Week Three: Proxemics

     Has anyone ever invaded your personal space? Have you ever thought that a space you were in did not account for your desire to have a little space? We have all been there. This is why understanding proxemics is vital when designing a built environment. 

       Proxemics. This word might sound complex and specific, but, in reality, we experience proxemics and its effects everyday. Proxemics deals with how people treat their space and those around them. So, if proxemics defines how we interact with the space around us and how other people effect that space, its importance becomes increasingly clear. Defining the zones and finding examples in everyday life points us to how proxemics effects built environments. 

       The four zones of proxemics -intimate, personal, social, and public space - outline the various zones of proximity every human possesses. It can be hard to visualize what these distances look like without getting out your measuring tape. Let's think of it in terms of real-life situations. 

  The zones of proxemics from innermost to farthest away from yourself are as follows:

Intimate Zone  → 0 - 18 inches

• When I am hugging my husband when I get home, I am allowing him to enter my intimate zone.

Personal Zone  → 18 - 48 inches

• You likely experience the personal zone many times a day. When you are having a conversation with a close friend, you are in their personal zone and vice versa.

Social Zone  → 48 inches - 12 feet

• When you casually talk to someone that you know, but do not know well, you are likely standing in the social zone.

Public Zone → 12 - 25 feet

• Have you ever been standing in a park or other open area and looked around? In a large enough space, you do not automatically stand right next to some one you do not know. The distance between you and a stranger in the park is called the public zone.

Proxemics and Personal Space

       Edward Hall, the famed anthropologist who developed the idea of proxemics said "each organism, no matter how simple or complex, has around it a sacred bubble of space, a bit of mobile territoriality which only a few other organisms are allowed to penetrate and then only for short periods of time." In design, we use proxemics to help define someone's personal space in a built environment. Personal space is necessary for every person. Proxemics gives measurements to the amount of protection we need or want in a space. 

       Picture this. You are sitting in a doctor's office, waiting for your appointment. If you are like me, you find a seat where other patients are not sitting. Now, this choice is made, in part, because people at a doctor's office are sick. However, your health is something most people like to keep private, so you would not go sit down right next to another patient. In this situation, we require a certain level of personal space.

     Doctor's offices have a limited space for patients to wait, but that does not mean the design cannot account for your need for personal space. Eliminating direct eye contact and spacing furniture a part are two ways in which the design of the waiting room can account for people's need for personal space.

     These proxemic zones show our basic human need for personal space. We all need personal space as a means of escape and protection. If we, as designers, forget people's need for personal space and neglect to use proxemics, the resulting design is uncomfortable and ineffective. But, if we take into account the need for personal space, and use proxemics to define these spaces, client's will be both more satisfied and more comfortable in the built environment, which is the clear goal of every design!

Resources

Proxemics and Body Language

Proxemics and Personal Space

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