understanding people in buildings

Understanding People in Buildings Sailer, February 2017@kerstinsailer

Understanding People in BuildingsDr Kerstin Sailer

Reader in Social and Spatial Networks

Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

Behavioural Architecture Exchange BAX, Kolding, Denmark, 24 February 2017

Understanding People in Buildings Sailer, February 2017

Buildings… (and People)

What architects do when they design…


Buildings… (and People)


Buildings and People

Scott Berkun

“Architects are notorious for

designing and disappearing,

never returning to see how

their choices worked or failed

after the building opens.

”



Jon Gertner (2012) in the New York Times on

Bell Labs building in New Jersey (opened in

1941):

“Traveling the hall’s length without

encountering a number of

acquaintances, problems,

diversions and ideas was almost

impossible. A physicist on his way

to lunch in the cafeteria was like a

magnet rolling past iron filings.

”



Steve Jobs on Pixar:

“If a building doesn’t encourage

[collaboration], you’ll lose a lot of

innovation and the magic that’s

sparked by serendipity. So we

designed the building to make people

get out of their offices and mingle in

the central atrium with people they

might not otherwise see.

”



Finding hard evidence? A google search…

Finding hard evidence? A google scholar search…


Behavioural Architecture – Towards an Interdisciplinary Science

PEOPLE

ORGANISATION

SPACE

EN

CO

UN

TE

RS

CO

MM

UN

ITY

BEHAVIOURAL

ARCHI-

TECTURE

ArchitecturePsychology

Neuroscience

Sociology

Organisation Science


Behavioural Architecture – Towards an Interdisciplinary Science

PEOPLE

ORGANISATION

SPACE

BEHAVIOURAL

ARCHI-

TECTURE

Architecture

Building

layouts and

social

interactions


Robin Evans: “If anything is described by an architectural

plan, it is the nature of human relationships.”

Evans (1997): Figures, Doors and Passages

Behavioural ArchitectureBehavioural Architecture


Family Prayers by Samuel Butler (1864)

Coleshill House by Sir Roger Pratt (1650-1667)Villa Capra ‘La Rotunda’ by Andrea Palladio (1567-1592)

Madonna dell’Impannata by Raphael (1513-1514)

RE

NA

ISS

AN

CE

19T

HC

EN

TU

RY

Inter-

connected

rooms

The birth

of the

corridor

‘habitual

gregariousness,

passion, carnality

and sociality’

‘society aimed at

avoiding human

contact’

Behavioural Architecture Evans (1997): Figures, Doors and Passages


Behavioural Architecture

Two main characteristics of a building (socially):

• Distinguish the inside from the outside and thus drawing boundaries and controlling

access

• Mechanism of generating and constraining patterns of encounter and avoidance, i.e.

bringing together or separating certain groups of people

Patterns of Usage at the British Library


Background: A Brief Introduction to Space Syntax

Conceived in 1970’s at UCL by Bill Hiller, Julienne Hanson and colleagues as theory to think

about relationship between spatial structure and social life

Is there any relationship between the spatial design of cities or buildings, and the way they

work socially?



Understanding basic functions of space: access and control

(Hill

ier

1996

)



Spatial configuration:

The way in which spatial elements are

put together to form an interconnected

system of spaces

(Hill

ier

1996

)



Analysis of the relative location of single spaces within the wider system of connections

10

01

1

1

1

22

233

100

1

2

2

3

3

4

4

5

6

Total depth: 16

Integrated Segregated

Total depth: 30



Regular grid to create isovists

Floor plan Syntax model:

Strategic visibility

IntegratedS

egregated

Constructing a

visibility graph

(VGA)


Integrated spaces:

livelier and frequented

by more people ↔

Segregated spaces:

lesser frequentation

First 10 minutes of museum visit of 100 people (Hillier et al 1996)Strategic visibility on the ground floor of Tate Britain

IntegratedS

egregated



Understanding People in Buildings

Libraries

Hospitals Offices

Schools


Libraries

Diversity and temporal dynamics of usage of the

British Library, ‘multiplicities of occupation’ (Groak

1992)

Sailer, Kerstin (2015): The dynamics and diversity of space

use in the British Library; A|Z Journal of the Faculty of

Architecture, ITU, Vol 12, No 3, 23-39


Libraries: Diversity and Dynamics in the British Library

Spatial analysis of the British Library

Connectivity Integration


Libraries: Diversity and Dynamics in the BL

Behavioural differences by spatial quality and between weekday & weekend usage patterns

Weekends:

People working on laptops /

laptops & reading / reading /

sitting: smaller and more

integrated spaces;

Talking in much more integrated

spaces

→ Seeking socialisation

opportunities and more relaxed,

buzzy atmosphere on weekends


Offices

Comparative analysis of interaction patterns

across different knowledge-intensive

industries

Sailer, Kerstin; Koutsolampros, Petros; Zaltz Austwick,

Martin; Varoudis, Tasos; Hudson-Smith, Andy (2016):

Measuring Interaction in Workplaces, In: Dalton N,

Varoudis T, Schnadelbach H and Wiberg M (eds):

Architecture and Interaction, Springer series Human-

Computer Interaction


Offices

Distribution of interactions – the myth of ‘bumping into people in the corridor’


Offices

Analysing interaction density and visual mean depth in a single representation


Hospitals

Comparison of out-patient clinics in a

hospital in the Netherlands and Canada

Pachilova, Rosica and Kerstin Sailer (2014): Evidence-

Based Design: The Effect of Hospital Layouts on the

Caregiver-Patient Interfaces, Proceedings of the

Design4Health Conference, Sheffield, 174-184


Hospitals

HOSPITAL A [CA]

Nur

ses

Cle

rks

HOSPITAL B [NL]

Doc

tors

Av CONN: 491, av MD 2.19

Av CONN: 140,

av MD 6.04

HOSPITAL A [CA]

HOSPITAL B [NL]

5 out-patient clinics investigated in

each case; example: Cardiology


Hospitals

Space creates opportunities for communication

HO

SP

ITA

L B

[N

L]

64%

31%

26%

36%

69%

74%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Charting Galley

Corridor

Exam

unintentional intentional

Location of

communication

Unintentional= 44%

Intentional= 56%

Intentional

Unintentional

Physicians

Nurses

Clerks


Schools

Development of a theoretical framework to

analyse school building in relation to

pedagogy and processes of teaching and

learning

Sailer, Kerstin (2015): The Spatial and Social Organisation

of Teaching and Learning: The case of Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry; In: Karimi, Kayvan et al (eds):

Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax

Symposium, 34:1-34:17


Schools: A wonderful example of a school building...

…and how it shapes human relationships, learning, teaching and sociability.

8 movies

20 hours of watching

Observed and categorised 418 episodes of learning

Learning: an activity or process of

gaining knowledge or skill by studying,

practicing, being taught or

experiencing something.


Schools: Analysing the spatial structure and logic of Hogwarts

Hand-drawn map by Joanne K Rowling Plan constructed by fan community


Schools: Analysing the spatial structure and logic of Hogwarts

Full Space Syntax model

Visibility Graph (average Mean Depth = 11.4)Integrated Segregated


Schools: Pedagogy at Hogwarts

Relationship between teacher

and taught / among teachers:

‘Strong Framing’ (Bernstein 1973)


Schools: Learning at Hogwarts

48% of learning: Public spaces (corridors, the

Great Hall, courtyards, Quidditch pitch, grounds).

Only 10% of learning takes place in

classrooms.


Schools: Sociability at Hogwarts

Encounters resulting from physical proximity are reinforced by transpatial

solidarities: correspondence models (Hillier and Hanson 1984)

“Your house will be

like your family”

(Prof McGonagoll)


Understanding

People in Buildings

“Culturally and socially, space is never simply the inert background of our material existence. It

is a key aspect of how societies and cultures are constituted in the real world, and, through this

constitution, structured for us as ‘objective’ realities. Space is more than a neutral framework for social and cultural forms. It is built into those very forms. Human behaviour does not

simply happen in space. It has its own spatial forms. Encountering, congregating,

avoiding, interacting, dwelling, teaching, eating, conferring are not just activities that happen in

space. In themselves they constitute spatial patterns.” (Hillier 1996, p.29)


Dr Kerstin Sailer

Reader in Social and Spatial Networks

Space Syntax Laboratory

Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

22 Gordon Street

London WC1H 0QB

United Kingdom

Thank you!

[email protected]

@kerstinsailer

http://spaceandorganisation.org/

http://tinyurl.com/kerstinsailer