External Awareness

09

EXTERNAL AWARENESS Research by Cassandra Choo Yee Lit

Abstract

External awareness is a sense of space, environmental aware, and attitude which one needs to be aware in order to form a spatial perception. This awareness exists from humans and the impacts from external environment will help reduces physiological and neurological distress and makes them feel better. The presence of awareness when merging with building interior with nature will enhance people in terms of health and productivity as well. Based on attributes of biophilic design, it allows demonstrating the phenomenal and experiencing of human and nature to respond to external awareness within a museum.

Related to Biophilic Sense

External awareness have few considerations which can be related to biophilic sense when comes designing a museum. Natural light are essentials to facilitate movement and wayfinding. Natural air helps bring in fresh air within space and reduce air pollution and carbon emission as this element will also overcome ‘Sick Building Syndrome’ for visitors if not taken care. As for natural water and plants, they can help their awareness by improving concentration, engagement and attentive toward craft or art piece. Weather is most important, the presence can help improve mental stimulate toward visitor experience to create narrative and journey as they embark through pathway of rooms full of arts and crafts.

Experience Between Space and Place

As for awareness to experience between space and place, prospect and refuge allow to create a view within museum through outside world to have sense by keeping up with the times since museum have curious attraction to divert concentration of visitor. Attractions and pieces within museum space can have flexible organized complexity, mainly by reducing patterns and colours either on floor or walls can create a sense of difference of centrepieces and draw more attention toward it. The integration of parts to whole can be shown within transition of room, for example small art pieces can be shown first then it transition to a big pieces within another room. As for mobility and wayfinding, it should be clear noticeable to navigate self and other people to have no sense of lost within the building. It can be shown through 5 elements of cognitive mapping which is path, edge, node, district and landmark. By putting an engagement of cultural and ecological attachment to a place, it allows visitors to related themselves and allow for enlightened and engagement in equal to the local landscape, flora and fauna and meteorological conditions.

Case Study of Laurie Baker Project