The primary objective of professors teaching students cultural and social architecture studies is to improve the building's design for the occupants. In the process of achieving this objective, it is significant to combine what many anthropologists refer to as the emic (insider), and etic (outsider) perspectives in allocating ethnographic field research work to learn from the inhabitants building experiences. Factually, ethnography refers to recording and analysis of the society or culture, which is usually based on the observation of the participants and resulting in a written or reported account of place, institution, or people ("Ethnography"). Combining the emic and the etic point of view is achieved through the process of photo-elicitation, which an ethnographic interview method that depends on the photographs taken by the students in eliciting inhabitants perspectives. They offer these details to administrators and architects who are responsible for managing and designing the buildings respectively. The feedbacks assists in making architects more aware of the experiences of the inhabitants in designing the future building and also aiding managers to establish apt adjustments. In this paper, the photo-elicitation interview is going to be conducted in the two places in the University of California, Santa Barbara, which is the library and the Students Resource Building through semantic ethnography, behavior observation, and architectural evaluation.
UCSB Library Planning and its History
It is the University of California, Santa Barbara library system. It contains four facilities that are two annexes (Annex I and II) and two libraries (the Music Library and the Main Library). The University’s main library, Davidson Library, was established in 1926 with several renewals happening in 1952, 1967, and later in 1968. The previous design lacked architectural integrity; however, by November 2015, a new design that was under construction was completed with the new facility being opened in January 2016.
Description of the Space and How it is Used
The new library is used as a modern center for active research, knowledge, and collaboration as well as in enhancing the library’s connectivity to the campus. It also functions as twenty-four seven places of open studies, upper-level event space for lecturers, small campus meetings, and contains a ground café and special collections. The newly renovated main Library comprises of eight floors with the eighth floor Pacific View Room providing a Pacific Ocean view. The three-story addition to the old library is a standalone building that has a connecting bridge to the library’s now renovated North Wing. The seismic improvements used by the architects in the part of the wing were also used to develop a new west façade in the new library. The university library’s original front door that faces the University Mall is also connected by an internal “paseo” to the buildings that emerge from the East Campus thereby offering a dual entry. The library compound is vibrant public space where people interact freely due to its serene environment.
How People Interact in the Library
It serves the University of California, Santa Barbara’s staff, students, and faculty members. It is also open to the public; however, in borrowing materials, people who are non-university members are required to buy the institutions' Library Card for around one hundred dollars per year. Nonetheless, UCSB affiliate members may join for a low fee with students, public school teachers, and faculty members from other UC campuses having the privilege of borrowing the materials at a no fee. UC Alumni Association members may also obtain a library card that provides them with borrowing access; however, not to access of databases that are licensed or the interlibrary loans.
Students Resource Center (SRB)
The building provides a building-wide wireless internet connection, has many study sections, terraces that has a beautiful view, computer lab, and comfortable couches. It also has several resource centers and departments. It construction ended in November 2006. SRB was designed mainly to act as a gateway for the west side of the UCSB campus thus striving to connect Isla Vista, which is an adjacent neighborhood to the main campus. One of its signature design features is the triple height central forum space that has pedestrian walkways found on the upper levels either side. Other sections of interest include Childcare center on the south wing that has a garden pavilion and double height, elliptically shaped room used for many purposes in the northeast. The building also has a metal curtain wall and a transparent glass system on the façade northern side that allows efficient daylight utilization. A lightweight masonry rain screen characterizes the southern façade with small sun shaped equipped windows. Despite the building having the greatest unique form in the campus, it lacks sufficient light, especially at night. For the public safety of everyone in the campus, enough light level should be enhanced to avoid overly dark sections in the plaza and shadows.
The building has also ventilated spaces that assist in the monitoring of Carbon dioxide concentration. However, the ventilation is not enough. CO2 tracking should be located within the many rooms between 3-6 feet above the floor. One carbon dioxide sensor should be used to represent several spaces of the present ventilation design that utilizes passive stacks to control airflow without intervention from the inhabitants in the building. The campus should use monitoring tools, which generate an alarm especially when the conditions at some point vary by around 10 percent from the standard point via an automated alarm system in the building to ensure optimum air quality for the occupants.
Conclusion
Over the observation that I conducted within two hours, UCSB from 5-6 p.m, and students Resource Building 7-8 p.m, the analysis has offered me with great insight regarding how complicated constructions of buildings are in reality. People enjoy occupying the buildings, but they do not understand how they came to be, what they involve, and what they still might need. The UCSB library is a perfect example with a modern top class structure that offers a comfortable environment for occupants with great pathways, numerous rooms, and a great view especially in the eighth floor that has a Pacific View Room that provides a view to the Pacific Ocean. Nonetheless, despite the SRB being constructed in a unique form, it also lacks proper ventilation and lighting especially at night, which should be looked into by the architects and managers of the project.
Work Cited
"Ethnography". Discoveranthropology.Org.Uk, 2018, https://www.discoveranthropology.org.uk/about-anthropology/fieldwork/ethnography.html. Accessed 28 Feb 2018.
