SIGIA-L Mail Archives: SIGIA-L: Architecture
SIGIA-L: Architecture
From: Mike Charton (charton_at_research.att.com)
Date: Wed Apr 26 2000 - 07:45:32 EDT
Rebecca Blood Writes:
"I would argue that Great Architecture is emotionally resonant, and
that good architecture is something else...comfortable, or well-suited
to its purpose, or imminently adaptable, depending on the building and
its function.
while I haven't found a positive emotionally resonant information
architecture, I have found some very frustrating ones. ones that remind
me of the worst-designed buildings I've been in in their lack of
consistency, utter inefficiency, and total lack of regard for the people
who will be inhabiting them.
I worked in a building once in which no floor plan matched another. in
which all parts of the building did not connect. to get to a room on the
second floor from the office I worked in, you had to traverse a series
of halls on the fourth floor before you went downstairs because the
second floor didn't connect from the one section to the other. knowledge
of one floor plan did not necessarily translate to a template for any
other floor; in other words, at all times you had to know how to get to
where you were going ahead of time, you couldn't figure it out based on
anything you knew already about the building.
I've been to many websites that seem to be built on the same principle."
All too true! I think we have all been or worked in buildings like that.
How many websites, (like some buildings) were designed to look pretty, but
not necesarily be functional. Yes, the building, or website, should be
eye-catching. It also should work...
Mike
Mike Charton
Shannon Lab Library, NJ0644 Building 103
Room B002
180 Park Avenue
Florham Park, New Jersey 07932
USA
http://library.research.att.com, a member library of the Information
Research Center, http://irc.att.com
Telephone: 973-360-8603
Fax: 973-360-8020
E-Mail: charton_at_research.att.com
Personal Website:
http://www.mikecharton.com
"Librarians aren't know it alls. We just know where to look."
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