Blog Post 4: Commodity, Firmness and Delight

photo credit: uncg.edu

The Moore Humanities building is the best example on campus where commodity, firmness, and delight coexist at their highest potential. As you enter the MHRA building, you are greeted by doubled doric columns into a grand circular entranceway. Materials include tile, granite, stone, glass and metal, each repeating and developing their own design language. The floor design uses stone tile circle segments to mark the distance from the center of the circle, getting further and further apart as you go further and further away from the center of the lobby. Glass is used not only to let in light through mirrors around the entranceway, it is also used to provide a distinction between the research side and classroom side of the building. Frosted glass is used to provide privacy to the research offices and clear glass is used to show the way for students to the balcony on the second floor where most of the classrooms are located. This also gives an open, airy feeling to the lobby. The lobby has good light quality since it is surrounded by windows and has a clerestory at top. Glass, tile, and metal also are reflective surfaces which gives the interior more light. An industrial-looking metal facade covers the wall where the elevator doors are located, which matches the actual doors and directs people to them. The interior uses light, neutral colors throughout the building, along with the university colors of blue and gold on the floor; warmer wood tones are used in the hallway to make the transition from the large open entrance seem more intimate.  Columns inside the MHRA lobby mimic the stone columns on the outside of the building, creating the feeling of a complete circle, although they serve no structural purpose. The lobby being a circle has significance, it marks the entrance to a building dedicated to research which is a priority at UNCG. The building is very functional from the academic and research standpoints dedicating ample office and classroom space, as well as a student lounge. The entrance has good circulation with multiple entrances and ample space to move about, thus getting a high commodity score. The stone columns and solid structure of the building gives the building a high firmness score. The overall experience along with materials used, light and color all give MHRA a high delight score, which is why it is one of my favorite buildings on campus.