Architecture and Ergonomics

Abstract

As the subject of modern ergonomics is the adaptation of the entirety of the material surroundings to the needs and possibilities of man, who is himself recognized as an element of the ecosystem of nature, it modern ergonomics should envelope in practice, into its area of interest all spheres of man's life. The main features of ergonomics, i.e. its humanocentricity and interdisciplinary nature are also main features of the broad understanding of architecture. The history of civilization shows that for centuries before ergonomics appeared there had existed an architecture which was engaged in the problems of “hydraulics, the construction of clocks and of different machines” (Vitruvius, 1st century BC.). In the past, architecture was treated, because of its creative and aesthetic aspects, as the “mother of all arts” a feature which in consequence influenced its separation from reality and caused the phenomenon of the dehumanization of architecture observed since the 18th century. Our present needs and circumstance has lead to the creation within architecture of, amongst other things, an orientation towards a greater adaptability, both to the needs of all categories of mankind's efficiency and to the possibilities engendered by a more widely understood ecosystem of nature. Contemporary architecture has been becoming more of an “interdisciplinary engineering art” than a “fine art” and it is a form of the humanization of the technique and urbanized living environment. The similarity of the main fearures and aims of those activities which characterize both ergonomics and architecture justifies the need to include into the multidisciplinary circle of ergonomists also those architects who whilst creating the “material frameworks of man's life” still very often try “to create pure art” and forget about the “statistic man“. The results of architects' errors are felt for decades both by society and nature.