This type of research is rarely used to gather background information for construction projects, Eckersley said, because most architects and owners are unaware that it exists. But he did offer one practical example of how the ethnographer’s approach can work.
Intermountain Health Care Systems hired his firm, HumanCentered, in 2004 to observe the behavior of expectant mothers at its facility in the Salt Lake City area before its architects began to design a new hospital for mothers and infants nearby.
For 12 weeks, Eckersley’s team followed 15 expectant moms during their third trimester. It observed them at home with their families and during their visits to the hospital for ultrasounds, labor and postpartum treatment. Afterward, the researchers followed the moms at home for another month. (The team focused on non-clinical issues and did not observe medical procedures.)
In this case, Eckersley’s team found that neither the hospital nor the architects appreciated the differences between the expectant moms it was serving and the sick patients it treated elsewhere in the hospital. The expectant moms were celebrating an important life event, and the facilities that best served them needed to be set up differently, especially since the moms wanted family members to join them for important checkups.
In the ultrasound unit, for instance, the expectant moms wanted their husbands, children and mothers to be there. But the ultrasounds were administered in an area that was designed for the convenience of the clinicians, not the families, Eckersley said. The examining areas were small alcoves that could accommodate three people comfortably, not five or six. Even worse, there was no privacy.
Can elaborate computer simulations, full-scale models or ethnography methods be applied to the American home-building industry? The large, national home builders could absorb the cost because they are still selling thousands of houses each year, even in this down market. These big firms may complain that these novel approaches would be too costly, but so is building houses that no one wants to buy.
Katherine Salant has an architecture degree from Harvard. A native Washingtonian, she grew up in Fairfax County and now lives in Michigan. If you have questions or would like to suggest topics for coverage, contact her by e-mail or at katherinesalant.com.
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