Abstract
Visual environment is one of the most important indoor environmental quality parameters and directly impacts occupant productivity in offices. Spatial quality is a sophisticated concept and encompasses physical, social, economic, cultural and environmental components. This study examined required spatial qualities and ergonomics in a public space which were used as the vehicle to find out the effects of existing spatial qualities on the occupants of Imo State Secretariat.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Spatial quality’ was probably coined in spatial and environmental planning in the 1970s (Rapaport, 1970). However, different terms with similar meaning were used by other authors. Lynch (1960) opined that environmental quality hinges at social and aesthetic values. Yet the role of ‘spatial quality’ in the international planning literature has been minimal. Although it was referred to quite regularly by planning scholars, its conceptual meaning received little attention. Not so in Flanders-Belgium however.
Spatial quality, as a concept, is frequently referred to in Flemish planning, urban development and design theory/practice. In 1987, planners and urbanists were already looking carefully at spatial quality. Since its earliest texts in 1994, the Spatial Structure Plan for Flanders has identified spatial quality as one of its core concepts, together with spatial capacity and spatial sustainability. A collective investigation by the University of Antwerp and Studio group Omgeving (1998) worked to clarify spatial quality from an ecological and spatial perspective and to get a better grasp of good local spatial planning and liveability concepts applied on a daily basis by urban development officials when assessing applications for urban development projects. Flemish Association for Space and Planning (1998) devoted part of the World Urbanism Day to spatial quality.
Architectural design is to determine the configuration of building elements and the space they bound. The configuration of built elements and space affects the perceptions and ultimately the behaviour of people who use the building. A key component of architectural design expertise is anticipating how a configuration of built elements will affect people’s experience. Architects often describe information about the qualities that users experience in the built environment. For example, architects speak of space and place using terms such as enclosure, continuity, directionality, or privacy. These terms imply, to the architect, certain patterns of use and inhabitation. Some, for example, enclosure and privacy, make everyday sense to the lay person as well. Spatial qualities associate spatial experience with perception. In this paper, we define three qualities, enclosure, viewfield, and continuity, with the intention that, on one hand, formalizing these qualities can lead to predicting the behaviour of building users, and on the other hand, a model of human behaviour in buildings can be expressed in language that architects find familiar and appropriate.
Enclosure: Lynch (1960) defined enclosure as how much a location is surrounded by architectural elements. The degree of enclosure is proportional to the inverse distance of an element from the location, represented as a scalar. In this respect, the study allows us to see how spaces are built using physical materials, as well as in rhetorical and cultural terms. It explores the mentalities that inspire and structure conceptions of space; but it also investigates the consequences of those constructions, that is, their concrete effects and the realities that they influence. The uses of space in early modern history therefore directly engages with one of the central questions of historical research: the relationship between ideas and activity. It contends that a serious investigation of historical spaces can cast new light on the relationship between thought and practice in past societies. This introductory essay serves several purposes. Firstly, it shows how space has long been an important part of disciplined historical study. Although there are important connections between the “spatial turn” and the “cultural turn,” the two are not identical, and this must be emphasized if the importance of space in history is to be fully exploited. Indeed, the study of space can help historians develop new perspectives on certain critical issues, most notably questions about agency and causation, and the relationship between material and intellectual life.
1.2 Statement of problem
In relations of creating a space that can influence people psychologically, it is called experimental or sensory space by enhancing all five senses through visual, acoustic, olfactory, thermal or tactile. The problem of user satisfaction in Imo State secretariat cannot be over emphasized because of the negligence in maintenance of infrastructure over the years.
1.3 Aim
In this study, a comprehensive field study is performed in order to understand the spatial determinants in relationship to the user satisfaction levels in Imo State Secretariat to evaluate the relationship between the spatial quality determinants and the office user.
1.4 Objectives
The study includes several interior design elements; however, the main architectural element considered is color. Therefore, the objectives of the study are as follows:
- Investigate the various interior design elements and understand the way they form the interior space.
- Investigate the way the human interface with the interior environment and its elements.
- Investigate the spatial determinants in an outdoor environment and
- Investigate the psychological impacts of colour in an office
1.5 Research Questions
- To what extent are the different interior design elements and understand the way they form the interior space?
- To what extent does the human interface with the interior environment and its elements?
- What are elements of design in an outdoor environment?
- To what extent are the psychological impacts of colour in an office space?
1.6 Significance
It is significant to study the spatial factors that affect the conditions of the interior spaces as it allows designers to account for the needs and perceptions of the users. Moreover, there are different classifications and viewpoints to the elements and their types that are required to be taken into consideration when designing an interior space. Some consider spatial design adequacy elements as essential; amenity, efficiency, health and safety, while other physical properties are also considered, such as; size, shape, finishes and furniture. Other spatial and physical properties are taken into consideration, including colour and lighting (Lee, Alzoubi, and Kim, 2017).
1.7 Location
Imo state is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the North by Anambra State, to the West and South is Rivers State, and Abia State to the East. The State capital is Owerri. Owerri is the capital of Imo State in Nigeria, set in the heart of Igboland. It is also the state’s largest city. It has an estimated population of 1,401,873 as of 2016 and is approximately 100 square kilometres in area. Owerri is bordered by the Otamiri river to the East and the Nworie river to the South (Alex, 2008).
