limitations

Based on a limited socio-demographic grouping

Photo-questionnaire does not capture the full human experience

Principal component type methods are exploratory, and interpretation is subjective

No assessment of the validity of social attributions

Correlation not causality


Summary

Social attributions: people do indeed “read” a lot of information about people and organisations from the built environment

When participants sorted organisations based on photographs of their office interiors, the display of wood in the interior environment was a major differentiating factor

Interiors featuring wood products tended to be associated with friendly, calm, small-medium sized and pioneering firms


Summary

Interiors featuring wood were described as: warm, calm, high quality, homely, bright, natural, luxurious, soft, profound

Sorting was also correlated with chroma and hue (especially blue-yellow)

These findings are consistent with the view that materials are seen as embodying unique character or “personality” and these qualities are in some way conveyable to the people/organizations who are identified with those materials


Practical implications

Wood products have a history of presentation to the market as commodities (materials), using standard profiles and grades (defined by the resource as much as by the needs of the end user)

Products (in the true sense) are a bundle of physical, service and symbolic attributes that satisfy consumers’ wants and needs

The intangible qualities are critical to a transition from a commodity to a product culture


Practical implications

Wood is not just a functional material. Wood products are rich in symbolic and social meaning of relevance to end-users

Physical attributes often core. Intangible attributes often value-adding

Opportunities for new product and market development:

Strategies based on self presentation theory

Strategies based on social comparison theory


Acknowledgements

Dr Takashi NakaiJapan Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute

Dr Takashi HandaUniversity of Tsukuba

Royal Society of New Zealand Bilateral Research Activities Programme

New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology

ensis wood processing the joint forces of csiro & scion wood in the interior environment...

Documents

wood house

dwelling slide

awareness slide

japanese wood cladding

personal meaning slide

interior designs slide

takeshi morikawa slide

ensis wood