Personal Space, THe behavioral Basis of Design

by Robert Sommer

Widely regarded as the classic text on user-centered design of public buildings and spaces, this work studies how people relate to the designed space around them and how the design of that space can affect their behavior. (Architecture)

Genres: Design, Architecture, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written primarily from an architectural point of view, but easily translatable to other professions.
A get interesting read to understand that life is made up of comonent parts and there is no formula.
Interesting insights into how our environment encourages us to spend more or become more social beings.
Worth a read to understand the world around us

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consulting users of a space. Perceptual difference is not the same as seeing things with a different set of eyes depending on what social role you occupy in an environment. There are people in society that sometimes live on the fringes, such as schizophrenics/mental patients, the elderly in homes, marginalized underworld that will have different desires - such as privacy. But Sommer asks us to remember that people can adapt to anything and that what's important is the type of society one wants to design and that the hierarchy of needs and interdependencies, should be looked at as an ecosystem rather than from the p.o.v. of isolated individuals and groups. "There is no situation that is ideal for everyone all of the time. This is the true meaning of Utopia as no place" (utopia coined by Thomas More as "ou" not "topos" place). Designers need concepts relevant to both physical form and human behavior. Also he reminds us that there isn't one clear rule for bars, schools, etc, because cultural rules and many other factors effect a situation. For example, in the US, people in bars may often drink alone and then leave. In Britain, one can drink, eat, play games, watch sports, sing - the custom when a stranger comes is for each to buy the other a drink - its a very social atmosphere in other words. (In Canada at the time this way written, one must be sitting to drink and singing is forbidden!)

Many institutional settings, because they don't have to follow the rules of marketing with their purchases, won't consider people's preferences on furniture or room layout for example. There is a problem since these preferences may have value but don't always clearly show a one to one cause and effect statistically between grades/performance/etc and furniture type. (Along these lines, he talks about misunderstanding of the Hawthorne Effect."But people can feel a difference, although they can't always describe what caused the effect (ex: bad lighting, crowded room, etc). People do tell a lot about their personalities based on where they sit in a room, and their level of participation is affected by their seat. Privacy, interestingly is mostly felt through visual protection, even if auditory annoyances abound (this from a study on dorms where there is much accessible data, and from army barracks)

Quote about bars: "A bar allows for the transformation of loneliness into alienation with the availability of oblivion through alcohol." This made me interested to learn more about the difference between loneliness and alienation.

"The long range question is not so much what sort of environment we want, but what sort of man we want" (This through me into introspective epiphanies, as well.)

I'd be interested to read an updated book along these lines, as this one is from 1969.

[Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why do people space themselves from others, and how? What boundaries allow for this in certain environments? What does it mean to see people sit apart from each other? This is one of the most interesting books about this topic out there. Heavily recommended.