Murphy, Hands 1

Chris Murphy, Richie Hands

Architectural Programming

Research Methodologies: Angelfish

The approach to this assignment was that of an annotated bibliography. Through
the beginning of this semester we as a studio have accumulated a multitude of
information that can be applied to our studio project as well as future investigations.
The annotated bibliography was a way to record our sources and what we pulled
from each source as key points. In this way the annotated bibliography acts not only
as a formal record of our research but a tool for us to reference in planning future
presentations or for better internalizing the information. We also felt that
representing our research in this way allowed for multiple readings of the
information to help in making relevancies between sources that would help support
our case for Ideation’s relocation to the New Buffalo site.

Brand, Stewart. How Buildings Work: What Happens After They

Are Built. Penguin Books LTD, Middlesex, England. Copyright,
1994
A book that covers the topic of Building as an intrinsic part how time and use affects
building and building type. Brand also emphasizes the role of Post Occupancy
Evaluation and how this can teach us how to learn from ideas that didn’t work and
emphasize things that did work. “An adaptive building has to allow slippage
between the differently-paced systems of Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space
plan, and Stuff” (p. 20). The precedent of the MIT’s Legendary Building 20 showed
the utility that can be had out of a simple open planned building affording
adaptability. Also the emphasis of stairwells, atriums, shared entrances to afford the
crossing of paths of people from different disciplines (p. 52).

Carey, Benedict. "Forget What You Know About Good Study

Habits." New York Times. New York Times, 6 Sept. 2010. Web. 12
Sept. 2010.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?
pagewanted=1
‘Benedict’s article challenges our previously established notions of important study
habits: “instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where
a person studies improves retention”, changing location can improve retention and
“So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than
focusing intensely on a single thing”, hints at the importance frequent sharing of
information of people from different disciplines or projects.’ Also:
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“The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the
background sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether
those perceptions are conscious.” These notions could ultimately help point us in
directions of creating spaces which afford “creative” environments”. Spaces that
help retain information that was shared among colleagues perhaps.

“For instance, many study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a
study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take their work. The research finds
just the opposite. In one classic 1978 experiment, psychologists found that college
students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms — one
windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view on a courtyard — did far
better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room. Later
studies have confirmed the finding, for a variety of topics.

Hasirci, Deniz and Demirkan, Halime. “Understanding the Effects

of Cognition in Creative Decision Making: A creativity Model for
Enhancing the Design Studio Process”. Bilkent University.
Creativity Research Journal. 2001, Vol. 19, Nos 2-3, 259-271.
In trying to uncover the process of creative design, this paper investigates the
processes used by students involved in a design project and gauging ‘creativity’
based on the various tactics used. They refer to the 5 R’s: Readiness, Reception,
Reflection, Revelation, and Recreation. “Sketching and seeing oneself actually
interacting with the reality created in the mind are significant skills for designers
that aid external representation” …”representation can range from the writing of
related keywords to a form achieved by folding paper” (p.262).

“The highest correlation between process and overall creativity (r=.88) (p.266). This
shows how important process really is in determining the quality of the end product.
Showing a comparison of Haworth’s current next to our intended process would
provide a strong argument if we can show how our new designed process is
effective.

“The issues that make the student work more efficiently were mentioned as:
inspirational ideas, an environment without interruptions, more time and less
pressure of deadlines, research, critiques, television, design magazines, a warmer
environment with less pressure that is nevertheless disciplined, and drawing more
sketches” (p.268)

More observation time was correlated to improved creativity (the early stages).
“The student who has revived the lowest total creativity score has spent the least
observation time.

“Furthermore, group work, inspiring students to personalize their studios, and

making them aware of criticism techniques about both their own work and their
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classmates may also enrich the creative process and the products that come out as
a result of that” (p.270)

www.TED.com; Brown, Tim. Serious Play Conference 2008. Filmed

May 2008; Posted Nov 2008. © TED Conferences, LLC
Tim Brown is the CEO of the “innovation and design” firm IDEO-taking an approach
to design that digs deeper than the surface. Playful Exploration, Playful Building,
and Role Play are important aspects of play used by successful design. Rules of
when and how to play exist and it’s important to be attentive of how to transition
these modes of play and non-play. You can be serious and play.

“We need trust to play and we need trust to be creative”

Exploration: going for quantity

Building: Think with your hands

Role play: act it out, create empathy for the situations in which one designs

www.TED.com; Johnson, Steve. “Where Good Ideas Come From”

TEDGlobal 2010, Filmed Jul 2010; Posted Sep 2010. © TED
Conferences, LLC
Steve Johnson discusses the “creative environment”. Johnson has found that
the coffee house has played an important role in spurring creativity. The
coffee house affords the opportunity of people from multiple disciplines to
share space and share ideas and influence each other; the ultimate network.

Cranz, Galen. The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design.

W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 500 5th Avenue, New York, N.Y.
Galen discusses how the key to providing the most effective environment for
people is one that affords movement. Not sticking to a single piece of
furniture but varying your body position. “Use a variety of postures,
including lying down, standing, squatting, and crawling” (p. 187).

“lie down on a firm surface so that the spine can extend itself and the rib
cage can open out against this resistant plane”…”This helps the lower back
release, thereby easing lower back strain”(p. 188).

This reading overall can provide a starting place for our development of
furniture and space design at the human scale as well as what type of
materials we might want to use.
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Paciuk, Monica. “The Role of Personal Control of the Environment

in Thermal Comfort and Satisfaction at the Workplace”. National
Building Research Institute Technion, Haifa, Israel. 1990.
“The degree to which employees perceive having control over thermal
conditions at their workspace greatly enhanced their satisfaction with the
thermal environment… However the exercise of control had a small negative
effect on satisfaction” (p.310).

This article tested workspace satisfaction in reference to thermal comfort.

What was found was that the largest determinant for satisfaction was
correlated to the level of perceived control. Simply the idea that one has
control over their environment was more important than the actual degree
temperature. Also what was interesting was that the act of actually having to
adjust the temperature decreased satisfaction with thermal comfort unless it
was paired with the idea of being environmentally conscious.

Lubow, Arthur. "Inspiration: Where Does It Come From?" New

York Times. New York Times, 3 Nov. 2003. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/magazine/inspiration-
where-does-it-come-from.html?scp=1&sq=where%20does
%20inspiration%20come%20from&st=cse>.
This article was used to try to find something that actually pertains to inspiration
and if it was possible to create a physical space or object to help encourage
inspiration with our architecture. As it turns out, without much surprise, it is
extremely hard to gage where inspiration actually derives from as it is different for
every person. It could be a painting, an object, something in nature, and anything
really. It only becomes inspiration when you are thriving to make something better.
So this idea relates extremely closely to what Haworth does currently and we want
to make sure that we don’t eliminate this important aspect. Jeff Reuschele even said
that he is inspired by physical objects, so we knew that there is something to this
idea inspiration.

When applied to our architecture we created multiple ways of viewing the site and
very different heights as well, from below the house, at house/ground level and
above ground level. By doing this we create multiple ways of experiencing the site
and nature so we have at the very least the natural elements for inspiration. We
also have the art work and the art collected by Roger Brown for further inspiration
as it is multiple mindsets put together in one collection as well as other disciplines
to get another field of view. Along with displaying the art and collection of Roger
Brown we also have the prototypes and past products of Haworth on display for
 Murphy, Hands 5

further inspiration as well as a chronology of their history. All of these aspects

together allow for multiple sources for inspiration to cater to multiple people and
personalities as well as the ability for a combination of sources to afford the
possibility of the “ta da!” moment at work.

“Vitalizing effects of being outdoors and nature” by Richard M.

Ryan, Netta Weinstein, Jessey Bernstein, Kirk Warren Brown, Louis
Mistretta and Maryle’ne Gagne
This article is very important to our site as it is directly in nature and surrounded by
it. The article talks about how people felt revitalized by being outdoors or exposed
to the outdoors as opposed to being in a dark room without any natural
surroundings who didn’t feel the same vitalization effects.

The very idea of utilizing nature is an important aspect to our design as we have the
multiple ways of experiencing nature, low, medium and high. This idea comes from
bird watching when there are multiple ways to view birds are as some are
predominately on the ground, some stay within the tree canopy and some stay on
top. This multiplicity of experience should heighten the vitalization effects on the
Haworth workers as nature is an ever changing thing and should be experienced in
multiple ways. The idea of being within nature also exists with the large boardwalk
feature with our moveable cabins. In our initial scheme we intend on having the
board walk completely exposed to the elements much like the original boardwalk on
the Roger Brown house. This creates the opportunity for the Haworth employees to
experience nature in all its glory and be truly vitalized by nature.

This vitalization effect also transfers into the article “Blue space: The importance of
water for preference, affect, and restorativeness ratings of natural and built scenes”
by Mathew White, Amanda Smith, Kelly Humphryes, Sabine Pahl, Deborah
Snelling, Michael Depledge. The river flows along the east side of the site and our
boardwalk and cabins allowing for views of the river. As the article states, people
are more adept to pictures with water or blue space as opposed to ones without.
The effects of viewing water create a calming effect and along with the vitalization
effects of nature and potential for inspiration we afford the opportunity to combine
all major aspects to create a better working environment for the workers at
Haworth.

“How does radical collocation help a team succeed?” Stephanie

Teasley, Lisa Covi, M. S. Krishnan, and Judith S. Olson
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This article researched the effects on moving a group from their familiar surrounds
and placed them in an intimate setting to foster collaboration and improve
teamwork and communication. The results showed just that, the group that was
collocated increased work production and collaboration over the other workers
within the same company.

This idea of colocation is applied two fold in our scheme as we have the ideation
team of Haworth leaving the headquarters and moving 75 miles away to increase
collaboration among all 4 groups, Ideation Research, Ideation Services, Design
Studio, and Advanced Development, as well as the moveable cabins that are seen
as both retreat spaces and areas of intense collaboration and brainstorming. Oddly
enough the Advanced Development team could be seen as being radically
collocated and while you can argue that they have improved work productivity in
their group as a whole, it is inversely affected their relationship with the other
groups still working at the HQ.

While we have effectively eliminated the group separation and making everyone
multitalented and the usage of cabins allows for collocation on site. By utilizing
these cabins, groups can get away from the other distractions and just work and
produce pure ideas and ideally increase collaboration as the setting is intimate for
listening and understanding. The intimate setting also thwarts a group from taking
over these cabins and separating themselves from the other group.