We came across an opinion piece on September 3 from The Australian columnist Bernard Salt, pointing out several examples of what he refers to as ‘Design triumphs over application’, where designers seem more concerned with the “look” of a space than the use of that space.
We quote from his article:
Carparks with tight turning lanes. You do realise that architects loathe motor vehicles to such an extent that they take their revenge on wicked car drivers by designing car parks with tight turning lanes. Make no mistake, architects want to rid the planet of cars and they have developed a cunning plan to achieve their aim: “If they cannot park, then their evil cars are completely useless.”
PCI says:
although we do not share Mr. Salt’s opinion of architects’ objectives we certainly agree as to the frequency with which car park designs do not appear to take into consideration the requirements of the relevant Australian Standards (which in our opinion are MINIMUM guidelines) nor good design principles.