Analysing Contemporary Mobilities - RB14

A Case Study of Rendsburggade 14 Aalborg Analysing Contemporary Mobilities

Aalborg University, MSc01 Mobilities and Urban Studies Dec 2014, Group 1

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Abstract Title A Case Study of Rendsburggade 14 Aalborg Theme Analysing Contemporary Mobilities Project period October 2014 - January 2015 Group MSc01 Group 1 Authors Diana L. Murzea Mark A. Meyer Nadja Tønder Andersen Supervisors Claus Lassen Ole B. Jensen Copies 7 Pages 91 Words 21.722 Appendix 26 pages Submission Date 6 January 2015

Diana L. Murzea

Mark A. Meyer

The research project A case study of Rendsburggade 14.

Analizing Contemporary Mobilities represents an exploration of the everyday life mobility in the context of an XL building.

The common thread carried throughout the present project is the understanding of mobilities in a different architectural context (XL building), that is characterised by complexity and is accommodating large amounts of users. Such complexity determines greater movement and generates larger flows.

Movement will be analysed on all scales, from a large scale by looking at the directions, intensities of flows and which places are generating them, to a small scale by observing people interacting with each other, with their environment and the way they are conducting themselves in the space.

Preface This is the report of the semester project on the 1st semester Master of Mobilities and Urban Studies, at Aalborg University. It was written by group one under the course module Analysing Contemporary Mobilities, that had the purpose of exploring an empirical case of contemporary mobilities (everyday life mobility).

The project took place in the period from October 2014 to January 2015. The course modules The Mobilities Turn, Mobility Technologies and Infrastructures and Applied Philosophy of Science and Mobile Methods, theoretical research, empirical analysis have represented tools to explore XL buildings and the movement within.

The main focus of the project was to understand the role of the mobilities in an XL building and how they contribute to building up the everyday mobile life. In order to comprehend this, an analysis of Rendsburggade 14, an XL building sheltering different Aalborg University departments, was made.

While the maps will have North on the left, all cited survey comments can be found in Appendix A.

Nadja Tønder Andersen 3

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1 Project Introduction Context 2

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Methodology 3

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3.1 Philosophy of Science - Approach to the Research

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3.2 Organization and Participants

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3.3 Thermal Camera Data

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3.4 Online Survey

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3.5 Visual Observation and Photography

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4 Theory Discussion

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4.1 XL Buildings and Public Spaces

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4.2 Staging Mobilities Model - Staging from Above

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4.3 Staging Mobilities Model - Staging from Below

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4.4 Legibility, Semiotics and Wayfinding

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4.5 Envisioning Movement in the XL Building

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5 Analysis of Rendsburggade 14

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5.1 Public Elements of Rendsburggade 14

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5.2 Staging Rendsburggade 14 From Above

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5.3 Staging Rendsburggade 14 From Below

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5.4 Legibility, Semiotics and Wayfinding of Rendsburggade 14

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6 Outro

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6.1 Conclusion

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6.2 Reflection

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7 References

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7.1 Bibliography

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7.2 List of Illustrations

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7.3 Appendix

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Chapter 1

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Project Introduction

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Chapter 1

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Introduction Th e X L b ui l din g a s a st a ge An XL building holds many things. It is a stage characterized by complexity - where diversity, activities, movement, interactions, speeds and paces accumulate. How does an XL building tell its story? In an analogy with the city, the XL building is a stage where social actors follow an imposed choreography dictated by different scenes or simply improvise (staged from above/staged from below) (Jensen, 2013): “Public life, therefore, is seen as a performance, where symbols are presented and exchanged, and where masks are displayed, compared and reshaped. The city becomes a stage for this performance, a theatre made of these settings and appearances […] Both in the city and stage design, the flexibility and the possibility of participation of the audience in the performance have been essential for direct communication.” (Madanipour, 2003:205-206) In this complex scenery, the act of movement becomes particularly interesting, as, along with the mobility turn paradigm, the nexus between spatial and social mobility is spawned. Daily urban transit actions are no longer reduced to “acts of movement from A to B “(Jensen, 2013). Mobility is now equal to “Movement+Power+Meaning” (Creswell 2006:3) and the fact that city movement is translated to an experience that is “generating both emotional, affective and cultural relations between people” (Jensen 2013:20) can be decoded in texts of sociologists such as George Simmel, Ervin Goffman, Kevin Lynch. Movement, thus, is an experience that shapes the individual and collective urbanite, but also “a mobile space of norms, values and power” (Jensen, 2013:129).

These individuals guide and let themselves be guided through the space, either it with the help of others, design or semiotics. The direct communication that Madanipour was talking about is mediated by signs. Signs become important in the city as they are the link between the intentions from above and below. (Jensen, 2013) The case is not different in an XL building when looking at all the elements that afford and obstruct movement. Without insisting too much on the similarities between the city and an XL building, a quest in discovering Rendsburggade 14 begins, in an attempt to explore movement within it, find the meaning behind it and establish new ways in looking at the mobilities of an XL building. For that the following main research question and the secondary ones were formulated.

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1.0

How are people moving and navigating in the XL building?

A case study of Rendsburggade 14

What characteristics of an urban space does the bulding have and to what extent?

How does external and internal accessibility affect the flows of people within the building?�

How are the flows of people and their interaction with the building influenced by its design?

How are people interacting in and within the building?

Is people’s navigation in the building a matter of semiotics, design and/ or function?

How are the semiotics of the building in conflict between the staging from above / staging from below?

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Chapter 2

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2.0

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Context Henning Larsen Architects Design (City Campus) Lokalplan 1-1-104 - Downtown Aalborg

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2.0 Chapter 2

2.0 Context Rendsburggade 14 (City Campus Aalborg) was designed by Henning Larsen Architects and completed in September 2014. The area around the harbour front is under a larger development which the building is a part of. The building provides a “framework for inspiration and innovation among students and staff at the University and at the same time an active and attractive area for everyone in Aalborg” (Henning Larsen Architects, 2014).

The new building is a result of Aalborg Municipality’s investments in education and is located next to the harbour between the Utzon Center, two youth housing buildings and the House of Music designed by the architect ‘Coop Himmelb (l) au’. (Henning Larsen Architects, 2014) The 20,000 square meter building is intended to house 900 students, staff and researchers. Now that it is operational, it is divided between the following educational departments: Architecture & Design, Humanities Informatics, Media Technology and Art & Technology. (Henning Larsen Architects, 2014) The vision of Henning Larsen Architects for the building was required to fulfill the guidelines of the official documents from the Municipality, called the local plan.

“Lokalplan 1-1-104” covers the planning of downtown Aalborg with a particular focus on the area around the House of Music. The urban context was described as an area which would be characterized by a high degree of external activities. (Aalborg Municipality, 2009) The local plan included guidelines to create good inter-

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action between the building and the surrounding urban space, and this connection was to be accomplished through the lowest floor of the building. (Aalborg Municipality, 2009) It was required of the harbour front area that there must be mainly public-oriented services such as shops, restaurants, cafes and that these should provide extroverted recreational and cultural functions. (Aalborg Municipality, 2009) Henning Larsen Architects achieved the goal of linking the building into this scheme by creating it to have a large south-facing courtyard and a large atrium. The building was also created with massive windows which make the inner activities visible to the outside environment, which also helped in “creating coherence between the internal and external activities”. (Henning Larsen Architects, 2014) The local plan also set guidelines to create ample public, non-commercial options for both short and long term occupants. (Aalborg Municipality, 2009) Henning Larsen Architects achieved this by creating a semi-public atrium, which includes exhibition areas, a cafeteria and an auditorium. There is also a public courtyard which could be used for concerts, performances, open air cinema, exhibitions and to make large working models in a lively study environment in close interaction with the workshops in the building. (Henning Larsen Architects, 2014)

2.0 Nørresundby

Limfjord Bridge

Nytorv Utzon Center Youth housing

Rendsburggade 14 Youth housing House of Music

Elevators Atrium

Figure 2.001 Rendsburggade 14’s placement in Aalborg

Revolving door

Figure 2.002 Map of Rendsburggade 14

Courtyard

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Chapter 3

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Methodology 3.1

Philosophy of Science - Approach to the Research

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Organization and Participants

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Thermal Camera Data

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Online Survey

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Visual Observations and Photography

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Chapter 3

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Introduction This project was about examining an XL building using the tools and knowledge gained during the first semester of the Mobilities and Urban Studies master. The purpose of this project was to use the toolbox gained during the courses in order to analyze an empirical case within everyday life mobilities.

The research strategy for the examination of the XL building Rendsburggade 14 involved exploring which of the new components of our ‘mobilities toolbox’ could be utilized for this project. Initially, there were elements from philosophy of science used in order to approach the situation. The methods employed after this involved not only our group, but assistance from others, which included contribution with data for our work to participation in our research. Thermal cameras were used to create tracking data and an online survey was conducted of the building’s regular users, both offering quantitative and qualitative data.

Visual observations were also conducted and documented with photographs.

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The approach to this project was constructed from a toolbox of both theoretical as well as practical knowledge gained throughout the semester and from previous experience. Without going into too much detail about philosophy of science, the approach could, of course, be viewed as various levels of many schools of thought. Pragmatism played a large role, as there was a real problem (problems / potentials of a new XL building) guiding us in the design of the research as well as an empirical / analytical approach which involved putting some facts to the flows. There is a hermeneutic aspect involved as well, in recognizing the existence of pre-knowledge and attempting to interpret how people made sense of the building.

Bryman, in his Social Research Handbook, described hermeneutics as “a term that is drawn from theology and that, when imported into social sciences, is concerned with theory and method of interpretation of human action”. (Bryman, 2012:560-561) For example, in this project, a hermeneutic approach was taken in interpreting the actions of users in the building visually as well as in interpreting the results of the online survey. ”The pragmatism maxim is a distinctive rule or method for becoming reflectively clear about the contents of concepts and hypotheses: we clarify a hypothesis by identifying its practical consequences.” (Hookway, 2013) The classic pragmatist John Dewey laid out six steps in the pragmatic inquiry. The first step is looking at “the antecedent conditions of inquiry: the indeterminate situation.” This ultimately leads to the final step of using “common sense and scientific inquiry”. (Dewey, 1938:101119)

data from the thermal cameras to reach conclusions to the research question.

In studying the ontology of an XL building, it was acknowledged that a building consists of layers. In this project, those layers that had an impact on mobilities were focused on. In regard to this, our project group was looking at how people move, interact and navigate in an XL building.

How to answer that question, or rather the epistemology, was through a combination of quantitative and qualitative information. While flows could be explained through quantitative information from thermal camera data, an online survey could provide complementary qualitative data which could help to understand why people were moving as they did, rather than assuming how people act or what they think. In an exploration of what type of knowledge could be produced and how far it could be taken, it was beneficial to solving our problem (the research question) to include different types of knowledge: theoretical, thermal camera data, an online survey and observation in order to investigate the research question.

The extent to which the various approaches and tools were used has been approximated in a diagram to simplify the approach to the research question. (See Figure 3.101) Research approach

Hermeneutics

Pragmatism

Visual interpretation of

What is interesting about an XL building? - Devel-

users of the building Comments from survey

Elements of pragmatism used in this project, in reference to the above description, included looking at what aspects of the XL building were interesting to our group in order to develop the research question and in analyzing quantitative data for patterns.

Finally, examples of the usage of an empirical and analytical approach involved the examination of quantitative and qualitative data from the online survey and

3.1

3.1 Philosophy of Science - Approach to the Research

oping reseach question Analyzing quantitative data for patterns

Empirical/Analytical Quantitative data Qualitative data From data to conclusions

Figure 3.101 Methods

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3.2

Section 2

The MSc Mobilities and Urban Studies project group are part of a larger study being hosted by the research cluster of Mobility and Tracking Technology (MOTT).

Thermal cameras were placed by Thomas Moselund’s research group. Laboratory Engineer Anders Jørgensen, PhD Fellow Rikke Gade, and research assistant Morten Frølund assisted in the thermal camera data collection.

Ole B. Jensen and Claus Lassen provided supervision for MSc Mobilities students semester project work.

Also, various users of the building directly participated by completing the online survey.

Chapter 3

3.3

Section 3

Chapter 3

3.2 Organization and Participants

3.3 Thermal Cameras Data Quantitative data regarding the flows from the thermal cameras was used to examine how people were actually moving, rather than what they reported about their movement, how they felt about the building or any assumptions based on pre-knowledge.

From the vantage point of the cameras, footage was examined from the perspective of mobility as getting from A to B. The footage helped in figuring out why events, flows, stops and congregations were happening. Schedules (part of the programming of the building), and hour counts (generated with the help of thermal camera data) contributed to identifying relevant patterns, and the rush hours of the building. How people interacted with the design as well as social interactions and flows were also particular points of interest which were examined.

Three thermal cameras were placed in the perimeter of the building (two inside / one in the outdoor courtyard) and recorded data which allowed the observation of flows, and to examine congregation points and various elements of staging from below.

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Camera positioning was out of the project groups hands, as this was all arranged and completed before this study began. Dates and times of thermal camera data provided to our project group follows.

Camera one (A3-03) was placed with a view of the bottom of the main staircase on the ground floor.

Camera one provided data from September 22-26, from 07:30-17:30, except the first day where data collection began at 12:00.

Camera two (A6-02) was placed with a view of the entire main staircase, a view of the west entrance (to the right of the camera), the revolving doors (south entrance) and also provided a partial view of the next staircase entrance on the first floor. Camera two provided data from September 22-26, from 7:30-17:30.

Camera three (A6-04 Ude) recorded data from the outdoor courtyard (beyond the revolving doors). Camera three provided data from September 22-26, from 07:3017:30.

3.3

The data was predominantly examined from the period of September 22-26, 2014 for use in this study. Only two of these cameras produced usable tracking data (A602 and A6-04 Ude), so only these two will be referred to from here on out as far as data collection and drawings.

(See Figure 3.301) A program was also created by the PhD students called Map Extractor, which allowed the creation of tracking maps, heat maps and hour counts from the thermal camera data.

Figure 3.301 Thermal camera placement

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Section 4

3.4 Chapter 3

3.4 Online Survey An online survey was created by the our project group in order to help understand how people felt about the building and why they moved and acted as they did. In essence, it provided additional information to help understand one of the core thoughts behind this semester in regard to mobilities – that mobility is more than just getting from A to B.

Participants were asked questions which required an answer ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree followed by an optional open space for suggesting improvements.

The questions were structured in this manner instead of a yes / no format in order to provide a broader (but limited) range to the quantitative data collected.

Thermal cameras in Chapter 5 showed that there is more to it. The survey helped attach meaning to the movements. This information complemented the theoretical knowledge and quantitative data by asking the users how they felt and used the building, rather than just relying on what could be assumed.

Our project group agreed that the inclusion of a secondary question allowing open responses could provide further insight into the users experiences (qualitative data) that could lead to the recognition of patterns or the discovery of new topics to explore.

The online survey was anonymous and the questions revolved around the general themes of navigating the building, access and connection to the city. Background questions included age, home country, department, specialization and average number of hours spent in the building.

This was distributed via email using links which distributed them to the main users based in the building as well as via some online groups (Facebook) of students based in the building. While it would be difficult to determine with 100% certainty that the survey reached all of the users, under the limitations of time, staff and a choice of manual versus electronic distribution, the choice of this method was believed to be the best choice to reach as many users as possible under the research limitations. As a result of this distribution method, it was later discovered that Art and Technology staff and students (ca. 100 people) and IKT and Learning (ca. 2 people) were inadvertently excluded from the survey due to their use of another system to contact their students (Moodle).

Our project group was interested in regular users rather than casual users of the building for the scope of this project. Rensdburggade 14 is a fairly new building which houses a particular group of university staff and students. Documenting the usage of these regular students and staff based there was the our group’s priority.

While it could be relevant to capture the thoughts of casual users, the limitations simply had to be set somewhere for a shorter term project.

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165 surveys were collected in approximately a 72 hour collection period from Monday, November 24 at 14:00 until Thursday, November 27.

Of the 165 surveys collected, 128 were complete and that is the data that will be used for analysis and diagrams, although comments from the partially completed surveys will also be acknowledged.

According to information provided by Henning Larsen Architects, the building was intended to house 900 students, staff and researchers. (Henning Larsen Architects, 2014) However in speaking to the student secretaries and building staff (betjent, IT), although there is no proper count of building users, it appeared to be estimated around 1200 people at the time of this project.

With an estimated 1200 users of the building and 128 responses, this survey created a collection of approximately 10% of the users of the building who fully completed the online survey.

Surveys were checked for strong patterns, as well as recurring themes from the write in suggestions. Results from the quantitative data collected were graphed to help illustrate the degree in which elements of design, semiotics, accessibility, problems and potentials affected participants usage and response to the building.

The full online survey (completed) is located in Appendix B(Online Survey).

3.5

3.5 Visual Observations and Photography In addition to the above methods, and for the same reasons of capturing flow, congregation points and usage, visual observations were made as well as photographic documentation. There were no extensive counts or time journals created, this was merely done to look for clues and confirmations, to understand what was already learned from the other data and observations.

The intention was also to provide some documentation of particular elements or events which occurred in the building. The observations and photographs were mainly focused on the same areas as the thermal cameras, with the addition of the reverse view of the inner core of the building. Photographs were also taken to capture examples of semiotics, signage and aspects of design.

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Chapter 4

4.0

4.0

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Theory Discussion 4.1

XL Buildings and Public Spaces

4.2

Staging Mobilities Model - Staging from Above

4.3

Staging Mobilities Model - Staging from Below

4.4

Legibility, Semiotics and Wayfinding

4.5

Envisioning Movement in the XL Building

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Chapter 4

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Introduction Chapter four represents an introduction to the mobilities toolbox that will be further used to analyse the building and contains main theories from Koolhas, Lynch, Gehl, Jensen, Scollon and Scollon and Gibsom.

Across the sections, theories regarding the XL building (Section 4.1), public character of spaces (Section 4.1), Staging Mobilities model (Sections 4.2 and 4.3), semiotics and wayfinding systems (Section 4.4) will be addressed.

In the end, in Section 4.5, Envisioning the XL building, tries to capture the mobile atmosphere of an XL building using the other theories, atmosphere that will be surprised in the future analysis.

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This section describes the understanding of an XL building as it is presented by Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau in their book S, M, L, XL. After grasping the perception of XL buildings, a theoretical discussion on how to move and navigate in the city will be presented, leading to how this theory can be implemented in the examination of XL buildings.

X L Bui l din gs In the last 100 years of technological development, the horizontal development of cities and the influence of modernism have led to a marked change in the ways of creating architecture.

Technological developments have added the elevator, electricity, air conditioning and the like, which have made it possible to create larger and more complex architecture. The horizontal development of the city has increased the distance between the city’s nodes and has also made it possible to build large-scale architecture.

The architects of modernism shifted the motto “style follows function” to “form follows function” in order to create architecture that was easily manageable. Unfortunately, it turned out to have the opposite effect, since the architecture was too large and indefinable. (Koolhaas & Mau, 1995) A combination of these new concepts generated other species of architecture that “were structured taller and deeper – Bigger – than ever before conceived … with a vastly richer programmation”. (Koolhaas & Mau, 1995:498) In the manifesto from 1994, ‘Bigness or the problem of large’, published in 1995 in the book S, M, L, XL, Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau discuss large-scale architecture and the problems it creates. They define bigness as “where architecture becomes both most and least architectural: most because of the enormity of the object; least through the loss of autonomy – it becomes instrument of other forces, it depends”. (Koolhaas & Mau, 1995:513) One of the problems of bigness is that as the distance between the core and the shell of the building increases, the façade no longer reveals what is happening inside.

The result is that the exterior and interior architecture become separate entities. Where architecture usually reveals through its façade what is happening in the building, bigness perplexes; “What you see is no longer

4.1

4.1 XL Buildings and Public Spaces what you get.” (Koolhaas & Mau, 1995:501) Bigness becomes so big that it is neither a part of the urban context or dependent on it to exist. It becomes an object on its own and can exist anywhere on earth. It becomes so big that it will be incapable of establishing connections and relationships to the classical city. The fact is that it does not need to, because of the complexity of facilities it offers, it is urban in itself. (Koolhaas & Mau, 1995) “Bigness no longer needs the city: it competes with the city; it represents the city; it preempts the city; or better still, it is the city.” (Koolhaas & Mau, 1995:515) The problem of bigness is the competition it creates between architecture and urbanism.

It is argued by Koolhaas and Mau that large-scale buildings have become so big and complex that they start imitating urban spaces. XL buildings not only resemble cities in terms of physical settings, but also replicate social behaviors and movement. To explain how people move and navigate in XL buildings, it first has to be explained how people move and navigate in the city in general.

Ment al Mappin g Kevin Lynch’s masterpiece The Image of the City from 1960 is ideal for exploring the resemblance between city and large-scale buildings’ movement. The book examines urban mobilities and is the result of a number of studies on how people navigate in the city. Lynch inspected how citizens read the city and asked them to draw their mental map of it. From the results of this, he made a notation system containing five different symbols. This has made it possible to read and understand the city. He claimed that by using the notation system consisting of the five elements; paths, districts, edges, nodes and landmarks (See Figure 4.101), it would be possible to create better urban spaces for people to move and navigate within the city. (Lynch, 1960)

Paths

Edges

Districts Nodes Landmarks Figure 4.101 The five elements in mental mapping 25

Section 1

4.1 Chapter 4

The five elements help to understand the legibility of the city. A city is legible when it is easy to identify its districts, landmarks or paths. The legibility of the city increases the potential intensity in the experience of the place. This is where the mental maps or images become useful. It is maps of “districts (which) are structured with nodes, defined by edges, penetrated by paths and sprinkled with landmarks”. (Lynch, 1960:48) These mental images are formed from a two-way communication between the person and their surroundings. The surroundings contain different objects, where the person chooses which ones are most interesting and easiest to remember. Which objects are interesting varies from person to person. (Lynch, 1960) During his study, Lynch discovered that paths were an important urban feature: “For many people, these are the predominant elements in their image. People observe the city while moving through it…”. (Lynch, 1960:47) The interpretation and experience of the city is influenced by the choice of paths and the way people move along them. This has made the movement of people an important factor “…since a city is sensed in motion”. (Lynch, 1960:107) Lynch’s notation system can be used as a navigation system when moving through the city. Can this system, though, be applied to an XL building? Lynch’s notations become difficult to identify when entering an XL building, due to the more homogeneous environment in comparison to the city. As it is difficult to break down homogeneous environments into smaller elements, orientation becomes challenging. Although it is argued that XL buildings become so big and complex that they imitate functions of the city, they only contain parts of city elements and not all. It is still a building and not a city.

Therefore, it is necessary to introduce the wayfinding system as another relevant theory to understand navigation in XL buildings. Wayfinding is a designed system of signs (Jensen, 2014), coined by Lynch (Lynch, 1960) and meant to help people reach their destination. Even though a building or a public space should be legible within its design in order to become “a real true place”, according to Lynch (Lynch, 1960) this is not always the case - and this is when a wayfinding system becomes helpful. Wayfinding and semiotics will be discussed more in Section 4.4.

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P ubli c Sp a c e s In the following segment, public spaces will be further investigated, as part of the urban environment and for the potential comparison with XL buildings that share similar characteristics. When talking about public spaces, both public spaces and public domains can be mentioned. Public spaces are physical areas such as squares and streets which are publicly available, while public domains are not defined by their physical form, but from a criterion of whether there is a possibility of interaction between people. Public domains are defined according to Hajer and Reijndorp as places where it is possible to make exchanges between different social groups. It can be difficult to define these places, because they may not even be physical. They can be described as places where people get new experiences and where a change of their perspective is possible. (Hajer and Reijndorp, 2001) To explain how people take in and act in public places, an introduction to the theory from the book Life Between Buildings by Jan Gehl, is made and exemplified through pictures and cases from another of his books, How to Study Public Life, and includes a minor case study of Amagertorv in Copenhagen. These theories are originally formulated by William H. Whyte in his book The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces from 1980.

Gehl’s books explain the relationship between humans as social beings, with senses, and their environment, when placed in the grander scale of the city. Gehl analyses how people perceive and appropriate their environment while walking, standing and sitting. Either in motion or stagnation, a consideration of the basic sense of scale in urban planning is crucial to how people feel about an urban space and relate to it.

Gehl’s theory is divided up into how people act in public places depending on if they walk, stand or sit. Activities in a public place can divide people into those who are transitory and those who are stationary. The transitory ones are those who are using the place as transit and basically are crossing it, while the stationary ones are those who are staying in the place for a while. (Gehl & Svarre, 2013)

4.1

Wal k When large places have to be passed it is most pleasant to walk along the edge of the place rather than having to cross over a large area. Movement in the perimeter of the place allows the experience of the larger place as a whole while simultaneously experiencing the façade or edge being moved along. (Gehl, 1987) This tendency is not applicable when smaller places have to be passed.

Here is the shortest path preferable. (See Figure 4.102 and 4.103) (Gehl & Svarre, 2013)

St an d

Figure 4.102 Observations of people crossing Blågårds Plads

To find a good place to stand frequently represents a challenge when waiting or enjoying the experience of one’s surroundings. Good areas are found along the edge of a place or in the transit area between two places where it is possible to see both of them at once. Placement along the edge helps one keep distance from other social agents and avoid contact while observing. Near the edge one is less exposed than when standing in the middle of the place. When standing, people look for urban elements to relate to, such as niches, corners, doorways, pillars, trees, lampposts etc. They feel more comfortable standing next to something instead of standing in the middle of a place. (See Figure 4.104 and 4.105) Important elements which offer potential for standing in public places are given by the detailing of a place (benches, lampposts and planters). (Gehl, 1987)

Figure 4.103 People walking at Amagertorv Figure 4.104 People standing at Piazza del Popolo Italy

Figure 4.105 People standing near column at Piazza del Popolo Italy

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Section 1

4.1 Chapter 4

Sit A public space providing good options for seating opens the possibility of staying longer in one place. The presence of good seating options opens up a range of activities, which make the place more attractive for eating, reading, sleeping, knitting, playing, sunbathing, watching other people, etc. (See Figure 4.106) The urban environment and its activities are the catalyst for new ideas. The stimulating urban environment creates the framework for the exchange of information and new contacts. This means that small activities in the urban space generate more activities, and thereby the urban space becomes alive and characterized by dynamism.

(Hajer and Reijndorp, 2001) Holistically, seating areas have the same requirements as standing areas. However, seating areas have stricter requirements since people potentially spend more time in the space. The edge effect is the same with seating areas as with standing areas. Seats along the edge of the place are prefered instead of these in the middle. (See Figure 4.107) The placement of seats has to be based on a careful analysis on the spatial and functional qualities of the place, where orientation and views are important factors in gaining a vantage point with a fuller view of the space. Finally, there is also a need for a number of additional secondary seating options such as stairs, plinths, steps, railings, boxes, etc. which can be used when the need for seating becomes larger. (Gehl, 1987) That indicates that people appropriate design according to their needs. (See Figure 4.108)

Figure 4.106 People watching other people at Amagertorv

Figure 4.107 Primary seating along the edge at Amagertorv

Above it was described what a public place is and what conditions must be met for it to be a functioning urban space. These aspects will later be used in the analysis to examine what public elements and behaviors of the city can be found in XL buildings.

Figure 4.108 Secondary seating at Amagertorv

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In this section the Staging Mobilities model (See Figure 4.201) will be introduced as another main theoretical frame for the current research and the Staging from Above component will be explained. Even though this model was built in order to examine the mobile urban reality, it becomes relevant for XL buildings as well, given that they borrow elements of the urban environment, as shown in the previous section. As in urban public spaces, movement in an XL building is staged and acted out. In an analogy between an XL building and a theater stage - the design, protocols, programming etc. are all part of a complex choreography which

4.2

4.2 Staging Mobilities Model Staging from Above is staged from above. The movement and behavior of social actors represents a never rehearsed scene, with different scenarios playing out every week, day, hour, and minute. Human movement represents a constant interaction with material and physical settings as well as other social agents. Movement is also a matter of self-determination when making decisions and interacting with the environment.

The Staging Mobilities model is â&#x20AC;&#x153;a socio-spatial-temporal process designing mobile lifescapes <<from above>> and performed mobile engagements and interactions

Figure 4.201 Staging Mobilities Model

29

Section 2

4.2 Chapter 4

<<from below>>” (Jensen, 2013:8) introduced by Ole B. Jensen, in his book Staging Mobilities. The model is an expression of two shaping powers clashing together in our everyday mobilities: the power coming from above (the planning, designing and regulation of the physical settings) and the power coming from below (acts of social interaction and embodied experiences).While the former gives birth more or less to the static layer of the city, the latter represents the fluid urban layer that cannot be always planned and regulated. Flows can be anticipated though with the help of readable patterns and tendencies. As Jensen has presented it, the two layers are situated in a direct relationship: “places must be seen relationally and shaped by mobilities and immobilities”.

(Jensen, 2013:34)

St a g in g from ab o v e Mobile situations are staged from above by acts of planning (documents, procedures etc.), designing (architecture, design codes), regulating laws and acts performed by institutions (policies, economic interests etc.). The different acts from above materialize into the physical settings of the city, ”…the space that surrounds us and the objects enclosing that space” which determine “… how far we can move, how warm or cold we are, how much we can see and hear, and with whom we can interact”. (Lawson 2001:15 cited in Jensen, 2013:33) Thus, the physical settings and the design represent limits and possibilities of movement and interaction.

Even though the physical settings and the design are often seen as fixities, there is much more than that: the physicality as an object of interaction. Buildings can no longer be considered static. To illustrate that, Henri Lefebvre takes the example of a house and cancels its static appearance, depicting it as a dynamic environment given by “streams of energy which run in and out of every imaginable route: water, gas, electricity, telephone lines, radio and television signals, and so on”. (Lefebvre, 1974:91-92 cited in Jensen, 2013:85) The house becomes an active image, with flows going in and out.

The physical settings become elements that influence the way social agents move in the space and with which the agents interact. One’s movement and behavior can be determined by the size of the space, its shape and functionality/role, its programming, level of privacy, and identity (characteristics designed from above).

To illustrate how the size and shape of the space in30

fluences movement, a comparison between an urban square and narrow pedestrian street (corridor type) can be used. On one hand, in a square, movement is not as constrained and flows have various directions. It also creates a more chaotic movement, due to the non-existence of designated paths. On the other hand, on the pedestrian street, moving normally occurs linearly and orderly. In the context of an XL building, atriums can have similar movement patterns to urban squares. Hallways can imitate the patterns of the pedestrian street.

As size and shape define spatial typologies, an urban space typology that plays an important role in the city when it comes to mobilities is the path / channel, as has been mentioned in the previous section. According to Lynch, the path becomes “an instrument of access, a social link, and the viewpoint from which the urban area is actually seen and experienced”. (Lynch 1990:212 cited in Jensen, 2013:36) Therefore, the path has “a crucial functional, social, and aesthetic impact and these impacts are interlinked”. (Lynch 1990:212 cited in Jensen, 2013:36) In terms of functionality, sociofugal and sociopetal spaces are key-concepts introduced by Humphry Osmond and become relevant in illustrating the complexity and roles of spaces.

“The sociofugal places are places that distribute and ‘push’ people away. Reversely the sociopetal sites and places seem to ‘draw’ people and activities in.

Some sites and settings are performing and working by ‘inviting’ people to go there and offer effective, interesting, stimulating or rewarding facilities for their activities there.”(Jensen, 2013:34) Such spaces can also be identified in XL buildings.

Stairs and elevators can work as sociofugal spaces, cantinas and lounge areas can be identified as sociopetal ones. In relation to the design, “lack of security or aesthetic appeal” (Jensen, 2013:34) also enables the sociofugal quality of a space. What has to be mentioned is that sometimes a space can be both sociopetal and and sociofugal.

In the physical settings, a distinction between spaces with public and private characteristics is also relevant, as there are characteristics that limit the mobility of social agents and also enable what Jensen calls “a mobile front staging / back staging process”. (Jensen, 2013:69) The private spaces not only limit physical access if one is not part of the system, but also determine

Programming constitutes another important part of the design. The “location of urban functions” (Jensen, 2013: 97) generates various patterns of movement and particularizes them to a specific site. For example, in an educational building, the segregation of two functions (classes, lunch areas etc.) will spawn flows between them.

Another element that concerns the design and physical settings is related to the legibility of a space, meaning that people should be able to read a space and recognize certain elements of the place. For that Jensen suggests the need of “a structuring principle” that would help in the recognition and organization of the city “into a coherent pattern”. (Jensen, 2013:36) “All material environments may be thought of as semiotic landscapes and sites. Either simply because they are coded with signs and signage systems or because we tend to ‘read’ them as signs.” (Jensen, 2013:39) As soon as a space is accessed, one starts an immediate process of reading and recognition of design elements, signs or any other elements that could give away the functionality and the norms. The legibility of a space and the ability to navigate it can also be emphasized by the uniformity of a design. If the design is uniform, the user will harder navigate and move in the space. In an analogy with the RB14, levels that have similar design layouts will downsize the legibility of the space.

Thus, an architectural object becomes a big sign. An educational building, the object of this project, holds many norms. As the process of learning is changing in the 21th century, so is the architecture and design of the educational building. “Technologies used in learning, personal learning environments, wireless networks and mobile devices […] are altering the experiences” (JISC, 2006) of the users and the perspective of an educational space, which nowadays is flexible, creative, more open and lacking an interior hierarchy (in regards to design).

While young people have a new perspective of what an educational space represents, elders would recognize educational spaces as having standards / classes, enclosed and fixed spaces etc. Therefore, the process

of reading sites and spaces gives a clue to “what sort of practices they are meant to afford” (Jensen, 2013:39), but it is also subjective in the end.

Another element that contributes to the level of legibility of a space is given by the semiotic dimension.

“Signs and sign systems are not only affording and creating circulation, they are also distributed across the urban landscape themselves (as when we follow a specific sign giving direction to a location)”.

(Jensen, 2013:41) A semiotic system also generates decision points in an urban landscape, which are described by Fuller as being “sites where sign systems mediate physical routes demanding crucial decisions to be made”. (Jensen, 2013:41) Looking at the case of an XL building, for example, such a decision point can be found in the entrance lobby, where signs and maps guide further into the building and determine one’s trajectory and movement according to the desired destination. If the semiotic system fails to function properly, navigating in a space becomes challenging, possibly causing individuals to engage less with the environment and to guide themselves with the help of mobile technologies or other social actors.

What has been defined in this section are the material and physical settings as part of the staging mobilities model and as a context for mobile situations to be performed in time and space.

What is important to remember is that the physical settings are just as significant as the social interactions as they are situated in a direct and influential relationship.

Social actors appropriate spaces and spaces appropriate social actors’ actions and movement.

31

4.2

changes in behavior. The character of a space is regulated by laws and rules. Signs and digital systems (access by card, alarms, etc.) are used to establish the privacy level of a space and protocols.

Section 3

4.3 Chapter 4

4.3 Staging Mobilities Model Staging from Below “The places of the city are constituted by flows and movement as much as by their morphological properties.”

(Jensen, 2013:36) In this section, the acts staged from below will be discussed: social interaction and embodiment. As Jensen mentions, the social agents and their actions are an important part of the urban environment. The city is a stage and the social actors contribute to building its image, an image that is characterized by dynamism and richness. Therefore, “what should be acknowledged when being a spectator of the city […] is the dialectic relationship between place and flow, between the global movements and the local relationships”. (Jensen, 2013:46) The street, according to Jacobs is “a site of social interaction as much as a space of circulation” (Jacobs, 1961 cited in Jensen, 2013:46), which means that in the urban space the potential for interaction and exchanges with fellow agents exists as well as experiencing the city. “Mobility becomes crucial to the notions of identity” (Jensen, 2013:46), because it is within this movement that individuals recreate the “self-other relation”. (Jensen, 2013:46) As Lynch emphasizes that “place identity is closely linked to personal identity” (Lynch 1981:132 cited in Jensen, 2013:37), Jensen underlines that the act of being mobile now leads to identity production: “To engage with mobilities as a key pointer of social and personal identity means to engage with elements of affect and emotion.” (Jensen, 2013:37) Compared to the rural scene “the city nurtures a calculating behavior and intellectual abstraction in its inhabitants”. (Jensen, 2013:48-49) The movement in the city is seen as planned and calculated, undressed of all subjective meanings. “City life is dependent upon punctuality, calculability, and exactness.” (Jensen, 2013:49) But is this urban movement just a senseless experience, a simple movement from A to B? “Goffman’s insights into the ‘little practices’ of social life substantiate that contemporary everyday life mobilities is produced by and re-producing culture and social norms”. (Jensen, 2013:49) Thus, it is the little practices that make a difference. The way we interact in movement and the way that we em32

body our movement become important aspects of urban social life.

S o c i al int era c tion s The city dweller walks among many others and is constantly navigating and interacting. That is how “mobile withs” and “temporary congregations” are born.

“A ‘mobile with’ is to be understood as a group of two or more either co-presently moving together, or in mediated contact ‘stretched’ across time and space, facilitated by networked technologies.” (Jensen, 2013:54) The mobile withs are characterized by ephemerality, as they are possibly formed and dissolved quickly across the everyday life experience. Examples of such mundane experiences can be identified in the activities of “groups of recreational runners or cyclists”. (Jensen, 2013:54) In the contemporary city mobile withs go beyond physical proximity now, as many individuals are “connectedin-motion” thanks to the digital layer that is overlapping the city. Thus, the concept of the “networked self ” arises, created by Jensen. Nowadays, mobile practices are increasingly “…mediated by technologies of tangible and less tangible sorts”. (Jensen, 2013:57) Technologies assist individuals in order to facilitate navigation, co-ordination and communication across the city. Being “linked-in-motion”, the environment is no longer experienced in isolation, having the possibility to transmit the immediate experience online. (Jensen, 2013) These technologies are not only entertainment devices or time-killers, but they are also “networked and linked into the many other layers of communication and interaction that makes up the contemporary network city.” (Jensen 2008a, cited in Jensen, 2013:58) Coming back to the mobile withs, there are numerous examples to be given: people wait together for the bus, for the green light, walk together in bus terminals, train stations, airports, travel together with various means of transports etc., either with acquaintances or strangers.

Mobile withs can be acts of unfocused interaction,

As mobile withs expand, the notion of the flow can be discussed. Jensen argues that “flows are opposed, differential, re-directed, challenged, stopped, etc. in an infinite number of ways” (Jensen, 2013:20), thus the flows shouldn’t be regarded only as homogenized elements, but also as elements characterized by diversity and subjectivity. Jensen coins here “the river/ballet metaphors to capture mobilities seen ‘from above’ (river) where we deliberately homogenize the ‘entities’ as if it were flows of identical entities, and ‘from below’ (ballet) where we engage with individuals and subjective differences.” (Jensen, 2013:20) While the river metaphor offers a perspective on orientation, direction and intensity, the ballet metaphor gives insight into the small gestures and behaviors that make the difference (“negotiation-in-motion” as an example – the negotiation of space while being mobile).

(Jensen, 2013:90) As the second dimension of situational mobilities was discussed in this part, the last part of this section will address the mobile embodied performances.

Emb o di ed e xp eri en c e s Finally, the last detail of mobile situations and movement to be covered: the embodied experience. The way the body is expressed in movement is generated by a sum of “local norms and customs” or “globally generic mobility codes”. (Jensen, 2013:127) These codes give birth to “tacit mobility cultures”, represented “by individual acts of self-staging from below”. (Jensen, 2013:127) What can be implied is that movement in public spaces varies depending to the context. It depends of the time, place, presence of other social agents, etc. The context enables an individual front staging / back staging act that Jensen illustrates with the example of a social agent engaged

in running: “The sudden appearance of people on benches as ‘audience’ for my staged mobility creates a dynamic situation where attempts to negotiate a front stage perspective takes place (i.e. upping the pace and thinking about running style)”. (Jensen, 2013:69) What must be understood is that individuals act out their behavior when being observed and accompanied by others. The city dweller is always aware of the other social actors’ presence and discloses that in a discrete way: “What seems to be involved is that one gives to another enough visual notice to demonstrate that one appreciates that the other is present … while at the next moment withdrawing one’s attention from him so as to express that he does not constitute a target of special curiosity or design.” (Goffman 1963:84 cited in Jensen, 2013:51) The moving body is not only aware of other social presences, but is also in contact with the environment of the city. “The realm of aesthetics becomes highly relevant as we engage the wider production of subjectivity and the meaning of movement to perception.” (Jensen, 2013:77) The last concept tied to embodiment is given by “mobile aesthetics”, which refers to the way a mobile body reinvents its perception of the urban space at every step.

Perspective, speed, etc. contribute to the creation of “new subjectivities and new ways of perceiving the world.”

(Jensen, 2013:127) These new perceptions also determine a re-thinking of transit space, paths and corridors as objects with aesthetic qualities and generators of new aesthetic experiences.

The social interactions and mobile embodied performances are important dimensions of the Staging Mobilities model as agents are constantly faced with mobile social situations and as individuals “are embodied in any material practice in the world”. (Jensen, 2013:78)

33

4.3

when an individual moves alongside other unknown persons for a short period of time, or acts of focused interaction, when movement involves acquaintances.

Another distinction that can be made is between a “copresent mobile with”, where individuals move together across time and space and “the stretched mobile with”, where individuals are connected across networks and spatial settings. (Jensen, 2013:55)

Section 4

4.4 Chapter 4

4.4 Legibility, Semiotics and Wayfinding In this section, the notions of legibility, wayfinding and semiotics will be further discussed. It has been shown in the previous sections that legibility is essential to the experience of the city and that semiotic and wayfinding systems help social agents in the urban reading process.

L eg i bi lity The legibility of urban spaces is crucial. The social agent that is not able to map (in his mind) and perceive his urban environment is part of an alienated city. In that moment, being lost or simply disoriented generates fear and anxiety. But, in the modern city, “to become completely lost is perhaps a rather rare experience for most people”. (Lynch, 1960) Not only is the modern urbanite surrounded by others, but also by semiotics, way-finding systems, digital devices (GPS, WI-FI, etc.) that aid him in the way he moves around the city.

S emio ti c s The semiotic dimension, according to Jensen, is “tying in both the ‘staging from above’ dimension (e.g. traffic lights and wayfinding systems) and the ‘staging from below’ (e.g. people’s gestures and bodily postures signaling mobile intentions on the street or the mode of transport choice as a sign of status and social hierarchy).” (Jensen, 2013:39) The semiotic dimension determines what movements and behaviors occur, that are usually situated at “the nexus of the intentions derived from the ‘sign maker’ (staging from above) and the sense made of it from the ‘sign reader’ (staging from below)”. (Jensen, 2013:40) “Signs mean things. They also do things. For instance, a lot of signs at the airport not only ‘make meaning’ that can be interpreted, they also issue direct commands that must be obeyed. Often, signs work with matter and directly control movement and behavior.” (Fuller & Harley 2004:126, cited in Jensen, 2013:40) Thus, signs are either regulatory, instructing the users of the space what they must / should do / not do in the given context; infrastructural / informative, offering details about the use of space and guidelines / direc34

tions; or commercial, used in promoting and indicating services and facilities (Scollon and Scollon, 2003).

Signs are normally situated in a context or related to an object, and while one would think that its significance should be obvious and singular, “mobile subjectivities” are created and “mobile sense making” is activated.

(Jensen, 2013:40) The reason why signs are not always read accordingly is because behind a sign the intention of the author (“intention auctoris”), the process of deciphering the image / symbol (“intetio operis”) and the interpretation by the user (“intentio lectoris”), concepts introduced by Umberto Eco, are not always aligned.

(Jensen, 2013:40) In an urban environment the types of signs mentioned above are normally not found individually, but grouped in semiotic aggregates (Scollon and Scollon, 2003:175), that determine to what extent is a space regulated.

“Spaces may be designed ranging from very close specification to the needs of particular types of social interactions to very loose multi-purpose spaces”. (Scollon and Scollon, 2003:169) It has been mentioned in Section 4.2 that a lack of clarity or absence of semiotic aggregates can cause social agents to seek information through the help of others or digital devices. This behavior also replicates itself in an urban landscape over-saturated with semiotics. Mobile devices and other social actors become solutions to dealing with excessive amounts of information.

Semiotics becomes an important part of movement.

For that, Jensen coins the concept of “mobile semiotics”, meaning “how signs (in their broadest possible sense) affords, processes and coordinate (or obstruct) the physical circulation and movement of people”. (Jensen, 2013:43) With this concept in mind, current research has gained a new vantage point to be further explored in the analysis.

Way f in din g Wayfinding has existed in various degrees throughout history, helping people to orient themselves and find pointers to reach places. Wayfinding is about making a semiotic system so simple that the user will be able to read it correctly and find it easy to interpret and memorize. Wayfinding can be seen as the intersection between people and places.

Districts

Landmarks

Paths

4.4

Connection

North East

West

South Figure 4.401 Four different types of wayfinding systems

Wayfinding systems can be both large and small, complex or less complex, depending on the creators, the needs and the number of people using them. As it has been mentioned before, social actors must guide themselves through the city, and when that becomes challenging, they are overwhelmed and frustration and disorientation enters the stage. Therefore, a good wayfinding system is important for the social actors experience in the urban realm.

As spaces become bigger and more complex, wayfinding systems evolve as well. According to Gibsom, inspired by Lynch’s notation system elements (paths, edges, districts, nodes, landmarks), wayfinding systems can be identified (See Figure 4.401). The first wayfinding system relates to context and is given by a line that connects the space’s areas and complexities. Another system guides people through spaces with the help of existing districts. Many social actors guide themselves by identifying paths in the space. The street model is a wayfinding system that has been constantly used in the urban space. The last model relates to destinations and landmarks. This type of wayfinding system can usually be noticed in cities with heavy tourism, where maps

and signs emphasize the network of existing landmarks. (Gibsom, 2009) Two characteristics of the wayfinding system have been chosen to be mentioned in this section. First, one interesting attribute of the wayfinding systems is their ability to serve as a common language. (Gibsom, 2009) A wayfinding system links people with various cultural backgrounds. A stranger in a new city will act intuitively when reading signs and guiding himself through the urban environment. Secondly, as with other layers in the urban city, wayfinding systems exist in digital space as well and become a part of the invisible layer of the city that has a huge impact on the way people move.

Nowadays, with the help of mobile phones and GPS, social actors find it easier to navigate through space and avoid being lost.

This section put an emphasis on the legibility of spaces, and how semiotics and wayfinding systems contribute to the characteristics of spaces. From this perspective, the current case of the XL building will be analyzed later, as the semiotic system is “a vital dimension of the ‘mobile assemblages’”, managing “particular motions, directions, speeds, modes, and routes” (Jensen, 2013: 44).

35

Section 5

4.5

4.5 Envisioning Movement in the XL Building

Chapter 4

This theoretical chapter has given insight on how people move in urban spaces and how an XL building starts to resemble an urban space. Even though this research does not have the main scope to put in comparison movement in urban spaces and in XL buildings, the idea has proved itself fruitful. Theories concerning the analysis of urban movement became useful tools to examine mobility within large scale spaces.

XL buildings compete with the city. The complexity and scale of urban spaces is often replicated, or borrowed in XL buildings. Entrances, escalators, stairs, staff, users, access systems, signs, commercial ads, lunch areas, offices, etc. are factors / layers that contribute to its complexity.

The XL building space is programmed as being private, public or some combination of both. Behaviours that are noticed in urban spaces often extend to XL buildings as well. Paths, nodes, districts, landmarks and edges can be also found in XL buildings under possible names or references such as corridors, meeting points, departments, balconies or some label indicating their unique design elements. Preferred ways and places to walk, sit and stand can also follow similar requirements and patterns of urban public spaces.

As in the urban space, there are aspects staged from above and acted from below. Signs, norms, rules and design appropriate movement, while XL building users experience and appropriate space by adapting their speed, perspective, vantage points etc. As in urban spaces, design complexity in XL buildings demands good wayfinding systems, and in case these systems fail, movement becomes difficult and disorganized.

Similarly to urban spaces, people in XL buildings can move alone, in groups, with strangers and can guide themselves using signs and digital devices. In XL buildings, just as in urban spaces, people interact or are simply spectators.

As patterns of movement and behaviour in XL buildings are shaped by all of these various factors often so similar to those of urban spaces, it will be demonstrated in the next chapter that an XL building can be analytically studied using these tools, that were joined together also in the next diagram. (See Figure 4.501)

36

4.5

Physical Settings & Design

Semiotics

Public Space/Domain

Staging from above Staging from below

Embodied Social experiences interactions

Figure 4.501 Theoretical tools

37

38

Chapter 5

5.0

5.0

5

Analysis of Rendsburggade 14 5.1

Public Elements in Rendsburggade 14

5.2

Staging Rendsburggade 14 From Above

5.3

Staging Rendsburggade 14 From Below

5.4

Legibility, Semiotics and Wayfinding of Rendsburggade 14

39

Chapter 5

5.0

5.0

Introduction This chapter uses the theories described in the previous chapter in deciphering and describing the everyday mobile life at Rendsburggade 14.

The complexity of RB14 and the similarities between it and a public urban space (Section 5.1), the dynamic relationship between staging from above and below (Sections 5.2 and 5.3), the semioticsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; role in the navigation of people, the success/failure of the wayfinding system will be explored in this chapter.

All the physical and social and planning dimensions of the building will be addressed, as they constitute the basis for answering our main research question: How are people moving and navigating in the XL building?

40

This analysis section will answer the sub-question, “What characteristics of an urban space does Rendsburggade 14 have and to what extent?”. To help answer this, the theory chapter about XL buildings and public spaces (Section 4.1), Lynch’s notations system, Gehl’s theory about people walking, standing and sitting and some of the results from the survey will be used.

It was argued in section 4.1 that XL buildings are becoming so big that they start having some of the same characteristics as an urban space. They not only resemble urban spaces in the physical elements, but also in the social behaviours and movement. But what are these characteristics and how are they the same?

Some of the characteristics of social behavior can be identified, according to Hajer & Reijndorp (Section 4.1), as they define public domains as spaces where exchanges between different social groups are possible and where people can get new experiences that can change their perspective. (Hajer & Reijndorp, 2001) The question is if this is possible in the case of RB14?

The primary users of the building are related to Aalborg University and have a common interest within the fields of science, research and education. But these people have different ages, backgrounds, nationalities,

5.1

5.1 Public Elements of Rendsburggade 14

cultures and personal interests, creating a diverse pool for potential social interaction.

First, the physical settings will be analyzed and then the social behaviors and actions of people in the building will be looked at.

Ment al m ap Lynch’s notation system was developed to be used in urban spaces, but since it was argued in section 4.1 that XL buildings borrow elements from urban spaces, we chose to use mental mapping to identify and compare what elements RB14 had that were similar to urban spaces.

A mental map of RB14 was made from the perspective of the project group to identify the landmarks, districts, paths, nodes and edges of the building. (See Figure 5.101) However, since the method was developed for urban spaces, we interpreted Lynch’s definition of paths, which originally said that paths are thoroughfares - for example streets, transit lines and railroads. (Lynch, 1960) In the analysis of RB14 we have defined paths as main patterns where people move both inside and outside of the building. The flow of people’s movement will be analyzed later in section 5.2.

Figure 5.101 Mental mapping of RB14 Paths

Nodes

Main Nodes Landmarks Edges

Districts

41

Section 1

5.1 Chapter 5

It was argued in section 4.1, according to Lynch, that paths are a predominant element in a mental map, because it is on the paths that people move and from here they experience their surroundings. (Lynch, 1960) However, these paths are not always comprehended in RB14 because they are not physically marked. They are only noticeable when people are moving around in the building. The paths inside and outside of the building help people orient themselves, but only if there are already some people on these paths. Additionally, these paths are only known by frequent users of the building, because they have eventually found their way. It could be problematic for newcomers of the building to identify these paths, since they are not physically visible. If you came to the building at rush hour, then it would be easier to follow the flow of people that were clearly moving in one direction. But if you arrived at the building at other times, there would be no visible flow to follow.

These paths help to create some nodes where people have to pass each other or interact with the physical settings. (See Figure 5.101) The main nodes under rush hour were at the revolving door entrance and the elevators (marked with red in Figure 5.101). These two places, in addition to being nodes, were also CPC’s (Critical Point of Contact) (Jensen, O.B & N. Morelli, 2011) because they functioned as points where two networks met. This becomes critical if one network affects the other. In the cases of the revolving doors and the elevator, it is a meeting of two networks; people and an electronically controlled element. When the revolving doors and / or the elevator were running slow and could not handle the number of people using them, there was a change in the flow of people. It made people slow down and sometimes stand in line waiting to get in. CPCs will be further addressed in Section 5.2.

There are some paths and nodes in the mental map, but there are not so many landmarks, edges and districts in it. Two landmarks were identified, where the large orange staircase in the middle of the atrium was the most dominant (See Figure 5.102) and the elevator was a minor one. Both the color and the size of the staircase make it easily recognizable, and it was also used as a meeting point, which will be further described in section 5.2. The absence of landmarks, edges and districts makes it harder to break down the building into smaller parts. It makes the building appear homogeneous, and as it was argued in section 4.1, it is difficult for people to orient themselves in homogeneous environments.

42

Until now there has only been discussion about the physical elements that the building borrows from the city, but now the behavior related elements of the building will be examined using Gehl’s theories of walking, standing and sitting in public spaces.

Figure 5.102 Staircase as landmark

Gehl ’s th e or y Gehl’s theory and the case from Amagertorv mentioned in section 4.1 will be used in comparison to an observation of the atrium in RB14 in order to analyze if it borrows behavior related elements from public spaces.

The observation took place on Thursday, December 12, 2014 at lunchtime from 11:45-12:45. (See Figure 5.103)

Wal k In section 4.1 it was argued that it is most pleasant to walk along the edge while passing large places (Gehl, 1987) or crossing the place with the shortest path if it is a smaller place (Gehl & Svarre, 2013). The latter was the situation in RB14. When people moved from one place to another, they crossed over the middle of the atrium (See Figure 5.104), which is similar to the case from Blågårds Plads in Copenhagen. (Gehl & Svarre, 2013) (See Figure 5.105)

Figure 5.105 Observations of people crossing Blågårds Plads

Tree

Pillar

Stand

Sofa

Table

5.1

Sit

In transit area

Figure 5.103 Map of observations of RB14

It is not the shape of the atrium that defines where people prefer to go, but their destination. If they had to go from one side of the building to the other side, they crossed the atrium. However, if they, for instance, were going from the large auditorium towards the entrance, they moved along the edge. But this is only because it was the shortest distance to their destination.

This may have been due to the size of the atrium. It is Tree not large enough to make people feel that it is uncom- Pillar Sit Stand

Sofa

fortable to cross it right over the middle.

This can also occur if there is a difference in the kind of walk. The direction-oriented person, or the determined (Jensen, 2014) will choose the fastest and most direct way from A to B with a medium or high pace (Jensen, 2014) in which the relaxed person, or the drifter (Jensen, 2014) will perhaps prefer a quiet path where the environment can be enjoyed at a slow pace. (Jensen, 2014).

These notions will be further developed in Section 5.3.

Tables

In transit areas

Figure 5.104 People cossing the atrium in RB14

43

Section 1

5.1 Chapter 5

St an d In section 4.1 it was argued that good areas to stand are either along the edge of a place or in a transit area.

(Gehl, 1987) This was found to be the case in RB14. (See Figure 5.103) Most of the people observed preferred to stand at the edge of the atrium. Many of the people who stood were waiting for others. By placing themselves at the edge of the atrium they had a better view of the area (See Figure 5.106), which is similar to the case from Piazza del Popolo in Italy. (See Figures 5.107 and 5.108) Piazza del Popolo is not the only example of people waiting at the edge. This is also the case from a study of the Metro Station at Nørreport in Copenhagen.

Here, almost all the waiting passengers are placed close to walls and other solid surfaces, and were making the edging waiting behavior (Jensen, 2014). If people were not standing at the edge they were standing near small trees, furniture or columns to have a support element.

(See Figure 5.109) A few people stood in a transit area and between the entrances and the atrium (they are marked with light red in Figure 5.103) where they were most likely to have an overview of two areas at once. Others stood right at the end of the stairs. Few people stood in the middle of the atrium waiting for others. Otherwise, the people standing relate to Gehlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theory in relation to how they position themselves in a place.

Figure 5.106 People waiting at the edge near furniture

44

Figure 5.107 People standing at Piazza del Popolo in Italy

Figure 5.108 People standing at Piazza del Popolo in Italy

Figure 5.109 People standing near trees

It was argued in section 4.1 that good seating areas are placed along the edge of a place, like the standing areas, with an overview of the place and with enough secondary seating. (Gehl, 1987) This was also found to be the case in RB14. (See Figure 5.103) This is also the result of the furniture being placed appropriately in the atrium along the edges so they will be used. (See Figure 5.110) It might have been different if the furniture were placed randomly and in the middle of the area.

In the canteen area, it was also noticeable that this is the case. Here the people had an opportunity to choose seating along the entire table, but most chose to place themselves at the end of the table most distant from others. (See Figure 5.111) During the observation period there were not so many people that secondary seating was necessary, but it has been documented in other observations that the big staircase was used as seating.

(See Figure 5.112) The people sitting also relate to Gehlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theory in how they position themselves in a place and to the case from Amagertorv. (See Figures 5.113 and 5.114) From the observation of the atrium in RB14, the building has comparative elements with urban spaces when looking at walking, standing and seating behavior. This notation was based solely on observations. To strengthen this, the project group asked the users about this space in an online survey.

Figure 5.110 People sitting at the edge near trees

Figure 5.111 People sitting in the canteen area

Figure 5.113 Primary seating along the edge at Amagertorv

Figure 5.112 People sitting on the big staircase

Figure 5.114 Secondary seating at Amagertorv

45

5.1

Sit

Section 1

5.1 Chapter 5

S ur v e y Users of the building were asked in the survey whether they felt that the building included elements of public space. The results showed that 49% of the respondents agreed, while 19% disagreed with this statement (See Figure 5.115).

Almost half of the respondents agreed that RB14 contains elements of public spaces. But there was also a smaller share of approximately 1/5 who did not believe that RB14 contains elements of public spaces. The question is why the result looks like this. Just over half (52%) of the respondents working or study in the field of Architecture and Design, which means that these people may have a different and more professional understanding of the issue than the 47% percent of respondents who work or studying within the field of Media and Technology (See Figure 5.116). A larger proportion of respondents felt RB14 contains elements of public spaces.

Others did not - RB14 is just a building that houses their workspace, as evidenced by the following comment in the survey: “I don’t want the experience (of public elements red.), this is my workspace.”

The professional differences of respondents may have contributed to the results, but it could also be the way the question was framed. After the question examples of what public elements could be were listed such as events, small squares, small shops and meeting places.

If the respondent was able to recognize one or more of the examples, it may have made it easier for the person to agree, whereas if the respondent was not able to recognize some of the examples, it may have been easier for the person to disagree. Therefore, the examples which followed the question could have effected the results.

The 49% who agreed to the question can be exemplified by comments from the respondents. Some comments from the survey will follow.

“There is a good portion of open and public spaces for different occasions. It is nice.”

Some comments also tell what could be done to get an even better feeling that the building has public elements.

“Some shops are missing inside the complex.”

I feel this building includes elements of public space (events, small squares, small shops, meeting places) Strongly agree

5%

6 44%

Agree 32%

Neutral

41

16%

Disagree Strongly disagree

56

21

3% 0%

4 25%

50%

75%

100% Figure 5.115 Survey table

Which department are you in?

52%

Architecture and Design Art and Technology

0%

0

IKT and Learning (MIL)

0%

0 47%

Media and Technology Other

44

1% 0%

46

48

1 25%

50%

75%

100% Figure 5.116 Survey table

5.1

Others comments explained why the building is not public in everybody’s view without when there is a lack of outside / public users.

4

“There will not be more outside persons in the building if they do not know that this place exist” This comment underlines a conflict from the desire of Aalborg Municipality for the ground floor to be public, but it does not function fore everyone as a public space.

3

The different layers of public and private (See Figure 5.117) show that there are parts of the ground floor which are publicly available. This applies to the atrium of the building and the outdoor courtyard of the building.

2

The other parts of the ground floor are either semi-public (the auditorium, IT services and administration), which means that one could only access these areas within the opening hours of the building or semi-private (the workshop), which means that it requires an access card to gain entry.

On the second floor, the building already becomes more private. One could reach the second floor via the large staircase, which is still a public area. But from there it would not be possible to go further without an access card - which is required to access the elevator and stairwell to get to the upper floors. While these areas are defined as semi-private, they are still not completely private, since anyone with an access card could enter.

The private areas of the building are the ones that once again require an access card, which is only available to a small group of people. These include lecture rooms which are only available for teachers, administration areas which are only accessible to staff and teachers’ offices which are only accessible by teachers.

The accessibility in the building will be further discussed in the next section, 5.2.

1

0

Public

Semi Private

Semi Public

Private

Figure 5.117 The different layers of public and private in RB14

47

Section 1

5.1

S e c tion C on clu sion

Chapter 5

Above RB14 has been examined by means of the theory about XL buildings and public spaces (section 4.1), mental mapping, observations of people walking, standing and sitting and survey results to answer the following subquestion: “What characteristics of an urban public space does Rendsburggade 14 have and to what extent?”

From the results of the analysis it has been demonstrated that RB14 has characteristics of an urban public space to a certain extent.

It is visible from the mental map that RB14 has some physical elements like landmarks, paths and nodes that are also found in urban spaces.

The landmarks are the big staircase and the ellevator, the paths are the main flows where people are walking around in and outside of the building and the nodes are the revolving doors and the elevator where two network meet each other. This demonstrates that RB14 partly borrows physical elements from urban spaces, although districts and edges are still insufficient.

RB14 does not offer the same options of navigation because of the lack of physical elements such as districts and edges that people could use to orient themselves in the city.

It has been demonstrated from the study of people’s behavior and movement in the atrium of RB14 using Gehl’s theories, that there were comparable situations to urban places while walking, standing and sitting. People preferred to stand and sit along the edge or next to supportive elements like trees, columns and furniture.

These examples, which showed that RB14 includes elements of public space to a certain extent, were also reinforced by the results from the survey which showed that 49% of the respondents agreed that the building contained elements of public space while only 19% disagreed.

48

5.2

5.2 Staging Rendsburggade 14 from above In this section the staging mobilities model (staged from above) will be used as a tool to analyze movement in RB14 and answer two of the sub-questions of this research.

Before the relationship between the flows and the various spatial characteristics are addressed, an introduction to the creation process of the flow maps, hour counts and use of the thermal data is necessary.

The first sub-question is related to accessibility.

Hour C ountin g

“How does external and internal accessibility affect the flows of people within the building?”

With the help of thermal cameras, we had the possibility to examine thoroughly how many (hour count) as well as how users of the building move across the ground floor and the outdoor courtyard and to identify patterns.

The second sub-question is related to design.

“How are the flows of people and their interaction with the building influenced by its design?”

First, we narrowed down the examination of the space to time intervals that we considered relevant, when the amount of people in the space was higher. For that, hour counting diagrams were examined (information generated by thermal cameras).

As it has been presented in Section 4.2, the physical settings and the design influence the limits and possibilities of interaction. In order to investigate this statement, we have looked at the relation between flows and spatial characteristics, programming, accessibility and functionality. Even though the semiotic dimension and the legibility of a space are strongly related to the physical settings and the design, these will be covered in the next sections.

Looking at the graphic for the indoor counting across a week, patterns can be identified. (See Figure 5.201) From the start, Tuesday afternoon from 13.00-16.00 and Wednesday morning from 08.00 to 11.00 were excluded, since the building was hosting small events (example: See Appendix E) that attracted more people than usual.

Thus, the relevant hours were narrowed down to 07.0008.00, 09.00-10.00, 12.00-13.00, 13.00-14.00 and 15.0016.00.

Indoor Camera Amount of people using the space 300

250

200

Monday Tuesday

150

Wednesday 100

Thursday Friday

50

0

07-08

08-09

09-10

10-11

11-12

Figure 5.201 Indoor count of people

12-13

13-14

14-15

15-16

16-17

17-18

Time Period

49

Section 2

5.2 Chapter 5

As the time intervals were too wide, we decided to narrow them down even more by examining the class schedules and the video footage. The standard schedule illustrated that lectures started at 8.15, 10.15, 12.30 and 14.30 and the lunch break was between 12.00 and 12.30 (See Figure 5.202), which indicated a higher level of activity around these times. Of course, this is not a matter of causality and can relate to the idea of a system of synchronicity, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a key feature of the <<staging from above>>â&#x20AC;?

(Jensen, 2013:49). Like in the city, the ability to synchronize movement with the various systems supporting it depends on schedules and dependence.

Looking at the video footage, it was noticed that people move together in larger numbers around the hours mentioned above. The time intervals we looked at were 25 minutes long and between 7.55-8.20, 09.55-10.20, 11.55-12.20, 12.20-12.45, 13.30-13.55, 13.55-14.20 and 15.45-16.10.

Outoor Camera 350

Amount of people using the space

300

250

Monday

200

Tuesday 150

Wednesday 100

Thursday Friday

50

0

07-08

08-09

09-10

10-11

11-12

12-13

13-14

14-15

15-16

16-17

17-18

Time Period

Figure 5.203 Outdoor count of people

Outoor and Indoor Camera 300

Amount of people using the space

250

Day 200

Hour

Monday Friday

150

8.1510.00

Standard Lecture

10.1512.00

Standard Lecture

Outdoor

12.0012.30

Lunch Break

Indoor

12.3014.15

Standard Lecture

14.3016.00

Standard Lecture

100

50

0

50

07-08

08-09

09-10

10-11

11-12

12-13

13-14

14-15

15-16

16-17

17-18

Figure 5.204 Outdoor and indoor

Time Period

Figure 5.202 Schedule

In the case of the outdoor patterns comparing to the indoor ones, it can be noticed that while outside the average number of people crossing the space per hour is between 100-150, inside the average per hour is fewer than 100. A potential explanation for that is the fact that the outdoor space caters also users that are not regular ones of the building and use the space only for transit. (See Figure 5.204)

students were complaining about the lack of connection between them and the teachers. An example response from the survey follows.

“At the moment we have no connection to the where our teachers are, and we cannot easily go and ask questions as they are on another floor and another part of the building, furthest away from the group areas.”

4

As the thermal camera data was rich, we decided to look at two particular days of the week that followed the patterns already identified: Monday, that will be further presented, and Friday (See Appendix D).

3

Viewed from the vantage point of the thermal cameras, flows were identified and tendencies of movement through the space were identified. The movement of people differed across the days and various paces could be identified.

2

1

Flow s an d pro g rammin g The programming of the building played an important role in movement at RB14, as it determined the way people moved in between the various levels and areas of the building.

The programs of RB14 were grouped in 8 main categories for the purpose of this study: the group room areas destined for the students, the teachers area, the lecture classes, the administration spaces that include all the staff offices, the technical areas, the lunch / lounge areas that accommodate furniture for seating and social interaction, the food areas (the food truck and the future cantina) and the transit areas that include all the in between spaces.

What was noticed from the programming diagram (See Figure 5.205) was that the building is strongly segregated. The most obvious separation occurred between the teachers’ area and the rest of the spaces. This situation generated issues related to movement. This information was also supported by the survey, given that some

0

Group room areas

Technical areas

Teachers’ area

Lunch/Lounge areas

Lecture classes

Food areas

Administration

Transit areas Figure 5.205 Programming of the building

51

5.2

A similar process was applied for the case of the outdoor information. In the case of the hour counting (the number of people passing per hour), the graphics for Tuesday afternoon from13.00-16.00 and Thursday afternoon from 12.00-16.00 were skewed for similar reasons (small events inside the building). (See Figure 5.203) The selected hours remained the same as the indoor case.

Section 2

5.2 Chapter 5

Flow s an d a c c e ssi bi lity The programming of the building also dictated the accessibility level for every user in the building. The four entrances to the building (See Figure 5.206) are open for both users and visitors between a regular schedule from 8.00 to 16.00, while the outdoor entrances are permanently accessible. Given that, while the ground floor and the courtyard are open for general access, the upper levels are only accessible for the study department members that the building accommodated (with the help of personalized access cards) as mentioned in section 5.1.

These access cards are also the ones generating CPCs (Critical Points of Contact), concept coined by Jensen and Morelli in the paper “Critical Points of Contact –exploring networked relations in urban mobility and service design”. CPCs are “nodes that are ‘critical’ in the sense that they make a difference to either the interacting systems or the interacting user” (Jensen, Morelli, 2011:37).

This means that wherever the different systems are intersecting or overlapping, critical points are born.

These points are important as they obstruct and encourage movement, according to the possibilities that the users have to interact with the system interfaces.

As it will be presented in the following part, the types of accesses are generated by the types of users. Therefore, CPCs are born at the entrance of each space where certain users are allowed and/or have restricted access.

I n response to the statement “I believe the buildings and various floors are easy accessible”, 56% of the survey respondents agreed, while 27% of the respondents disa-

greed. According to our understanding, this meant that the building was seen as an accessible place, while the connection between the various floors was generating issues, as it will be further argued. (See Figure 5.207) Five types of access in the building have been identified in relation to the programming and the users: visitor access (the atrium, the outer courtyard, the auditorium), teacher access (the teacher area, lecture classrooms, etc.), student access (group room areas, lunch areas etc.), staff access (technical areas, administration areas, etc.) and department access, given that the first floor is dedicated to the Art & Technology department and only members have access (See Figure 5.206).

What prevents visitors from using the upper floors and keeps unwanted persons from specific areas is directed by a system of access control devices operated by university issued photo access cards. These are manually authorized for specific areas by the building staff. This system has raised a number of issues among users, as the survey has showed. The system slows down movement and activity, and discourages exploration and communication between the different departments.

The most interesting issue related to accessibility was raised by a student through the survey: ”As soon as you meet a locked door the experience of accessibility is being interrupted. There are so many locked doors where an access card is necessary. This adds to the feeling of inaccessibility.”

An anecdote is appropriate here as it illustrates an opposite case. While mapping the programs of the 4th

I believe the building and various floors are easily accessible Strongly agree

8%

10 48%

Agree 17%

Neutral

22 22%

Disagree Strongly disagree

61

28

5% 0%

7 25%

50%

75%

100%

Figure 5.206 Survey table

52

5.2

floor, a group of students was encountered. They were working in a lounge space, even though they were from the Business and Management Department. Somehow, they managed to sneak up to this floor. The Aalborg University main campus in Aalborg East was too far for them and they decided to meet at RB14. On one hand, this means that even if a system is staged from above does not mean that it will be entirely respected from below. People still appropriate the building and negotiate the controls in order to fulfill their needs. On the other hand, having an excessive number of protocols, the experience of moving through the space of the building is hindered and also discouraged. This feeling is also present when there is a lack of

4

3

“knowledge about which areas are not accessible to the common student and what they then are used for”,

2

which was another response that was pointed out in the survey results.

One last issue regarding the accessibility concerned the visitors of the building, as stated by a survey respondent,

1

“It is remarkably hard to invite external collaborators when the doors are only accessed with keycards”.

0

The present lack of a reception area obstructs visitors movement and forces hosts to guide them personally or via mobile technologies.

Figure 5.207 Accessibility in RB14 Indoor entrance

Staff access

Courtyard entrance

Department access

Student access

Visitor access

Teacher access

53

Section 2

5.2 Chapter 5

QR1-Atmosphere Video*

Flow s an d th e Tim e of D ay When analyzing the map of flows for Monday (See Figures 5.208 A-F), in the indoor space, it was noticeable that between 07.55 and 08.20 and 09.55 and 10.20 heavy movement was seen, with a trajectory and a faster pace (Scan&See QR 1 - Video). Regular users displayed a clear target in the morning, as they headed to either lectures or their workspace in the building. The interval between 07.55-08.20 was also the moment when the building received the highest amount of people that utilized it for a part or the rest of the day. In these time

QR2-Atmosphere Video

intervals, users interacted less with the space and chose fast and short paths to reach their destinations.

Around lunch, movement was no longer defined and linear, it was scattered all over the space, which was interpreted to indicate that users were no longer under the pressures of time and were freely interacting with the space (Scan&See QR 2 - Video). The destinations at lunch are given by the cantina seating area, the food truck or other spaces people prefer to have lunch at (the personal workspace, lounge areas with comfortable seating as shown in the lunch diagram (See Figure 5.209).

Flows - 7.55-8.25

Flows 7.55-8.25

Flows - 9.55-10.25

Flows 9.55-10.25

54

*All the videos were recorded on 11th of December 2014 and can be found also on the CDs submitted with the report.

Figure 5.208A Morning flow

Figure 5.208B Morning flow

When you are having lunch break, where will you prefer to have it? (You can choose more then just one) 21%

On the big staircase

27

3%

4

At the launch area on the diďŹ&#x20AC;erent ďŹ&#x201A;oors with the smooth furniture

36

28%

At the tables with a view to the atrium

23%

29

19%

Outside of the building

24

At my wotkspace

58%

Other

74 22

17% Flows - 11.55-12.25

0%

5.2

In the cantina seating

25%

50%

75%

100%

Figure 5.209 Survey table

Flows 11.55-12.25

Flows - 12.20-12.45

Figure 5.208C Lunch flow Flows 12.20-12.45

Figure 5.208D Lunch flow

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Section 2

5.2 Chapter 5

QR3-Atmosphere Video

QR4-Atmosphere Video

After lunch, an in-between situation was recognized, which created a diverse dynamic in the space. It appeared as if future meetings and plans were set and students moved from lecture classes to group work spaces (Scan&See QR 3 - Video). There was a smooth and scattered kind of movement. In this time frame, people appeared to have a smoother interaction with the space. At every hour of the observed day people came and went, but at 16.00 the official schedule of the day was done, and usually most users left the building around that hour. The movement, again was determined, but the pace was no longer as fast as it was in the morning (Scan&See QR 4 - Video).

Flows - 13.30-13.55 In the outdoor courtyard, the map of flows indicated

that the space was mostly used for transit, to access the building (See Figure 5.208 A-F). The most used entrances for the courtyard were the revolving door entrance (south) and the west entrance. The most used entrances in the building were the revolving door entrance and the stairs to the first level, as far as the data the project group had access to. The other entrances where not covered by the cameras. Besides the flows generated by the main entrances, other heavy flows were related to the food truck (See Figure 5.210), around the hours 10:00, 12:00 and 13.00 (given that the food truck was present in the courtyard from ca. 8:30-13:30), and the corridor between the east and west entrance, that was possibly used as shortcut for transiting the area.

Flows 13.30-13.55

Flows - 15.45-16.10

Flows 15.45-16.10

56

Figure 5.208E Afternoon flow

Figure 5.208F Afternoon flow

The way people move in RB14 is limited by the shape and size of the space within. While the atrium and the outdoor courtyard (See Figure 5.211A and B), provide freedom in movement, hallways and stairways limit people to a linear flow. (See Figure 5.212) In relation to the physical design of the interior of the building, some elements obstructed different movements, for example, the furniture and the trees. Also, it was recognizable that the main staircase was used as a reference for meeting points (See Figure 5.213).

Figure 5.210 Food truck

Figure 5.2111A Courtyard

Figure 5.2111B Atrium

Figure 5.2112 Hallway

57

5.2

Flow s an d Sp ati al C h ara c t eri sti c s

Section 2

5.2 Chapter 5

In the outer courtyard, even though the space was open and it did not have defined paths besides the entrances and exits, there were fairly specific paths that people took. (See Figure 5.213) The movement of people was also imposed upon by various elements that acted as obstacles: the green spaces, food truck, urban furniture and the underground parking access. (See Figure 5.211A)

elevators were identified as sociofugal. There were also spaces that functioned as both sociopetal and sociofugal, like the atrium and the outer courtyard. These types of spaces were important to identify as they attracted and dispersed movement. (See Figure 5.211A and B)

Flow s an d Sp ati al Fun c tion ality Section 4.2 mentioned sociopetal and sociofugal spaces.

These were key concepts that could also be identified in RB14. The lunch and lounge areas were identified by the research group as sociopetal, while the stairways and

Figure 5.2113 SImplyfied flows and point of concentration Main flow Secondary flow Point of concentration (people)

58

5.2

S e ction C on clu sion In this section the building Rendsburggade 14 was examined through the filter of data collected by the group given by the theory in section 4.2., in an attempt to answer the sub-questions which follow.

How does external and internal accessibility affect the flows of people within the building?

It has been concluded that the building in general is accessible, but there is a feeling of inaccessibility when it comes to movement across the various floors. The fact that the user is dependent on an access card and is directed by an access control system intensifies the feeling of constrained movement. Having all of these protocols discourages the user from movement across spaces and interacting more with the environment. Here, the fact that the staging for above and staging from below enter a conflict becomes obvious. From above, the plan for the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ground floor is for it to be public, implying a need for an access control system on the other floors. From below, users want easier access and movement around the floors.

How are the flows of people and their interaction with the building influenced by its design?

As stated repeatedly across this project, design plays an important part in how the flows of people are generated. Elements of design obstruct, generate and encourage movement. In the case of RB14, movement has proven itself easy and challenging at the same time.

There are not many physical elements that obstruct movement, but there are issues regarding the programming. Having an XL building that is complex and highly segregated generates a lot of movement, while also discouraging it. Having students on one side, teachers on another and floors dedicated to different departments discourages interaction within the building.

Users did recognize the controls staged from above and devised ways to circumvent them. This is a subject that will be further investigated in the next section, 5.3, when social interactions and embodied experiences will be examined.

59

Section 3

5.3 Chapter 5

5.3 Staging Rendsburggade 14 from below This section represents an analysis of movement in RB14 from the vantage point of the second part of the staging mobilities model: staging from below. This investigation will be an attempt to answer the sub-question â&#x20AC;&#x153;How are people interacting with the building and navigating in it?â&#x20AC;?. What will be addressed in this section will be the social interactions and the embodiment.

The little practices, as mentioned in section 4.3 by Jensen, are a big part of the everyday life mobilities and are the ones that make a difference at the human scale. It is the part that adds subjectivity to movement and it says much about the social life of a space. In RB14, the case is not different as users are moving together; they are linked-in-motion; their movement is encouraged and challenged at the same time. The ballet perspective evokes gestures and embodied experiences of the users.

1

S o ci al Int era c tion s Indoor and outdoor, when it comes to social interactions, people move and queue together, collide and avoid each other. These are all mobile situations that illustrate how people appropriate space and will be illustrated in the following part. The consecutive situations were observed Monday, 22th of September, around lunch time in the outdoor courtyard and indoor, with the help of heat cameras footage.

Mobile situations were noticed on the thermal camera at 12.05 (See Figure 5.301). In this case, two groups can be observed in movement. One involved two girls walking from the direction of the outdoor stairway towards the food truck, and the other included two boys that came from the revolving doors and have the same destination. It can be noticed that the two focused mobilewiths soon become one unfocused one. It is clear that they are not consciously aware of each others presence, but they are moving the same direction. They will meet again in another mobile situation that involved queuing at the food truck, a situation that will be presented next.

60

2

3

Social actor

Mobile-with

Forced movement

Social actor trajectory

Group of people/queue

Forced/negotiated stop

Car trajectory

Conflict in movement

Furniture

Figure 5.301 Mobile situation 1: Mobile-Withs

5.3

The queues at the food truck (See Figure 5.302) not only happened at lunch, but it was noticed from the flow diagrams that they were also happening in the morning hours between ca. 09.55-10.20, when the users procure coffee and baked goods. Even though this queue was rather static, there was still a negotiation between users in regard to whose turn it was in line, how the queue line was shaped (and a lot of gazes and gestures). The most interesting fact about this queue line was that is always blocked the transit path that links the east entrance with the west one, causing a disruption in the movement experience. The next mobile situation will illustrate how. (See Figure 5.303)

1

Social actor

Mobile-with

Forced movement

Social actor trajectory

Group of people/queue

Forced/negotiated stop

Car trajectory

Conflict in movement

Furniture

Figure 5.302 Mobile situation 2: Queuing at the food truck

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Section 3

5.3 Chapter 5

In the outer courtyard, the flows of social actors also intersected with other mobile subjects like cars (the path connecting the east and west entrance allowed car access) (See Figure 5.303). At 12.25, a car was noticed entering the courtyard. At the same time, a mobile-with was observed coming from the north and intersecting paths with the car. It was obvious that even in a situation like this the power of the car was still felt so the social actors stopped and waited for a gesture from the car driver. The car moved slowly and with caution, while the social actors decided to go around it. The queue also represented an obstacle for the car. The social actors reacted to the carâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence and moved aside, leaving it space to advance.

4

5 1

6 2

3

62

Social actor

Mobile-with

Forced movement

Social actor trajectory

Group of people/queue

Forced/negotiated stop

Car trajectory

Conflict in movement

Furniture

Figure 5.303 Mobile situation 3: Intersecting paths with other mobile subjects

5.3

The movement of people is skewed and slowed down equally by static and dynamic objects. Flows of people sometimes meet the challenge of social actors occupying the space in a point of their trajectory (See Figure 5.304). The following case illustrates this and was caught on tape again at 12.25. A group of two boys is noticed standing in the middle of a flow connecting the east entrance with the revolving doors used for accessing the building. The people that enter and exit the building are forced to go around the group, which can be seen as a rock in the river. This collision term was introduced by Jensen in Designing Mobilities (Jensen, 2014:85) and it refers to the moment when the paths of 2 actors in movement intersect.

3

1

2

4

Social actor

Mobile-with

Forced movement

Social actor trajectory

Group of people/queue

Forced/negotiated stop

Car trajectory

Conflict in movement

Furniture

Figure 5.304 Mobile situation 4: Occupying space

63

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5.3 Chapter 5

The following situation was noticed at 12.05 (See Figure 5.305). The main actors of the situation were an individual person and a mobile-with of nine people. While the individual goes up the stairs he encounters the large number of people and was forced to do a lot of â&#x20AC;&#x153;close proximity <<sliding of>> body turnsâ&#x20AC;? (Jensen, 2014:85) in order to continue his movement. The fact that he was outnumbered determined his sinuous movement, while the others continued in a straight line. Also, the narrow space of the stairs path demanded close proximity and also pausing movement, as the social actor stopped at some point and waits for the others to pass.

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Figure 5.305 Mobile situation 5: Collision

5.3

As it has been mentioned in Section 5.1, the staircase represents a landmark in the indoor space. People choose to sit and meet here on or around it. A situation of meeting was noticed again, at lunch time (See Figure 5.306). At 12.07, a social actor appeared on the stairs and placed himself on the middle platform of the stairs. A case of networked-self can be recognized here as well, as the actor, while waiting, interacts with his phone. Two minutes later, a group of 3 people joined him, and after they shook hands, another individual joined them. They all proceeded together down the stairs. In this case, the stairs functioned as both a centripetal and centrifugal space, concepts mentioned in Section 4.2, collecting and dispersing people from and in different directions.

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Figure 5.306 Mobile situation 6: Meeting

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Emb o di ed E xp eri en c e s The embodied experience, as it has been men-

Chapter 5

tioned in section 4.3 depends on the time, space and presence of other social agents, as it is these contextual factors that enable particular behaviors.

Trying to make a distinction between spaces where front staging / back staging acts are enabled, it has been noticed that this is often fairly related to the levels of privacy in the building.

While on the ground floor tacit mobility cultures are enabled and people mostly acted in generally accepted social behaviors. The only ground floor element that seemed to afford a different behavior was the main staircase, that due to its unique design, also encouraged playful acts (jumping around, exercising etc.) and sitting.

The upper levels were looser in terms of behaviour as not all social actors had access here.

Front staging was no longer applied as much as on the ground floor. At every level, it could be said that small communities are formed.

The group work areas become areas where students know each other and no longer get intimidated by each others presence. More social interaction occurred here, but also users felt another level of comfort (walking around in slippers, laying down on furniture, etc.).

In addition to the behavior staged in the presence other people, another aspect that has been already discussed previously, was the way people moved around others in the environment (and how they interacted with it). The following represents an extension to this subject, by presenting four situations (two which happened outdoors and the others indoors) where contact of two social actors with the queue line for the food truck is observed, and how another two interact with the physical elements (the indoor furniture).

The outer courtyard is an open space and permits the users to conduct their own movement as much as possible, as it has been displayed in the previous section. While some chose to 66

move sinuously across the space, going around various physical obstacles and social actors, others chose a straight path and held on to it.

The first social actor’s’ movement was noticed at 12.10.

The man exited the building through an east secondary exit and headed towards the west exit. He chose a twisted way of moving going around the green spaces, parked bicycles and with a “<<sliding off>> body turn” (Jensen, 2014:85). He avoided the queue of social actors in front of the food truck. (See Figure 5.307)

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Figure 5.307 Mobile situation 7: Queue - Social actor 1

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The second actor chose a different way to move across the space. He was noticed at 12.15 while moving across the courtyard. Moving from the west entrance towards the east one, his movement was disrupted by the queue line, which forced him to engage in a negotiation-in-motion. Instead of going around the obstacle, like the first actor did, he chose to penetrate the queue. (See Figure 5.308)

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Figure 5.308 Mobile situation 8: Queue - Social actor 2

5.3

The users not only paid attention to the presence of other social agents, but also interacted with the environment. The situations presented next are relevant for this idea. They were captured on camera Monday, 22th of September, at 7.46 and 7.49 in the morning. In the first situation, the social actor came from the revolving door entrance and headed to the main staircase.

He chose to go through the area with furniture. (See Figure 5.309)

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Figure 5.309 Mobile situation 9: Furniture - Social actor 1

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In the second example, the user that came down the stairs headed towards the same exit and chose to go around the furniture area. The choices could be a matter of preference, time pressure and other factors (shortest path, commodity, etc.). (See Figure 5.310)

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Figure 5.310 Mobile situation 10: Furniture - Social actor 2

The categories of users that we have identified (the drifter, the determined and the transiter) (See Figure 5.311) are related to the different times and paces of the day, that have already been mentioned in the previous section. The drifter is the user that is relaxed, unfocused and has a slow pace while moving - and is preoccupied with mobile practices like hanging out, sitting and resting, interacting with other social actors or experiencing the space. The user that is determined has a certain target or activity in mind and moves towards it. They are preoccupied in finding their way in order to reach the target at a medium pace. The transiter is simply in transit. A simple movement with a fast pace from A to B can be noticed.

What has been noticed in RB14 was that, with some exceptions, the determined and the transiter users could be identified predominantly during the morning hours, from 07.55-08.20 and from 09.55-10.20, and after lunch hours, from 13.30-13.45 and 15.45-16.10. These were the times where there were lectures and busy times to reach workspaces or simply leave the building with another purpose. The drifter, on the other hand, could be noticed during lunch hour, as users were more relaxed and had time for social interactions and experiencing the environment.

The transitter

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S e ction C on clu sion

Figure 5.311 Types of users

Coming back to the sub-question “How are people interacting with the building and navigating in it?” in this section, we have seen that peoples way of interaction and embodiment depends a lot on the context. The level of privacy activates masks that people use, front-staging.

Time determines the pace of the users, the ballet of people colliding, meeting, occupying space is produced and reproduced constantly. Due to the extent of this research, the situations presented were just a small part of the many that were noticed. From these, the ones selected were considered relevant to illustrate various types of mobile situations and interactions and the way users embody movement.

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Time is also an aspect in movement and an embodied experience that helped us in identifying types of users inspired from Jensen’s Designing Mobilities book: the drifter, the determined and the transiter and that have been already introduced in Section 5.1.

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5.4 Chapter 5

5.4 Legibility, Semiotics and Wayfinding of Rendsburggade 14 This section represents the examination of the legibility, semiotics and wayfinding of the XL building RB 14 using the results of the online survey, knowledge from the analysis (ideas and key-concepts from Section 4.4). While the thermal camera data was valuable for the previous sections, due to their placement and the complexities of the wayfinding systems, other data was considered more relevant for examining the legibility of the building for this section. Online survey results as well as photographic documentation are the primary sources of data used here. The data gathered from the online survey indicated users encountered difficulties with the overall legibility of the space and in navigation using the wayfinding system in place. The specifics of these issues will be covered here.

Two sub-questions which evolved out of the project will also be answered: ‘Is people’s navigation in the building a matter of semiotics, design and / or function?’

‘How are the semiotics of the building in conflict between the staging from above / staging from below?’

A social actor’s movement and wayfinding in the environment can very much be affected by the design of the space as well as the legibility and semiotics. This is where the staging from above meets the staging from below, or the mobilities in situ.

Examples of significant elements that will be examined are the elevator and floor numbering system, the layout and numbering of the rooms and whether the signs and directions make the building easy to navigate.

L eg i bi lity As it has been mentioned in Section 4.1 and 4.4 the legibility of the space can be given by design elements, but also by the semiotics and the wayfinding system.

While the semiotics and the wayfinding system of RB14 will be treated separately later in this section, here, the design elements identified in the previous section will

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be further developed (the landmarks, the programming and the main function of the building).

When a social actor first enters RB14, an educational building, one might expect to identify various recognizable elements of this type of function (classrooms, lunch areas, etc.). The issue is not that they cannot be identified, but rather the uniformity and segregation of the space and the relationship between the various elements of programming. Let us take a hypothetical e-xample. You are a first time visitor and you want to go to the third floor to meet with a student. There is no reception (a future one is to be incorporated), the secretaries are at an upper level and the ground level only accommodates technical staff offices and classrooms.

The e-levators are not accessible and the only thing left to do is go up the stairs and call the student. Where are you? At the top of the orange stairs, next to the elevators. Why were these elements the ones picked to describe your position? Because in RB14 the main staircase is a monumental design element, thus a landmark, as are the elevators, being practical, used functions of the building.

Therefore, parts of the buildings do act like signs, but they are not enough. For that, the semiotics and the wayfinding system must be enabled, components that will now be further presented.

S emio ti c s The semiotics of RB14 afford movement and relay information predominantly to students and educational faculty. These occupants normally have a standard work space, but also have lecture rooms which vary with class schedules and semester. As opposed to an XL building where staff has set locations, the majority of regular users occupying this building, as well as visitors, may have more immediate needs for a cohesive and quickly understandable system of navigation due to their tendency to shift locations frequently. In this scenario a semiotic system is necessary, which assists them when changing rooms, following their schedule and matches the mobile necessities.

5.4

In devising the project, the following sub-question was formed in order to examine the building in relation to this subject:

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;How are the semiotics of the building in conflict between the staging from above / staging from below?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; The manner in which users are able to read and recognize semiotics and wayfinding alternatives in the building appeared to be in conflict from the intentions staged from above as shown in the survey results.

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Semiotics throughout the building have been separated into three classes as referred to in Scollonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theories in Section 4.4: informative semiotics, commercial semiotics, and regulatory semiotics. (See Figure 5.401) At a first look, an aspect that can be noticed is that the ground floor caters more signs than the rest of the level, and the reasons for that can be given by the fact that the ground floor has a public character and it needs more signs to guide, more rules to respect and also, people have access to it, so they can easily put up commercials.

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Informative sign Commercial sign Figure 5.401 Map of signs

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Informative semiotics predominantly includes wayfinding assistants and maps. Commercial semiotics in this case study included advertisements and sales of services posted in the building. At the time of this study these included various areas with billboards for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Spotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; advertising and the lone shop sign for the architecture

store housed within the building, ArchiTegn. Regulatory semiotics refers to signs which enforce from above and generally attempt to direct the occupants not to do something. Examples of this included no smoking signs around the balconies and the exits to the courtyard as well as signs forbidding bicycle parking and regulating other vehicle flows in the courtyard. (See Figures 5.402,

Figure 5.402 Commercial sign

Figure 5.403 Informative sign

Figure 5.404 Regulatory sign

Figure 5.405 Regulatory sign

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Figure 5.406 Floor map between elevators

semiotics about zones placed on a column. As they ascended, they were offered a map of the individual level illustrating the rooms and general layout of the floor.

This was placed between the elevators. (See Figures 5.406, 5.407 and 5.408) The whole informative system that partly overlaps with

Figure 5.407 Wayfinding sign near entrances

Figure 5.408 Map of all floors near the entrance with the revolving door

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5.403, 5.404 and 5.405) Upon entering the building from the revolving doors (outdoor courtyard entrance), users were presented with information semiotics about zones on a column as well as map off to the side which displayed all of the floors of the building. When entering from the east or west entrances they were only directed by information

Section 4

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the wayfinding one is addressed in the next part.

Way f in din g How people use the wayfinding systems ( floor numbering, room numbering, placement of semiotics etc.) will ultimately clarify whether they are effective and working as staged from above.

Users of the building displayed confusion when they were navigating in the building. Survey data suggested that the structuring principle (Jensen, 2013:36) left the wayfinding system and the general legibility of the space lacking clarity. Examples of this lack of connection between the staging from above and the staging from below will be demonstrated more thoroughly with online survey results later in this section.

As can be seen from the photo, (See Figure 5.410) clearly there are opposing forces at play. The function of the building involves education in an international environment. Here, the created situation was an attempted compromise between the Danish floor numbering system and other international numbering systems. Taking into account that the building is new and still essentially in progress, this is an example of a makeshift solution to increase the legibility of the building. Thus, the choice to place stickers with floor numbers next to the existing floor number buttons in the elevator appears to have created some confusion for the users of

When entering RB14, whether a regular occupant of the building or a visitor, one would likely immediately begin reading their environment in the attempt to reach their destination. As there are very few student facilities on the ground floor, most users headed directly upstairs upon entering the building either with the help of the elevator or main staircase.

To more thoroughly understand the situation users experience, first some data will be introduced from the online survey.

When asked the question, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I believe the floor numbering in the elevators is easy to understandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, 13% agreed and 48% disagreed. (See Figure 5.409) This appears to be a strong indication that somewhere the intended wayfinding system from above, beginning with the elevators, was being misinterpreted from below.

Figure 5.409 Survey table

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Figure 5.410 Floor numbering in the elevators

When respondents to the online survey were asked, ‘What do you think could be done to improve understanding the floor numbering?’ most of the results generally pointed to the resolution that one system at play is better than two conflicting systems.

Some examples responses from the survey follow.

“Pick one way of showing it, either Danish or international standards - not both.”

“Stop trying to accommodate different cultures. Either stick with one or the other. It is currently split into floors counting from the bottom. Say that, instead of trying to be smart about it.”

The data collected showed patterns that indicate the importance of the staging from above making clear decisions on items such as floor numbers.

When navigating the building, users are presented with images directing them to particular zones. For example, when searching for room 3.529, while most laymen would anticipate finding the room on the third floor, they would in fact find this room on the fourth floor in the third fire zone which could be navigated to either by referring to the various maps placed throughout the building or through directions posted on columns or hanging throughout the building. (See Figures 5.411 and 5.412) The system for arranging the layout of the building and

Figure 5.411 Wayfinding sign at columns

Figure 5.412 Zone wayfinding signs

Zone 1

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Figure 5.413 Firefighting zones

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the building.

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numbering the rooms was based upon splitting the building into 6 firefighting zones. (See Figure 5.413) The entire system was relayed to the user in a format prioritizing the fire zones as the first number in room numbers. Individual rooms were laid out in the following numbering order: zone / floor / room. It can also be noticed here, that the main wayfinding system is one depending on districts, or in this case, fire department zones.

In the online survey, users were asked, ‘I believe the layout and numbering of the rooms is easy to understand and remember.’ The results indicated that 11% of respondents in the survey agreed with this statement while 72% disagreed. These results indicate a strong pattern of conflict between the navigation system planned from above and how it is being interpreted from below. (See Figure 5.414) The difficulties expressed in the quantitative results of the online survey lead to a further examination of the difficulties encountered by occupants of the building.

The data indicated that part of this difficulty stemmed from a nontraditional approach to numbering the floors and rooms, rather than the more traditional and widespread geosemiotic convention of indicating the floor number first. This approach to designing the numbering and navigation systems in order to prioritize the fire department ultimately appears to cause more confusion and reliance on other navigational tools. The use of this non-traditional system ultimately opens up

Figure 5.414 Survey table

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the possibility of leaving the user confused and double checking until the places they frequent are learned.

The survey results showed a clear pattern that reaching one’s desired location can be a challenge due to the overall legibility of the building being compromised by a wayfinding system dependent upon fire zone navigation.

When users were asked, ‘What do you think could be done to improve understanding the numbering of the rooms?’ the patterns of the qualitative results confirmed the information indicated in the quantitative results. The following are examples of responses.

“Change the format of the numbers, so the first number indicates the floor and the second number indicates the section...”

“The worst zone and room numbering I have ever seen.

We as students do not need to know the numbering of the fire-fighting-related zones...”

“It would be easier if each floor had a number, instead of each “tower” having a number. E.g. all rooms at second floor were numbered 2.xxx” The responses not only indicate a clear pattern for a potential solution to remedy this confusion, but also display some of the frustrations and confusion from the users interacting with this system from below.

Users of the building were provided with duplicate floor

Users of the building were given the following question in the online survey: ‘I believe the signs and directions in the building make it easy to navigate.’ In response to this, 18% of respondents agreed, while 58% disagreed. (See Figure 5.415) The response patterns indicated there was a particularly strong dissatisfaction with the system in place.

Respondents voiced confusion over the priorities made in wayfinding, and generally had opinions that there were conflicting priorities and wayfinding systems.

The fact that the building housed Architecture and Design students, who may be particularly sensitive to the impacts and effectiveness of particular designs, which possibly affected the overall results, was a factor the research group concluded worthy of further investigation.

To explore this possibility that Architecture and Design students may have a different perspective on design, navigation, problems and potentials within a building

which differs from that of Media Technology students, a cross-analysis by department was created from the survey results.

Once again, the survey question was: ‘I believe the signs and directions in the building make it easy to navigate.’.

This time the data provides individual departmental results.

The results indicated that 8% (4 people) of Architecture and Design students agreed with this survey statement while 29% (13 people) of Media Technology students agreed. (Compared to the 18% average.)

65% (31 people) of Architecture and Design students disagreed while 52% (23 people) from Media and Technology disagreed with this statement. (Compared to the 58% average.) (See Appendix C ) This could certainly indicate that Media Technology students were more inclined to accept navigation options provided from above without criticism than Architecture and Design students.

Although more Architecture and Design students disagreed that the signs and directions made the building easy to navigate, there still seemed to be a general consensus, as more than half of the respondents found it difficult.

Figure 5.415 Survey table

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numbering systems in the elevators, maps of the floors on every level, and columns which post basic trajectories to particular zone numbers and clusters of rooms to guide them to their ultimate destinations.

With this information, data from the survey will now be referred to in order to analyze the results of this assemblage of wayfinding tools.

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5.4 Chapter 5

After their initial response, participants in the survey were then asked the open question, ‘What do you think could be done to improve the experience of finding your way in the building?’.

How are the semiotics of the building in conflict between the staging from above / staging from below?’

“The zone numbering is incomprehensible and only give vague hints to what floor something is placed on. maps are hard to decipher.”

The data indicated that part of this difficulty stems from a nontraditional approach to numbering the floors and rooms. The critical error in the structure which everything else is dependent on is prioritizing the fire department over the users of the building. The entire system is relayed to the user in a format prioritizing the fire zones as the first number in room numbers, rather than the more traditional system of labeling rooms first with floor numbers and then a room number. Therefore, it is perhaps not the semiotics which are flawed, but the repetition of them in order to reinforce a system which is not a cultural norm or clearly understandable to the common user. This creates a clear conflict where even consistent, informative semiotics provided from above still appear to be unable to create acceptance and understanding of the system in place.

In conclusion to this sub-section, confusion appeared to dominate the staging from below.

‘Is people’s navigation in the building a matter of semiotics, design and / or function?’

As far as summarizing the wayfinding system in place - sufficient and consistent coverage appeared to exist for each level. However, providing more and more supporting semiotics in an attempt to reinforce a system which was inherently flawed, by not prioritizing the user, failed to alleviate the confusion.

Navigating is in this particular building is effected by a unique design, masses of semiotics and accommodating the movement of an ever rotating flow of users navigating between lecture rooms and workstations.

The design of the building certainly imposes particular elements of flow. The function of the building does potentially impact wayfinding and usage.

A sampling of the answers to this question follows.

“I find it very confusing that the floor is not the first piece of information I get, but the second, so I have to go through the number more times than nece-ssary. And I still have not found a way to figure out the logic behind the room numbers.”

“An easily understandable map by every elevator”

The critical error in the RB14 wayfinding system appeared to be prioritizing the fire zones for the fire department over prioritizing the floor numbers for the users of the building. To remedy this situation would involve enacting a standard system agreeing on floor numbers and thereafter labeling the rooms by floor, then fire zone and any other coded information, followed by an orderly system of room numbers.

S e ction C on clu sion This section examined the building Rendsburggade 14 applying theoretical knowledge from section 4.4 of this project and the resulting data from the online survey.

In addition to examining the legibility, wayfinding and semiotics of the XL building, the following sub-questions were answered.

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However, most patterns in the data collected from this study regarding wayfinding in RB14 indicate that semiotics play the crucial role. It is mainly the inherent flaws in the structure of the wayfinding layout, design and priorities which makes users heavily dependent upon the semiotics and memorization, rather than common sense in navigating the building.

The layering and repetition of a wayfinding system which goes against the cultural norms of revolving around set patterns prioritizing floor numbers and room arrangements rather than fire zones appears to be the true culprit here.

In conclusion, it seems somewhat evident here that no matter how consistently repeated a wayfinding system is – the overall legibility of the building is confusing if it is not designed to follow a logical system that the average user has become accustomed to and accepted as a standard in daily life.

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Chapter 6

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Outro 6.1 Conclusion 6.2

Reflection

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6.1

6.1

Conclusion

With this chapter, the case analysis of RB14 comes to an end, by summing up and concluding upon the research question that served as a guide throughout this project: “How are people moving and navigating in the XL building?” The theory and the empirical data were correlated together in chapter five in an attempt to determine how the holistic design of an XL building influences the mobile practices of everyday life.

The resemblances to a public space/domain, the physical settings, the building accessibility - both internal and external, the semiotics etc., all encourage and obstruct the movement of users. The complexity of the building and its richness in layers gives birth to both deliberate and spontaneous mobile situations, as they are situated at the meeting between staging from above and staging from below.

At a more general level, RB14 is a building where public and private meets, where a specific category of people (teachers, students, staff, etc.) meet a more open audience (visitors, collaborators etc.), where the fast pace of the transitter contrasts with the slow pace of the drifter and where accessibility narrows down or opens up as one moves vertically. With all of these elements, either contrasting or compatible, the everyday mobile life of RB14 is born.

The everyday mobile life is acted out by both frequent users and visitors. It has become clear in chapters two and five, when presenting the context and similarities between RB14 and a public space/domain, that the ground floor of the building is open to a more general audience, thus influencing the mobile dynamics in the building. In contrast with a private building, RB14 caters to more users and generates bigger and more diverse flows, especially in the outdoor space.

Everyday mobilities are created by social actors that move and navigate, but also rest, enjoy the environment and interact. First, in terms of mere movement from A to B, the building’s accessibility and design play an important part. While the public character of the ground floor, the open design of the spaces and the segregation of functions afford diverse and complex flows, the presence of an access control system limits them. However, this system has gone beyond its mere role of keeping 84

away unwanted visitors from the upper floors, creating more meaning for the regular users. For them, it creates a feeling of inaccessibility, because the dependence on an access card at every step gives a sense of constrained movement. This system represents an impediment, causing slower movement and also discouraging interaction with the environment. The present situation is generated by a conflict between staging from above and staging from below. The public character desired by the local planners that created the presence of an access control system is mismatched to the desire coming from below - that of easier access and movement around the floors.

Moving forward to the design of the building, it has been recognized also, in regard to this assemblage element, that movement can be both easy and challenging simultaneously: easy because of the openness of the design and the reduced presence of physical elements ( furniture, trees, etc.) and difficult due to the high segregation of functions. For example, let us take function A (the student group room), situated in the north part of the building and function B (the teacher’s desk) situated in the south part of the building. If the student wants to move from A to B, not only will he be stopped by the access system, but he also might be discouraged by the distance. In this situation, a sense of lack of inclusiveness might be felt by both types of users (student, teacher), that also discourages movement.

It has already been recognized that is hard to draw a line and separate movement from meaning. Meaning is attached to movement, and people attach meaning to their surrounding environment when they move. Thus, movement is also about interacting with other users, and also the environment, as it influences mobile behavior. As it has been noted in Section 5.1, the beha-vior of users is similar to that found in public space, while walking, standing and sitting. Also, while walking, a lot of negotiations-in-motion were conducted by either individuals or groups. The groups of users were often either engaged in focused or unfocused mobile-withs (born mainly in the courtyard, the atrium, the elevators, etc.). The presence of other people that were unfamiliar also activated front staging, mostly at the ground floor, while at upper floors back staging was activated, as people felt more comfortable. There is a contrast

6.1

between the two types of behavior that can be mostly related to the difference between the public characteristics of the ground level and the private characteristics of the rest of the building. The partly public feature of the building and the diversity of functions also generate cultural exchanges and increase the amount of social interaction.

As this part answered the first part of the question, “How people move in the building?”, the next and last part will address the navigation issue.

It has been seen across this research project that people guide themselves with the help of other social actors, design, semiotics ad mobile technologies. Our mental map of RB14 showed that part of the design elements can be identified - such as landmarks, paths, nodes and districts and that people can navigate with the help of them. People set meetings around the main staircase, elevators (landmarks) that represent departure points for movement. However, the poor presence of such elements and also the uniformity of the space decreased the level of space legibility. To reinforce legibility, the presence of wayfinding systems is necessary. The wayfinding system at RB14 has proven itself challenging, whether we talk about the floor and room numbering or the placement and the amount of signs to reinforce that system.

not been explored and have been considered relevant in the attempt to answer the research question will be presented in the next and final section. RB14 has been a useful case in the exploration of everyday life mobilities, as it has given insight in how people move, interact, navigate in the space and accommodate it. RB14 is the place where the flows and ballet of students, teachers, visitors, staff, signs, food trucks, stairs, elevators, group rooms, teachers’ desks, staff offices, wayfinding systems and protocols are assembled together. The building represents a stage, like the public space, that affords and obstructs diverse movement and different mobile behaviors.

On one hand, the system of numbering the floors interferes with the mobility culture codes, as the danish system of notation and the international one are both present in the building, creating more confusion, rather than helping. On the other hand, the numbering of rooms follows another layout than the commonly used one, causing trouble in the process of navigation.

Even though the usage of mobile technologies for wayfinding was not explored entirely and just mentioned, it has been obvious when analyzing the video footage, that mobile coordination was used in RB14, as the building is characterized, like others, by “digital connectivity”. (Jensen, 2014:93) Even though the analysis and the exploration of RB14 can be further developed, this project has come to an end. Further research possibilities and issues that have

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6.2

Reflection RB14 has proven itself to be an interesting case in the attempt to decipher the mobile life and was the platform of numerous and diverse mobile situations.

Nevertheless, the project had its limitations and challenges in the process of data collection and analysis. These barriers however should be treated as subjects/issues to be possibly further explored in the future.

R ef l e c tion up on pro c e ss an d pra c ti cal re c omm end ation s The process of data collection has proven itself fruitful and challenging at the same time. First, the thermal camera data was provided to us with already preselected angles of observation, which limited our vantage points on the flows of people. Secondly, it was also challenging to get a full understanding of the building, as we were faced with issues of accessibility ourselves, being active users and observants. The teachers’ areas, situated at every floor of the building and the Art & Technology department, situated at the first floor, represented inaccessible areas and were treated as general entities, without exploring them in detail.

Lastly, another issue to be further treated with care was the formulation of the survey questions/statements, as they should be phrased as objective and clear as possible. For example the statement “I believe the building and various floors are easily accessible” referred to two types of accessibility (to the building and the floors), while they should have been threated separately. Nevertheless, here, the hermeneutic approach (bringing our own knowledge as building users) and the open comments following the statement helped in identifying the respondents’ views on the subject.

Moving forward and looking at the process of analyzing, it has been noticed along the project paper that the research addressed the ground floor and the rest of the building unequally. This was due to the fact that the thermal cameras only focused on the atrium and the outdoor courtyard, but that was not the only reason. Among the five levels of the building, the ground floor is the only one that does not corespond to the general layout of the upper floors, but also offers possibilities for more complex movement. For the upper levels, it was more interesting to notice the mobile dynamics between the levels.

The major issue in the analysis of RB14 was the constant change of the building’s status. The fact that we studied RB14 while it was still under construction meant that numerous changes occurred between October 2014-January 2015 (Appendix D). The numbering of the floors in the elevators changed, the courtyard furniture was replaced, the placement of the food truck moved, the wayfinding system and signs became optimized. These changes effect the way people move and navigate in the building. Thus, in terms of data used for analysis, we decided to focus on the situation that existed when the thermal cameras were active and correlate all the data collected after, in an attempt to find similarities regarding the mobile dynamics.

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Fur th er re s earch As it has been mentioned above, not all the thought-provoking aspects of the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mobilites have been touched in the project paper. Nevertheless, we consider them to be essential inputs to the everyday mobile life of RB14.

One first aspect that should be further explored is the connection between the internal and external flows of the building. The project was limited to the analysis of the inside perimeter, without getting a full understanding of how the city feeds in flows of people. While a perception of the building from inside was investigated, we consider that the image is not complete without being aware of an outside perception. An example here can be the relation between the façade facing Nyhavnsgade and the passers-by. Does this transparent façade encourage people to go inside the perimeter and explore the building? Does it attract flows of people or is it just funnctioning as a transit site for outsiders?

Another aspect worth reflecting upon is the public character of the ground area and the way the building falls into place in the new harbor area, with cultural character. The House of Music, the student accommodations and RB14 (City Campus), according to the Local Plan (Appendix A) are meant to be linked by main and secondary flows. The cultural functions of the buildings are intended to generate future flows. However, this was not an aspect that was explored, as the surroundings of RB14 are still under construction and did not constitute the main subject of the research.

In addition, further investigation is worth doing regarding the obvious conflict between the staging from above and staging from below. There is a mismatch between the intention of the planners and the desires of the users and a holistic analysis will definitely uncover more conflicts. People do not always move according to the rules imposed from above, as it has already been mentioned across the project. What could be the balanced situation between staging from above and staging from below?

There are still many worthy questions to be answered. Nonetheless, the study of Rendsburggade 14 confirms that there is a need to think about how the complexity of an XL building, presence of numerous layers and the mobile life are tied together. Such complexity effects movement, from a large scale (direction and intensity of flows, either local or global ones) to a small scale (ballet, mobile embodiment, interaction with the environment, etc.) and the case of Rendsburggade 14 has proven itself no different.

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7.1 Bibliography Aalborg Municipality (2009), Lokalplan 1-1-104. Musikkens Hus. Aalborg Midtby. [Online] Available: http://soap.plansystem.dk/ pdfarchive/20_1315065_PROPOSAL_1256737463701.pdf [Accessed 08 Dec. 2014] Bryman, A. (2012), Social research methods, Oxford University Press, 4th edition, pp. 560-561 Dewey, J. (1938), Logic, The Theory of Inquiry, New York: H. Holt and Company, pp. 101-119 Gehl, J. (1987), Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space, translated by Jo Koch, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York Gehl, J & Svarre, B. (2013), How to Study Public Life, Island Press, Washington Gibsom, D. (2009), The Wayfinding Handbook, NYC: Princeton Uni Press Hajer, M & A. Reijndorp (2001), In Search of New Public Domain, NAi Publishers, Rotterdam Henning Larsen Architects (2014), City Campus Aalborg, Henning Larsen Architects [online] Henninglarsen.com. Available at: http://henninglarsen.com/projects/1000-1099/1023-city-campusaalborg.aspx [Accessed 28 Dec. 2014] Hookway, C. (2008), Pragmatism, [online] Plato.stanford.edu. Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2013/entries/ pragmatism/ [Accessed 19 Dec. 2014] Jensen, O. B. (2014), Designing Mobilities, Aalborg University Press, Aalborg Jensen, O. B. (2013), Staging Mobilities, Routledge, New York, non-layout version Jensen, O.B. & N. Morelli (2011), Critical Points of Contact: Exploring networked relations in urban mobility and service design, Danish Journal of Geoinformatics and Land Management, vol. 46, no. 1 JISC (2006), Designing Spaces for Effective Learning [online], Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/JISClearningspaces.pdf> [Accessed 20 Nov. 2014] Koolhaas, R. & Mau, B. (1995), S, M, L, XL, The Monaceli Press, Inc., New York Lynch, K. (1960), The Image of the City, The MIT Press, USA Scollon R. and Scollon S.W. (2003), Discourses in Places, Routledge, London Whyte, W. H. (1980), The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, Edwards Brothers, Inc., Michigan

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7.2 List of Illustrations Cover photo: http://www.henninglarsen.com/media/909095/Frahavnen.png [Accessed 05. Jan. 2015] Chapter 2

2.001-2.002 Own illustrations Chapter 3

3.101 Own illustration

3.301 Own illustration Chapter 4

4.101 Own illustration with inspiration from K. Lynch (1960)

4.102 Gehl, J & Svarre, B. (2013), How to Study Public Life, Island Press, Washington

4.103 http://ytiffanie.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/amagertorv.jpg [Accessed 11. Dec. 2014]

4.104-4.105 Gehl, J & Svarre, B. (2013), How to Study Public Life, Island Press, Washington

4.106 http://www.bestcities.net/uploadedImages/Image_Galleries/Copenhagen-Amagertorv.jpg [Accessed 11. Dec. 2014]

4.107 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Amagertorv_-_Strøget.jpg [Accessed 11. Dec. 2014]

4.108 http://b.bimg.dk/node-images/500/5/800x600-u/5500556-strget-ggade-i-50-r---1.jpg [Accessed 11. Dec. 2014]

4.201 Jensen, O. (2014). The Mobilities Turn, MSc01 MOB, Aalborg University, slide 48

4.401 Own illustration with inspiration from D. Gibson (2009)

4.501 Own illustration

Chapter 5

5.101-5.104 Own illustrations

5.105 Gehl, J & Svarre, B. (2013), How to Study Public Life, Island Press, Washington

5.106 Own illustration

5.107-5.108 Gehl, J & Svarre, B. (2013), How to Study Public Life, Island Press, Washington

5.109-5.112 Own illustrations

5.113 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Amagertorv_-_Strøget.jpg [Accessed 11. Dec. 2014]

5.114 http://b.bimg.dk/node-images/500/5/800x600-u/5500556-strget-ggade-i-50-r---1.jpg [Accessed 11. Dec. 2014]

5.115-5.117 Own illustrations

5.201-5.213 Own illustrations

5.401-5.415 Own illustrations

5.301-5.311 Own illustrations

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As the Local Plan has showed, at the ground floor of the building events are possible to happen, open to a larger audience. The photos presented here are from the ArT Exhibition, held by the Atr&Technology Department, that took place between 4-6th of December 2014. These pictures were chosen in particular, because they depict the adaptability of transit spaces (the main staircase and fire escape stairs where used as exhibition areas) and the presence of â&#x20AC;&#x153;unusualâ&#x20AC;? users of the building ( families with children, elders).

Openess and complexity of an XL building also imply the flexibility and posibility to cater large events, proper to its scale.

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