Anon OpinArchitectural prizes shouldn't be awarded till 10 years after buildings open - then ask folk who use, maintain & operate it how successful it is. I work in a shiny building that won prizes 10 yrs ago & it's a maintenance nightmare with no storage that costs fortune to run
Just Boby@anon_opin I ENDORSE THIS MESSAGE AS A WHOLE!!
Jen@anon_opin I am put in mind of the swanky new PFI hospitals.
The one I'm most familiar with is Carlisle. It has a huge, glass-roofed atrium. It was beautiful on the plans. But temperature control is impossible, because it's basically a giant greenhouse. So much space was given to it that the corridors are difficult to get beds down. Everln light rain makes it impossible for reception staff to hear phonecalls.
And it's already crumbling, just 25 years on.
Phil@anon_opin @CiaraNi Indeed, I often used to say that the first aim of architects was to win prizes!!
Ciara@DrPKR @anon_opin I've worked in a few 'state-of-the-art' buildings that were designed as architectural flagships, but full of features that didn't take basic human behaviour and needs into account so (for example) big fancy 'collaborative' spaces were never used and became wastelands or overly technological solutions, like temperature settings, didn't work. One of the buildings won an award. :-)
Professor Kerstin Sailer@CiaraNi @DrPKR @anon_opin
I so wish this was the case. It runs all the way down into education, where we need to teach aspiring young architects how to engage properly with users
#ArchitectureOfCare
I so wish this was the case. It runs all the way down into education, where we need to teach aspiring young architects how to engage properly with users
#ArchitectureOfCare
@CiaraNi @DrPKR @anon_opin
This is what we're up against - architects considering users as a threat
Taken from the slides of my inaugural professorial lecture in March 2024, available to view here:
Professor Kerstin Sailer Inaugural Lecture
@kerstinsailer @CiaraNi @anon_opin I always find it interesting to compare architecture and information systems. In many ways Information Systems have taken the role of the user more seriously in recent years and have tried to design systems to meet the user needs rather than to force them to use imperfect systems. Of course this is not always the case - just look at the Post Office Horizon disaster.
@DrPKR As an end user, there are definitely similarities in the experience of using both architectural spaces and technology where the designers didn't seem to have any notion of everyday human behaviour. Though in both cases, the standards have improved greatly in recent years, to be fair.
@kerstinsailer @anon_opin
@kerstinsailer @anon_opin
@DrPKR @CiaraNi @anon_opin
That is very interesting indeed.
Have you by any chance read 'The year without pants' where Scott Berkun describes his time at WordPress and discusses the future of work (long before the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home as the temporary norm and hybrid work)?
He compares architecture and technology a lot.
I've written a blog post about this topic 10 years ago (almost exactly) but it's still very timely
https://spaceandorganisation.org/2014/07/11/is-designing-software-like-designing-a-building/
@kerstinsailer @CiaraNi @anon_opin Interesting presentation, thank you for sharing it. You outlined the interaction between architect, client and user with the user often being ignored. With information systems this triangle is system designer, manager and user. What unfortunately often happens is that the managers tell the designer what the users need, but the users are not asked what they really do and also how it could be improved.
@kerstinsailer The 'user' as 'positive threat' - very interesting, thank you for sharing these. @DrPKR @anon_opin
Phil Thane ✅@anon_opin
Hear hear. I recently visited Milton Keynes theatre. The foyer has floor-ceiling glass with mezzanines to reach different parts of the auditorium. Unfortunately no-one can reach the glass to clean it!
@Janeishly
Hear hear. I recently visited Milton Keynes theatre. The foyer has floor-ceiling glass with mezzanines to reach different parts of the auditorium. Unfortunately no-one can reach the glass to clean it!
@Janeishly
Ken_H@anon_opin The Heritage Medical Research Building at the University of Alberta in Edmonton Alberta is a good example of this. Behind the massive windows are… pipes. Pipes for ventilation, plumbing, various gasses like oxygen & nitrogen, etc. The windows for people to, you know, look out and see the sun are both small and behind all the pipes. It’s not a very nice building to work in.
Picture from Google maps.
Kenny Kravitz@anon_opin Yeah. My organisation has just moved from a grim, dark, 70s concrete tower with inadequate HVAC to a beautiful brand new glass, steel and brick structure with inadequate HVAC.