12.1. Handles

Aus Pattern Language Wiki

Intimately related to the Place Network and its function is the perception and physical ability to grasp our surroundings. Provide functional but also ergonomic handles on an entrance and within a room.


12 1 01 Handles.jpg


Problem-statement: People need to experience human-scaled handles in their surroundings, which include functional handles on doors and windows, and also frames, ledges, and trim having a ‘graspable’ dimension.


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Discussion: We are continuously judging whether our immediate environment provides ‘affordance’, which is the ability to accommodate our body and especially our hands. This notion is essential in using tools and utensils, but we point out that it is also crucial in ‘fitting-into’ the built environment.


We feel comfortable in a room if we sense its range of human dimensions. There is no better way to do this than by having obvious structures of a ‘graspable’ dimension. Built features such as moldings, trim, etc. are usually associated with ornamentation, but are in reality quite distinct and equally necessary for psychological wellbeing. Psychologist James J. Gibson used the notion of affordance1 to explain how we fit (or not) into our immediate environment, which was developed further by Donald Norman.² This idea goes far deeper into both physics and the world’s religions, in a philosophy of connecting the Cosmos to small details that humans experience in everyday life. The German physicist Ernst Mach stated the principle that “local physical laws are determined by the large-scale structure of the universe”. This idea was instrumental to Albert Einstein in developing the General Theory of Relativity. At the same time, in many traditional religions, especially Eastern ones, it is accepted that what we experience here locally is connected to the large-scale structure of the Cosmos. The idea of small/large connectivity is backed by millennia of human thought about how human beings fit into the Universe. Therefore, design cannot arbitrarily choose to ignore such powerful precedents.


The quality of handles may ultimately provide the quickest test of whether a new building is good or not. If the designer has truly thought about accommodating the human hand and psyche in designing comfortable door handles and other features on a ‘graspable’ scale, then they have probably paid the same attention to guarantee the affordance of other elements such as room shape, ceiling height, indoor lighting, circulation realms, etc. The opposite is also valid: an uncomfortable door handle probably indicates that the entire building in all its details is non-accommodating.


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Therefore:

Pay special attention to include structural features that are shaped to be easily ‘graspable’ by the hand, which fit comfortably, even if we never need to physically grasp them. Actual handles should revert to older ergonomic design and abandon the ubiquitous uncomfortable shapes due to abstract ‘design’.


12 1 02 Handles.jpg


On doors and windows use well-known psychological design techniques to indicate whether one needs to push or pull, rather than a minimalistic design aesthetic that confuses the user…




¹ See Gibson, J.J. (1979). “The Theory of Affordances.” In The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston, MA, US: Houghton, Mifflin and Company.

² Norman, D. A. (1999). Affordance, Conventions, and Design. Interactions, 6(3), 38-43.



Mehaffy, M. et al. (2020). HANDLES (pattern). In A New Pattern Language for Growing Regions. The Dalles: Sustasis Press. Available at https://pattern-language.wiki/.../Handles



SECTION I:

PATTERNS OF SCALE


1. REGIONAL PATTERNS

Define the large-scale spatial organization…

1.1. POLYCENTRIC REGION

1.2. BLUE-GREEN NETWORK

1.3. MOBILITY CORRIDOR

1.4. 400M THROUGH STREET NETWORK

2. URBAN PATTERNS

Establish essential urban characteristics…

2.1. WALKABLE MULTI-MOBILITY

2.2. LEVEL CITY

2.3. PUBLIC SPACE SYSTEM

2.4. BIOPHILIC URBANISM

3. STREET PATTERNS

Identify and allocate street types…

3.1. URBAN GREENWAY

3.2. MULTI-WAY BOULEVARD

3.3. AVENUE

3.4. SHARED SPACE LANE

4. NEIGHBORHOOD PATTERNS

Define neighborhood-scale elements…

4.1. STREET AS CENTER

4.2. PEDESTRIAN SANCTUARY

4.3. NEIGHBORHOOD SQUARE

4.4. NEIGHBORHOOD PARK

5. SPECIAL USE PATTERNS

Integrate unique urban elements with care…

5.1. SCHOOL CAMPUS

5.2. MARKET CENTER

5.3. INDUSTRIAL AREA

5.4. HOSPITAL

6. PUBLIC SPACE PATTERNS

Establish the character of the crucial public realm…

6.1. PLACE NETWORK

6.2. WALKABLE STREETSCAPE

6.3. MOVABLE SEATING

6.4. CAPILLARY PATHWAY

7. BLOCK AND PLOT PATTERNS

Lay out the detailed structure of property lines…

7.1. SMALL BLOCKS

7.2. PERIMETER BLOCK

7.3. SMALL PLOTS

7.4. MID-BLOCK ALLEY

8. STREETSCAPE PATTERNS

Configure the street as a welcoming place…

8.1. STREET AS ROOM

8.2. TERMINATED VISTA

8.3. STREET TREES

8.4. STREET FURNISHINGS

9. BUILDING PATTERNS

Lay out appropriate urban buildings…

9.1. PERIMETER BUILDING

9.2. ARCADE BUILDING

9.3. COURTYARD BUILDING

9.4. ROW BUILDING

10. BUILDING EDGE PATTERNS

Create interior and exterior connectivity…

10.1. INDOOR-OUTDOOR AMBIGUITY

10.2. CIRCULATION NETWORK

10.3. LAYERED ZONES

10.4. PASSAGEWAY VIEW



SECTION II:

PATTERNS OF MULTIPLE SCALE


11. GEOMETRIC PATTERNS

Build in coherent geometries at all scales…

11.1. LOCAL SYMMETRY

11.2. SMALL GROUPS OF ELEMENTS

11.3. FRACTAL PATTERN

11.4. FRAMING

12. AFFORDANCE PATTERNS

Build in user capacity to shape the environment…

12.1. HANDLES

12.2. CO-PRODUCTION

12.3. FRIENDLY SURFACES

12.4. MALLEABILITY

13. RETROFIT PATTERNS

Revitalize and improve existing urban assets …

13.1. SLUM UPGRADE

13.2. SPRAWL RETROFIT

13.3. URBAN REGENERATION

13.4. URBAN CONSOLIDATION

14. INFORMAL GROWTH PATTERNS

Accommodate “bottom-up” urban growth…

14.1. LAND TENURE

14.2. UTILITIES FIRST

14.3. DATA WITH THE PEOPLE

14.4. INCREMENTAL SELF-BUILD

15. CONSTRUCTION PATTERNS

Use the building process to enrich the result…

15.1. DESIGN-BUILD ADAPTATION

15.2. HUMAN-SCALE DETAIL

15.3. CONSTRUCTION ORNAMENT

15.4. COMPLEX MATERIALS



SECTION III:

PATTERNS OF PROCESS


16. IMPLEMENTATION TOOL PATTERNS

Use tools to achieve successful results…

16.1. FORM-BASED CODE

16.2. ENTITLEMENT STREAMLINING

16.3. NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING CENTER

16.4. COMMUNITY MOCKUP

17. PROJECT ECONOMICS PATTERNS

Create flows of money that support urban quality…

17.1. TAX-INCREMENT FINANCING

17.2. LAND VALUE CAPTURE

17.3. EXTERNALITY VALUATION

17.4. ECONOMIES OF PLACE AND DIFFERENTIATION

18. PLACE GOVERNANCE PATTERNS

Processes for making and managing places…

18.1. SUBSIDIARITY

18.2. POLYCENTRIC GOVERNANCE

18.3. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PLACE MANAGEMENT

18.4. INFORMAL STEWARDSHIP

19. AFFORDABILITY PATTERNS

Build in affordability for all incomes…

19.1. INTEGRATED AFFORDABILITY

19.2. COMMUNITY LAND TRUST

19.3. MULTI-FAMILY INFILL

19.4. SPECULATION TAX

20. NEW TECHNOLOGY PATTERNS

Integrate new systems without damaging old ones…

20.1. SMART AV SYSTEM

20.2. RESPONSIVE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANY

20.3. AUGMENTED REALITY DESIGN

20.4. CITIZEN DATA