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Post 13 Nussbaumer's Chapter 13 summary: This chapter focuses on healthcare design. Healthcare is generally defined by being "the maintenance and improvement of physical and mental health, especially through the provision of medical services", which then means that healthcare design includes all medical facilities such as "medical offices, dental offices, hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, and assisted living". The main goals that we have to always keep in mind, when designing for healthcare, is to always provide spaces that provides quality and efficient care in these spaces. Indeed, the space planning of it needs to really thought out well. Spaces that are created need to be what they need, as well as being functional and easy to access. Easy access is important, especially in that particular field because professionals will deal with a lot of people who need help and support physically, as well as mentally and psycho...
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Post 12 Nussbaumer's Chapter 12 summary: This chapter focuses on one aspect of commercial design, which is hospitality design. Hospitality design includes a "variety of different venues", such as restaurants, hotels (lodging), and retail stores. Lodging, which is a temporary place to stay with sleeping accommodations, is a very diverse category in itself because it goes from " upscale hotels connected with large convention centers, to resort hotels, to high-rise hotels, timeshares, family owned inns, boutique hotels, bed and breakfast (B&B), sporting lodges, chain motels, and more." Places that serves food and beverage, also come in a diverse set of places, such as "coffeehouses, diners, snack bars, cafes, bar and grill restaurants", and cafeterias in places like hospitals, schools and offices. example of a restaurant where the seats invite you to take your time and stay longer, while the second example illustrates a cafeteria ...
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Post 11 Nussbaumer' s Chapter 11 summary: Interior designers have to provides spaces that will give the users a great experience. Especially in work environments, it is important to give the users that great experience, because most of the "people spend more time at work than in their homes". Ergonomics (the study of people's efficiency in their working environment), are important to include in the design of an office, so that the workers will feel comfortable which will enable them to be productive. We have to think about the choice of furniture and lightning and how we place them, when it comes to height for example. We should want to avoid inaccessibility, physical/ mental stress, eyestrain, and poor postures, to avoid injuries and health issues. Providing a safe and secure environment is then one of the main goals when it comes to design an office. This illustrates the study of ergonomics. The main difficulty/challenge for interior designers is to...
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Post 10 Commercial environments include every kind of space that is non-residential, such as: offices hospitality ( like hotels and restaurants) retail (clothing stores) institutional (schools) health care ( hospitals)] others       Designing for commercial environments is different from designing residential projects as we have seen precedently. Designing for commercial environments, is challenging in a lot of ways because the design is served to please a good number of people, and not just one or a few. In all of these distinctive commercial spaces, there is a need to balance well the private/personal and the public/interactive spaces ( we need to look at the proxemics to evaluate that aspect). This describes the study of proxemics. But there is also a need to serve well the staff, the clients, the visitors, the patients, teachers, students, etcetera. Plus not only do we have to serve well all these people, we also have to consider "the ...
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Post 09 Nussbaumer's Chapter 9 Summary: This chapter is the commencement of the application of what we have learned previously  ( the human factors) into projects, which begins first with residential environments. We have already discussed the main design strategies and best options for residential environments with Rengel's book. However, Nussbaumer add and brings a new perspective to the subject. It is necessary to adapt the residence for the clients to use ( retrofitting), especially if those future occupants need to have certain accommodations and certain provisions for alternative ways to access steps via ramps or lifts due to physical limitations (barrier- free design). It is also necessary to provide a home design that will last a long time, especially if it is a young couple or a family that purchased the house and plan to live in there for a lifetime, which means that they will age, probably have kids, etcetera. It is then better to provide...
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Post 08 Rengel's Chapter 8 Summary: After talking about residential design, this chapter focuses on the non- residential design which is the office space, the store space (retail), and the restaurant. Designing for these kind of spaces, is not the same as designing for residential projects, because it does not only serve one client, a couple, or one family, but its purpose is to serve the workers, the visitors, the community, which is mostly everyone. Work environments: We have to be able to provide a space where workers can focus on work and be productive. Plus, these days, more and more companies want their workers to work on teams. There is a need to balance private and public spaces. However the privacy is not the same as the privacy in a residential project where people are completely isolated, but it is shown in a subtle and thoughtful way (semi-private with workstations). We also would want to provide rooms where the company can have group meetings with eith...
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Post 07 Rengel's Chapter 7 Summary:      This chapter focuses on residential design and overall Roberto J. Rengel gives us tips on how to have a successful space planning for this particular type of design, especially for smaller scales and spaces. We have to better understand the dynamics of living in shared spaces, and for that, to start the process, we have to look back and see with our own experience ( the houses/dorms/apartments we have seen or lived) since we are familiar to residential design, and examine what are the preferences and habits of our clients ( we have to make an assessment with them of their needs and ask about their lifestyle). All of these, especially the assessment will help to establish what kind of furnishings and spaces will need to be provided in order to accommodate the particular functions they needed. There are some design considerations that are universal too, in the residential design aspect such as dividing the ove...