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    Body posture defined by environment
    (Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2011) Stamp, Jason Tyler; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Zuzanna Karczewska; Barry Newton (co-chair)
    The environment that a person occupies plays an important role with how that person's body is perceived in that space. While in the space the body reacts and conforms to the space in different postural configurations. Body posture directly relates to specific environments. When people think of body posture they automatically think of good posture or bad posture, and although this plays a role in the effects that the environment has on the body's posture, it is not the focus of this thesis. The focus of this thesis is to understand how the body posture of a person is directly influenced by their surroundings. Because architecture is about the human habitation of distinct environments, it is important to understand how people are interacting and reacting in different environments. Body posture is an element of expression that is a result of the person's surroundings and feelings. The environment can range from elements like a physical wall to temperature or humidity of a space. Body posture can correspond to different architectural elements that are placed within the environment. When influenced by the environment the human body will find new ways of inhabiting it. When a person is in a space, they are being influenced by their surrounding through their senses. The body is the interface for the interaction between environment and person. Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch are the receptors that translate information from the environment to the person. The body is its own entity, but there is a set of relationships that it uses to engage with the world around us. Without the body we would not be able to experience our surroundings and without the environment the body would have nothing to experience. Different types of spaces have different affects on body posture. When designing a space, the understanding of how people respond to space according to body posture plays a significant role in how the space that is created. As designers it is important to understand that body posture is in direct correspondence to the environment of the person.
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    Intermission
    (Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2009) Shvartsman, Ron Felix; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mike Everts; Zuzanna Karczewska (co-chair)
    We are no longer only influenced by social exchange that occurs in close proximity. Our character can now be defined by everything that occurs around us. The television, Internet and cell phone are only a few mediums that give people the ability to communicate and exchange information at the press of a button. Even the typical family circle is no match for the powerful interdependencies that unite all people yet in some moments keeps them divided. Methods of social exchange have changed dramatically over the last century allowing people to interact at any proximity they choose making them part of a larger system that relies heavily on being connected to various communication technologies (CT). How we communicate, now more than ever, is an integral part of the way in which we shape our world. With so many mediums of communication and the exponential growth of social exchange it is difficult to understand the implications of our actions in regards to CT. One such scenario entails the person who going about his or her day is in constant connection through an electronic device which supplies him or her the freedom to be at any given place at one moment and another the next second. It must be noted that even though this person has that freedom, he or she can only connect to someone who possesses a similar medium. What about the individual who has no medium with which to communicate at a similar rate? As we continue to "efficiently" interact within a digital world we create strong social ties to people that fit within our own unique demographic. We attach ourselves to what we know creating weak social ties to people that fit within a different user group. Weak social ties (links) form a network of information carrying connections between different demographics. These connections are better able to carry novel technology information that we don't have access to within strong social networks that tend to move in the same circles. By increasing the potential for weak social connections to form one can begin to close the social gap which has left people divided in a digital world.
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