Places That Work: Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital
Liberal use of wood helps relief stress, creates a sense of being at home
Author: Sally Augustin
Places that Work: Garden of Flowing Fragrance
Experience multisensory design at the Huntington Library in San Marino
Places that Work: The Porch at the Moana Surfrider
In Waikiki, there’s proof that front porches in hot climates can shelter and refresh weary humans
Places that Work: A Children’s Garden for Everyone
At the Botanical Gardens in San Marino, kids play and learn about the earth sciences and adults love the experience
Places That Work: Gensler Chicago
Office design for the needs of every worker, including those who use wheelchairs.
Places that Work: Chicago's Poetry Foundation
What is the optimal environment to celebrate poetry?
Places that Work: Some Small Homes
If certain criteria are met, living in a small space can be a great experience
Places that Work: Anywhere You Can Walk
Any environment that encourages walking is a place that works
Places That Work: London's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion
The 2012 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion provides both prospect and refuge.
Places That Work: Provide Choices for Users
Successful spaces give users some control of their environment.
Places That Work: Mayan Temples
We get definite psychological benefits from feeling a sense of awe, so says recent research by Rudd, Vohs, and Aaker. Places that work can make us feel that rare emotion, as these researchers learned. In their study of people “who…
Places That Work: Rocking Chairs in Waiting Areas
Air travel is a miserable experience these days and giving travelers some sense control makes the process somewhat less onerous. Some U.S. airports, for instance, provide rocking chairs for waiting passengers. These rockers offer another seating option to people, and…
Places that Work: Soundcape
In Orlando’s Peabody Hotel’s public spaces, a positive experience is created by the sounds of water flowing and splashing. Gently moving water makes us comfortable. Its rhythmic, primal sounds soothe away the everyday stresses of modern life. Though we have…
Places that Work: U.S. Botanic Gardens
The United States Botanic Garden in Washington DC is a place that works because the greenhouses there stimulate all our senses. Transmitting experiences of a place through several senses is a central tenet of biophilic design. And at the Botanic…
Places That Work: Hearths
Even in our high tech age, hearths continue to enhance our experience of the rooms where they appear. The psychological power of a glowing, cracking fire safely tucked into a generous niche endures even though we no longer depend on…
Places that Work: A Music Store on Michigan Avenue
Sometimes the places that work are places that shouldn’t work at all. The Sherry-Brener musical instrument store on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago is one of these. The shop is stuffed with merchandise; it’s small and gets almost no daylight.…
Places that Work: A Generative Space
Wilson Hospice House, designed by Perkins + Will, won the 2011 Caritas Project’s Generative Space Award. It is definitely a space that works. The recognition the hospice has received is appropriate because its design has a special psychological effect on…
Places that Work: National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is a place that works because it attempts to reflect the cultures of those who first inhabited the Western Hemisphere. Located on the National Mall in Washington DC and operated by the…
Places that Work: The East Building at the National Gallery
The East Building at the National Gallery in Washington, DC opened in 1978. It’s a place that’s been working for the past three decades because the building’s structure literally supports the art it houses and aids its viewing. The architect,…
Places That Work: The Power of Skylights
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC is almost entirely under ground, yet this is a place that works. It was designed by Jean-Paul Carlhian of Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott and opened in 1987.…
