East Lake Commons

                                                                                            Morgan Lee

For this assignment I choose to go on the field trip to East Lake Commons. I am glad that I choose to go, because I felt as though I was a not only a nice outing but that I also learned some new Information about it. In the beginning, actually, all the way up until like 15 minutes into the tour I thought that we were visiting a community that had houses designed for people with disabilities and that was all that was going to be living there. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a community just like any other neighborhood; only the houses were built differently.

            The goal when they got together and decided to build this community was that they would have basic access in all of the new houses. What they are talking about in this is that they have at least on entrance to the house that is zero step and that they have at least 32 inches of space in the doorways. This is where Accessibility comes into play. Accessibility is an ease in movement through and use of an environment. Providing these stepless entrances and wider doors allows someone with a wheelchair or even someone who has bad joint pain to come into the house without getting stuck or needing help up the stairs.

            The Activity level in the neighborhood was rather high. Activity is the perceived intensity of ongoing behavior within an environment. The kids are constantly interacting with the environment. Many of the children are homeschooled so there were a lot of them out running around playing when we came to visit. The closeness of the houses allowed the kids to roam the neighborhood in comfort without the need to worry about streets and cars. Comfort is the extent to which an environment provides sensory and mobility fit and facilitates task performance. I believe that in this case the task being sought out to be performed was the kids playing. To me crowding came about as well due to the close proximity of the houses. Crowding is defined as the unpleasant experience of being spatially cramped. This is all in the eye of the beholder though. I personally would not enjoy having my neighbors that close to me, but the residences there seemed to enjoy it! Control is the extent to which an environment facilitates personalization and conveys territorial claims to space. The control factor is in this community is present when you pull onto the street. It is a gated community so you are not able to enter unless you have a code to do so. They are controlling who has access to their community. There is not much privacy to be had if you choose to live there. You cannot really be outside without being seen by someone else. It seemed as though there was a good amount of sensory stimulation in their community. The houses were not all the same color or style and the houses were all decorated differently which always gives you something new to look at when walking around. Sociality is a big point in this community. No one is able to pull right up into their garage and walk right in their house. It was designed so it facilitates communication among everyone. There’s is no easy in and out so if you are not someone who enjoys talking to neighbors, this is definitely not the community for you! Thank you for the allowing us the option to go on this visit for our assignment!