Blog task 2: Exploring human scale Linked to Studio Project 2

1. The scale (size) of a space can greatly affect a person’s emotions and experience of it. Ordinarily, an architect designs a space so that people feel comfortable within it, preforming desired functions with ease and efficiency. This type of everyday design revolves heavily around the use of anthropometric design through use of such guides as ‘Le Modulor’ by Le Corbusier (figure 1) or in more recent times the ‘Metric Handbook’.

1. However Architects also design with and use scale to alter a person’s experience. An example of this is the towering spaces found inside many religious buildings such as Cathedrals, this vast scale is used to metaphorically display both the size wealth and grandeur of a religious institute but also the power of its ‘God, this is shown in figure 2 which displays the interior of Lincoln Cathedral including people to show scale. Along with the towering heights of the rooms cathedrals also employ other distorted scale features which can be seen in figure 2, which all collate to a very specific experience; such as massively oversized windows, thick supporting columns framing colossal arches and (although for structural purposes) walls which are multiple feet thick.

On the opposite side of the spectrum many buildings and specific typologies are designed by architects to specifically contain smaller, low ceilinged and tight walled spaces such as pubs. Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub in Nottingham (figure 3) is a prime example of this as it supports a typology which traditionally aimed to create a feel of a home. The use of tighter spaces with appropriately sized windows and lower ceilings collate to a warm, relaxing and cosy environment to whoever is inside it.

1. Different typologies use scale in different ways in order to attain a specific feeling or emotion within the person using it. A house, as mentioned previously uses small rooms which are anthropometrically designed as to be ‘comfortable’ and efficient for human use with largely standardised celling heights and room sizes all explained within the Metric Handbook. A restaurant will also follow this to some extent with lower ceilings to provide a sense of comfort and use of a smaller scale providing a more relaxing eating environment.

A museum on the other hand may use large open spaces, for efficiency of displaying many items in one space but also to exaggerate and highlight the importance of the displays themselves, with large rooms showing the vastness of history. The same can be said for law court, where a large scale is used to metaphorically show the power and dominance of the law, ultimately intimidating any guilty defendant.