When Buildings Don T Work By Evan And Jayhawk Blvd

Can a building’s design elements, interior or exterior, cause stress of effect human health? According to When Buildings Don’t Work… by G.W. Evan and J. Mitchell McCoy this is to be true. Humans base their everyday activities on the elements in the spaces which they encounter. These spaces are perceptions that occur only in the presence of perceivable things (Arnheim, 1977). Within spaces stimulation, coherence, affordance, control, and restoration are a preliminary set of environmental dimensions inter-related to stress (Evans & McCoy, 1998). These five elements are subjective in relation to different building designs. Wescoe Hall, located on Jayhawk Blvd in Lawrence Kansas, represents these elements in the spaces.
According to Merriam-Webster’s

During school hours Wescoe Beach is one of the busier spots on campus, not only do students stay on Wescoe Beach but it is a the main area where most students commute from one class to another. This is mainly due to the fact that it is central of campus. The constant crowds of people either walking to and from class, the groups getting off or waiting at the bus stop and harassment of those who work the tables make the overall experience unenjoyable (Figure 2). Not only is there stimulation that causes stress around Wescoe but inside as well, example being the food court, also known as the Underground. The Underground is a popular area located on the ground level inside Wescoe Hall where students enjoy socializing and dining. However, this area has been described as chaotic due to the flow and arrangement of furniture. This area is constantly crowded with people, the furniture layout is tight, and the feeling when being in there is rushed (Figure 3). The business that goes on in and around Wescoe causes an overwhelming and stressful environment to some

Within the four floors of Wescoe Hall, the second floor is an example of bad coherence. The second floor of Wescoe is overwhelming to those who encounter it every day. Navigating through the building can be difficult and stressful when there are a large abundance of rooms and hallways that can lead in all sorts of directions. Space perception occurs only in the presence of perceivable things and is experienced as the given that precedes the objects in it (Arnheim, 1977) These “indoor/outdoor” connections that create and define spaces can cause confusion to anyone who comes in contact with it giving the feeling of being lost in a maze. Figure 4 gives an example of the defined indoor and outdoor spaces of the second floor of Wescoe. The walls that are surrounding the outdoor space still enclose the space creating a folly like feature defining indoor and outdoor spaces of the second floor of