LITERATURE REVIEW

2.6.3 Window lessness:

Window lessness cannot be regarded as an inherent characteristic of the subsurface, yet it always will be an inescapable issue in the design of terratectural alternatives. Although fenestration is available to many underground building forms, the area and orientation of windows always will be limited and a determining factor in the arrangement, or zoning, of interior functions. The subject of window lessness itself has generated a great deal of debate during the past two decades, but it remains clouded by much emotionalism and little empirical or psychological study. The usual effect of eliminating windows is to internalize the environment, i.e., to focus it inward by removing outside stimuli which are unrelated to the task at hand. Some architects have been quick to seize the advantage of this feature, especially in the design of learning environments where exterior distractions (traffic, playground activity, lawn mowing) interrupt students' concentration while challenging teachers' disciplinary authority. The idea of windowless or underground schools has been met with apprehension and claims of "unnaturalness" on the part of parents. Performance studies assessing students' achievement and behavior, teacher attitudes, and post facto community opinion in such situations, however, have shown them to be at least as effective as neighboring control schools; there is some additional evidence to suggest greater satisfaction and benefit from windowless classrooms than from ordinary, windowed, surface school rooms. Less controversial uses of windowless environments are those in which people spend little time, and where windows jeopardize or conflict with the performance of the function being housed. Examples include photographic lighting studios, darkrooms, museum storage, refrigerated warehouses, planetariums, mushroom farms, and the "para-geotectural" applications. For functions in which natural light and views are highly desirable, expected, or may connote status (as in the top floors of an office building), the absence of windows will usually result in some form of occupant discontent. Dissatisfaction caused by what one may perceive as substandard conditions will fault the overall performance of a structure, regardless of extra-functional benefits such as energy conservation and landscape preservation. Designers of underground environments have compensated for this in several ways. One method has been to provide generous spatial accommodations - high ceilings, wide corridors, and internal windows vision panels to visually link offices, lobbies, and reception areas. Another method of spatial compensation is to group small "aedicule" spaces e.g., offices around a grand central space, such as a multi-level lobby or atrium. Lighting compensation also may be introduced with bright, cheerful colors on the walls augmenting carefully selected task and "complexion" lighting. Highly uniform environments inevitably lead to boredom and dissatisfaction and should be avoided. Surrogate windows and simulation devices are cosmetic approaches to earth-integrated design. The perceived need for them ·reveals the imposition of underground location on a function ill-suited to