ASSIGNMENT
Behaviour change through nature.
The city of Utrecht is growing and thus, ways of using space more effectively are welcomed.
A Master assignment, executed at the municipality of Utrecht, was aimed at using Nature in a multifunctional manner so that design would emerge that consequently uses space more effectively. During preliminary research, Nature was found to have a positive impact on Social Interaction and Physical Activity. Since all three themes were of great importance for the urban development plan for which the design was created, this option for multifunctionality was deemed a beautiful opportunity and was therefore translated into a research objective. This page very briefly highlights some core elements that led to the final design that is shown at the top of this page.
Multifunctionality
Effective use of
space
Physical activity
Social interaction
Problems
In order for nature to promote social interaction and physical activity, nature should function as a medium through which the effective factors can be facilitated that lead to social interaction and physical activity. Desk research and interviews were used to find out which problems were cause the most hindrance to the occurrence of social interaction and that of an active lifestyle.
External goals
Self reliance
Cocooning
Flexibility
Problem statement
Many factors were found to negatively influence the occurrence of social interaction. However, one one of those was considered to be of greater importance. This problem was described as the decreasing amount of reasons for which people seek out interaction with other people. The two images above illustrate two important ways through which our changing society contributes to the decrease of reasons for social interaction.
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Problem statement
Physical activities such as fitness or running allow people with tight schedules to squeeze in some physical exercise. Such physical activities thereby tackle the hindrance of a lack of time which is the number one problem for adults. However, such activities are not adored by everyone as they rely on external motivation. Research concluded that aside from the need for flexibility, the hindrance of motivation should also be addressed.
Solution Direction
The factors that nature should be able to facilitate in order to promote social interaction and physical activity are shown in the image below. Essentially, factors such as creativity, exploration, and social interaction will evoke an intrinsic sense of motivation. Since research showed that intrinsic motivation was found to be a good predictor of behaviour change, this was considered a necessary element for promoting physical activity. Furthermore, curiosity was considered the main motivator for initiating social interaction. Besides, the element of curiosity should be visible linked to a person so that curiosity may be answered in the form of a conversation.
Facilitate
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Curiosity
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Connecting
element
Facilitate
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creativity
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exploration
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Social interaction
Inspiration
Ideation led to sketches that formed the origin of the final design. The sketches below which illustrate the use of water reflections spiked the most interest during the ideation process. Reflected water patterns can normally only be seen on the bottom of a swimming pool, the ocean floor, or under a bridge. Furthermore, water patterns are complex and can overlap with other water patterns, creating interference. These characteristics easily trigger our curiosity. Furthremore, interference can be used as visual invites for social interaction. Lastly, since water patterns can be created through manual action, they offer room for physical activity.
Concept
From the inspiring sketched ideas, a concept was created, named Hemblauw. The concept makes use of our innate curiosity towards nature by uniquely facilitating vivid water reflections in the urban environment and by making them interactive. The transparent roof is covered with a thin layer of water which casts a reflection on the ground through interaction with the sun. Interactive stepping stones can be used to create ripple patterns in the water surface which will subsequently be reflected on the ground. The slider below shows three steps that demonstrate the expected functionality of the concept within public space.
Step 1:
Discover
