2-26-87 Agenda & Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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-2- 1E. Relation of Minor Structures to Minor Structures. Is the bench close to the refreshment stand? Or must Mom juggle a half-dozen ice cream cones for 100 yards before she is able to sit down among her brood? Is the • seat near enough a light fixture which is supposed to illuminate its surface? Is it the right distance from the trash basket, thereby accomodating the easy flip of the discarded newspaper? THE KEY WORD "Why? What is your purpose?" PRINCIPLE 2: Design must be for people. People are the benefactors of any park development. MATTERS OF CONCERN 2A. Balance of Impersonal and Personal Needs. For instance, in the design of roads and parking lots, it must be recognized that the automobile demands a certain road alignment, gradient, roadbed structure, and curb height, as well as a 10 x 20 foot paved slab for storage. It must be remembered at the same time, however, that the person inside the auto seeks visual refreshment and mental exercise. Administrative efficiency is another essential in the park agency operation, and it is often met through the purchase of standardized items than to requisition a like amount of individual units, and it is economically beneficial to purchase mass-produced equipment. What happens when the result is that everything looks alike, looks alike, looks alike? Mental stimulation is suppressed. Identity is smothered in anonymity. An example of standization run amuck is the "typical" playground. Always • the same swings, the same teeter-totters, the same slides. Sameness dulls visual appetites, including those of adults who are there to supervise the kids or who pass alongside everyday. To designers of outdoor areas, this could imply that convenient gathering places should be a part of every development. Viewing and being with people may he as significant as engaging in formal games. Where interaction is to be encouraged, benches should be grouped to face each other, never back-to-back or isolated singly. THE KEY WORK: Where any action is ostensibly taken to provide for people, the key word is simply "people". PRINCIPLE 3: Both Function and Aesthetics Must Be Satisfied. MATTERS OF CONCERN 3A. Balance of Dollar and Human Values. Matters of function and those of aesthetics are solved concurrently in design. Hand-in-hand. Never apart. Facets of aesthetics are never thought of as window dressing applied after function has been solved: functional matters are never treated as evils in after some pretty picture has been established. Matters of aesthetics address themselves to the refreshment of the mind. •