Matching Items (16)
Description
In recent years, the length of time people use and keep belongings has decreased. With the acceptance of short-lived furniture and inexpensive replacements, the American mentality has shifted to thinking that discarding furniture is normal, often in the guise of recycling. Americans are addicted to landfills. The high cost of landfill real estate and other considerable ecological impacts created by the manufacturing of furniture should persuade people to give their belongings a longer life, but in reality, furniture is often prematurely discarded. This grounded theory study takes a multi-method approach to analyze why some types of furniture are kept longer and to theorize about new ways to design and sell furniture that lasts well past its warranty. Case studies bring new insight into designer intention, manufacturer intent, the world of auction-worthy collectables and heirlooms, why there is a booming second-hand furniture market and the growing importance of informed interior designers and architects who specify or help clients choose interior furnishings. An environmental life cycle assessment compares how the length of furniture life affects environmental impacts. A product's life could continue for generations if properly maintained. Designers and manufacturers hoping to promote longevity can apply the conclusions of this report in bringing new pieces to the market that have a much longer life span. This study finds areas of opportunity that promote user attachment, anticipate future repurposing, and provide services. This thinking envisions a paradigm for furniture that can re-invent itself over multiple generations of users, and ultimately lead to a new wave of desirable heirloom furniture.
ContributorsIngham, Sarah (Author) / White, Philip (Thesis advisor) / Wolf, Peter (Committee member) / Underhill, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
ABSTRACT In an attempt to advocate body-conscious design and healing work environments, this research study of holistic health in the workplace explores cognitive, social and physical well-being in four small US offices that are between 1000 and 4000 square feet and employ three to twelve employees. Holistic health, as pursued in this research, includes social health, emotional health and physical health. These three factors of holistic health have been identified and investigated in this study: biophilia: peoples' love and affiliation with other species and the natural environment; ergonomics: the relationship between the human body, movement, the immediate environment and productivity; and exercise: exertion of the body to obtain physical fitness. This research study proposes that employees and employers of these four participating workplaces desire mobility and resources in the workplace that support holistic health practices involving biophilia, ergonomics, and exercise. Literature review of holistic health and the holistic health factors of this research topic support the idea that interaction with other species can be healing, ergonomic body-conscious furniture and equipment increase productivity, limit body aches, pains and health costs; and exercise stimulates the mind and body, increasing productivity. This study has been conducted primarily with qualitative and flexible research approaches using observation, survey, interview and pedometer readings as methods for data collection. Two small corporate franchise financial institutions and two small private healthcare providers from both Arizona and Georgia participated in this study. Each office volunteered one employer and two employee participants. Of the holistic health factors considered in these four case studies, this study found that a majority of participants equally valued emotional health, social health and physical health. A majority of participants declared a preference for workplace environments with serene natural environments with outdoor spaces and interaction with other species, work environments with body-conscious furniture, equipment and workstations, as well as exercise space and equipment. As these particular workplace environments affirmed value for elements of the factors biophilia, ergonomics and exercise, all three factors are considered valueable within the workplaces of these case studies. Furthermore, factors that were said to contribute to personal productivity in participating workplaces were found as well as sacrifices that participants stated they would be willing to make in order to implement their preferred work environment(s). In addition, this study recorded and calculated average miles walked by participants in each workplace as well as existing incentives and descriptions of ideal work environments. Implications of this research study involve interior design, industrial design and fashion design that can accommodate the desires of the four participating workplaces. Major design implications involve accommodating these particular workplaces to provide personnel with opportunities for holistic health in working environments. More specific implications of office related design involve providing access to natural environments, body-conscious equipment and spaces, as well as opportunities for exercise and social interaction. These elements of the factors biophilia, ergonomics and exercise were found to be said to contribute to cognitive, social and physical health.
ContributorsMcEwan, April (Author) / White, Philip (Thesis advisor) / Shraiky, James (Committee member) / Barry, Rebecca (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Natural resource depletion and environmental degradation are the stark realities of the times we live in. As awareness about these issues increases globally, industries and businesses are becoming interested in understanding and minimizing the ecological footprints of their activities. Evaluating the environmental impacts of products and processes has become a key issue, and the first step towards addressing and eventually curbing climate change. Additionally, companies are finding it beneficial and are interested in going beyond compliance using pollution prevention strategies and environmental management systems to improve their environmental performance. Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) is an evaluative method to assess the environmental impacts associated with a products' life-cycle from cradle-to-grave (i.e. from raw material extraction through to material processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and finally, disposal or recycling). This study focuses on evaluating building envelopes on the basis of their life-cycle analysis. In order to facilitate this analysis, a small-scale office building, the University Services Building (USB), with a built-up area of 148,101 ft2 situated on ASU campus in Tempe, Arizona was studied. The building's exterior envelope is the highlight of this study. The current exterior envelope is made of tilt-up concrete construction, a type of construction in which the concrete elements are constructed horizontally and tilted up, after they are cured, using cranes and are braced until other structural elements are secured. This building envelope is compared to five other building envelope systems (i.e. concrete block, insulated concrete form, cast-in-place concrete, steel studs and curtain wall constructions) evaluating them on the basis of least environmental impact. The research methodology involved developing energy models, simulating them and generating changes in energy consumption due to the above mentioned envelope types. Energy consumption data, along with various other details, such as building floor area, areas of walls, columns, beams etc. and their material types were imported into Life-Cycle Assessment software called ATHENA impact estimator for buildings. Using this four-stepped LCA methodology, the results showed that the Steel Stud envelope performed the best and less environmental impact compared to other envelope types. This research methodology can be applied to other building typologies.
ContributorsRamachandran, Sriranjani (Author) / Bryan, Harvey (Thesis advisor) / Reddy T, Agami (Committee member) / White, Philip (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) quantifies environmental impacts of products in raw material extraction, processing, manufacturing, distribution, use and final disposal. The findings of an LCA can be used to improve industry practices, to aid in product development, and guide public policy. Unfortunately, existing approaches to LCA are unreliable in the cases of emerging technologies, where data is unavailable and rapid technological advances outstrip environmental knowledge. Previous studies have demonstrated several shortcomings to existing practices, including the masking of environmental impacts, the difficulty of selecting appropriate weight sets for multi-stakeholder problems, and difficulties in exploration of variability and uncertainty. In particular, there is an acute need for decision-driven interpretation methods that can guide decision makers towards making balanced, environmentally sound decisions in instances of high uncertainty. We propose the first major methodological innovation in LCA since early establishment of LCA as the analytical perspective of choice in problems of environmental management. We propose to couple stochastic multi-criteria decision analytic tools with existing approaches to inventory building and characterization to create a robust approach to comparative technology assessment in the context of high uncertainty, rapid technological change, and evolving stakeholder values. Namely, this study introduces a novel method known as Stochastic Multi-attribute Analysis for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (SMAA-LCIA) that uses internal normalization by means of outranking and exploration of feasible weight spaces.
ContributorsPrado, Valentina (Author) / Seager, Thomas P (Thesis advisor) / Landis, Amy E. (Committee member) / Chester, Mikhail (Committee member) / White, Philip (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
"Too often, people in pain are stuck in limbo. With no diagnosis there is no prognosis. They feel that without knowing what is wrong, there is no way to make it right" (Lewandowski, 2006, p. ix). Research has shown that environmental factors, such as views of nature, positive distractions and natural light can reduce anxiety and pain (Ulrich, 1984). Patients with chronic, painful diseases are often worried, anxious and tired. Doctor's appointments for those with a chronic pain diagnosis can be devastating (Gilron, Peter, Watson, Cahill, & Moulin, 2006). The research question explored in this study is: Does the layout, seating and elements of positive distraction in the pain center waiting room relate to the patients experience of pain and distress? This study utilized a mixed-method approach. A purposive sample of 39 individuals participated in the study. The study employed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Lewandowski Pain Scale (LPS) and a researcher developed Spatial Perception Instrument (SPI) rating the appearance and comfort of a pain center waiting room in a large metropolitan area. Results indicated that there were no significant correlations between pain, distress and the waiting room environment. It is intended that this study will provide a framework for future research in the area of chronic pain and distress in order to advance the understanding of research in the waiting area environment and the effect it may have on the patient.
ContributorsDraper, Heather (Author) / Bender, Diane (Thesis advisor) / Shraiky, James (Committee member) / Lamb, Gerri (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Healthcare is one of the most personal and complex services provided, and as such, designing healthcare environments is particularly challenging. In the last couple of decades, researchers have concentrated their efforts on exploring the elements of the hospital environment that affect patients' health and in finding ways to apply that knowledge in contemporary healthcare design. But despite the growing body of research, there is an element of utmost importance to healing environments that has not been studied very extensively: the patient experience. The interaction of patients with their environment shapes their personal experience, and inversely, focusing on designing experiences rather than services can inform the design of successful healing environments. This shift from designing services to designing experiences has deep implications in healthcare settings because of the stressful situations that patients have to go through; memorable experiences have a positive influence on a patient's emotional health because they help minimize stress and in healthcare environments this translates into improved outcomes. The concept of assembling experiences is not new, especially in the entertainment industry; it was, in fact, the underlying principle behind the creation of the first theme park more than fifty years ago: Disneyland. Today, Disney is an entertainment industry leader and their design concepts and practices have been perfected to achieve the Company's main purpose: to immerse Guests in a happy, unforgettable experience. This research study focuses on examining the principles used by Disney designers, or Imagineers, as they are called within the organization, to generate memorable experiences, and how those theories can be adopted and adapted by healthcare designers to create better healing environments. However, Disney's Imagineering is not the only approach considered in this research. A thorough analysis would not be complete without delving into the concept of experiential design as a design process and from an economical perspective, as well as without analyzing recent notions about the importance of authenticity in businesses and its implications on design. This study, therefore, suggests a new healing environment design model based on a comprehensive review of the literature related to three main design approaches: Disney Imagineering, experiential design and authenticity.
ContributorsDuenas Parra, Betsabe (Author) / Bernardi, Jose (Thesis advisor) / Stein, Morris (Committee member) / Shraiky, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Violence in schools occurs throughout America, prevalent to the point of daily happenstance. The epidemic of violence in our society is in sore need of healing efforts. Ending Bullying with Multiple Architectures focuses on the violence of bullying in young children and adolescents, in an effort to mitigate bullying at a critical age, before it transcends into their adult behavior. Bullying begins in elementary schools, a time when our minds are extremely impressionable and our behavioral habits take birth. Bullying may happen for a certain segment of a person's life, but the effects transcend a person's entire life. People who bully may follow a familial cycle of bullying and people who are bullied may become bullies and start a new cycle. With bullying and aggressive behavior increasing exponentially in schools, our society is growing up in a place where it is acceptable to react aggressively to stressful or undesirable situations. Today, violence in our society infiltrates every aspect of our lives, from road rage, to grocery store quarrels, to family ties breaking, to gun violence in school and public spaces. Unplanned acts of violence occur in "spur of the moments". Is our society so impatient, aggressive, antagonistic, individualistic, and isolated because we have been conditioned as human beings to behave this way? Did we miss our chance to work cordially as a community, peacefully and patiently, because we put progress and productivity in front of community and collaboration? How can architecture slow you down, keep you aware of your surroundings and facilitate collaboration and getting along? Why do we accept abrupt anger and violence, and how can architecture create, improve or encourage positive behavioral habits in our impressionable young minds? Ending Bullying with Multiple Architectures translates existing bullying strategies (social architecture) into physical architectural intervention, in an effort to mitigate bullying at the critical age when behavioral habits take birth. This project challenges efficiency based design in order to complement the human experience. By creating healthier spaces that foster wholeness, we can heal violence at this critical age, and thus hopefully reduce future societal violence as a whole.
ContributorsRaghani, Divya Nikita (Author) / Shraiky, James (Thesis director) / Hejduk, Renata (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Design focuses on the ability to change one's emotion, wellness, and an over all sense of self. Designers strive for a positive space that ensures ones safety while at the same time, making sure the environment is pleasing to the eye. Beyond the design aesthetics, animal assisted therapy is utilized in many scenarios/environments in order to receive the utmost positive outcome in patients and ultimately, creating a peaceful state of mind.
ContributorsTsai, Cindy Chen (Author) / Brandt, Beverly (Thesis director) / Shraiky, James (Committee member) / Steffes, Scott (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Plagued by white walls, cold corridors, sterile layouts, and overall design inefficiency, traditional hospitals have created an ironic sense of fear in most people about visiting a place intended to help them heal. This thesis examines the healing qualities for humans in response to a resort-like atmosphere where they are provided with amenities such as a variety of entertainment, food, and recreation options as well as first-class customer service.
ContributorsThompson, Erica Ann (Author) / Brandt, Beverly (Thesis director) / Shraiky, James (Committee member) / Bernardi, Jose (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Agribusiness (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2014-05
DescriptionExplore the implications that both sustainability and branding have on the built environment in order to develop a health an wellness center that promotes a balanced lifestyle for two targets users, which are of entirely different demographics.
ContributorsRachford, Paris Kristen (Author) / Shraiky, James (Thesis director) / Brandt, Beverly (Committee member) / Thomson, Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2013-05