GESTIÓN, ADMINISTRACIÓN Y REPRESENTACIÓN DEL FONDO Y DE LOS

Adapting the space was regularly motivated by the desire for social interactions with the household or guests. Participants described the need to create extra space to accommodate guests or social activities. This was also true of the identification of spaces where they could carry out enjoyable activities; there were instances of social interactive activities. Cases of this have previously been discussed, Mike explained how he could adapt the space of his conservatory when entertaining (see Figure 35: Mike,Conservatory, Facilitative) whilst Jessica stated how she could use her conservatory for several different desirable activities.

Pauline: “This is where I do all the ironing in our house. I like to listen to

my music or watch the TV when I iron it makes the chore more enjoyable there is plenty of room to

put the clothes when they are finished and I can listen to my iPod

with my favourite tunes.”

Walter: “There is a lot of activities in our garden from the spring right to the winter months, there is planting,

digging, weeding, reaping and barbeque, all necessary but very

176 To some extent the need to adapt spaces for social activities also has a connection to perceptual comfort because participants make a judgement of the spatial dimensions. A good reference of this was given by Pauline who took the size of the room into consideration when using adaptive furniture (see Figure 36: Pauline, Dining Room, Facilitative). Additionally perceptual organisation of certain areas was important for adaption and having a space which allows you to carry out both necessary and desirable activities; Olivia described how keeping her cupboard under the sink organised allowed her to be able to carry out necessary activities (see Figure 40: Olivia, Kitchen Cupboard, Facilitative).

Perceptual Comfort 8.12.6

Participants were asked to capture areas of their home ‘where you can get comfortable’. They were asked to describe how and what signified comfort to them in order to gain a detailed description of their personal notion of comfort. As previously detailed in the literature review, Heijs and Stringer (1987) identified three types of perceptual comfort; 10 participants chose to capture ‘getting comfortable’ indicating a composition of these three forms of perceptual comfort were experienced. The first type of perceptual comfort which Heijs and Stringer described referred to the afforded behaviour by the surrounding environmental stimuli and the effectiveness of producing the desired comfort experience. Participants did make reference to this type of behaviour [Maria, Eva, Pauline, Walter, Kevin, Rachael, Lewis, Jessica and Olivia], a majority of which were in reference to bedrooms and living room areas where the bedding or seating afforded the subsequent lying or sitting position they took to achieve comfort. Participants discussed getting into bed [Maria, Pauline, Walter, Rachael, Lewis, Jessica, and Olivia], and in a majority of cases doing another activity; Rachael noted how she was able to sit and lie in a variety of positions and carry out a number of activities she loved from her bed:

177

Figure 43: Rachael, Bedroom, Perceptual Comfort

Similarly to lying in bed, sitting was also was also something which was accompanied by other activities, again reading and watching TV were the main activities which participants discussed. Walter referred to sitting on the sofa and watching TV to relax:

Figure 44: Walter, Living Room, Perceptual Comfort

The second type of perceptual comfort set out by Heijs and Stringer referred to the environmental conditions or dimensions needed for the desired comfort activity (i.e. size of room, light, or paint colour of the walls). Some participants did choose to remark on this type of perceptual comfort [Eva, Pauline, Kevin, Rachael, and Jessica], for instance Eva noted how controlling the light helped her to get comfortable in her lounge:

Rachael: “Often read or look at laptop in bed. Can doze off if tired. Can lie/sit/ multiple positions, duvet

for warmth, arrange pillows for comfort.”

Walter: “I would sit in the sofa with the foot stool out. I would sit back and relax with a drink to watch TV and fall asleep. It is relaxing I have the remote control and sometimes a

178

Figure 45: Eva, Living Room, Perceptual Comfort

Jessica noted the importance of the lighting in her bedroom in creating a comfortable experience, in particular noting a preference for low level lighting:

Figure 46: Jessica, Bedroom, Perceptual Comfort

The last type of perceptual comfort which was identified, was in the reference to the various expressive aspects associated with the experience of perceptual comfort i.e. cosiness or spaciousness. This type of language was widely used throughout participants’ responses to getting comfortable [Maria, Eva, Pauline, Kevin, Rachael, Lewis, and Jessica]. Pauline described how the ‘airy feel’ and spaciousness of her conservatory provided a relaxing environment:

Eva: “This is the lounge area of my lounge diner. I would open the blinds

slightly, sit in the arm chair and study/read.

The blinds... I am able to control the light coming into that area of the

room.”

Jessica: “I will lie down with the duvet…I love to be warm and I find that easiest in bed… in my room I’ve got two big light sources that are on one switch and when the builders did it I thought I was going to have two light switches but I don’t so I find

the lights quite bright, and I tend to put that one on above my bed.”

179

Figure 47: Pauline, Conservatory, Perceptual Comfort

Olivia described how her sofa was an area where she could relax:

Figure 48: Olivia, Living Room, Perceptual Comfort

The three types of perceptual comfort were not observed independently from each other, their experiences of comfort were enriched by all of the above qualities. For instance Pauline’s conservatory (see Figure 47) where she identified qualities which made it comfortable, also had references towards the dimensions (space and lighting) of the room and the afforded behaviour (sitting).

Throughout the captured instances of perceptual comfort, participants have made repeated references to the importance of elements of physical comfort such as seating comfort and thermal comfort to their overall comfort experience. In experiencing comfort, participants discussed their desire for warmth which was often linked to feelings of cosiness, snuggling or relaxation [Maria, Pauline, Walter, Rachael, Jessica, and Olivia, 10 photographs]. There were no direct references to turning on central heating systems; participants discussed adaptive behaviours of keeping warm such as using blankets and bathing [Walter, Rachael, and Jessica, 5 photographs]. For instance, using the above example of Jessica’s bed (Figure 46)

Pauline: “The "airy feel" to clear you head, spaciousness and calming.”

Olivia: “It's where I like to sit to relax in comfy clothes and watch a film. I

rearrange the cushions so I can snuggle, sometimes I put a cushion on my lap in front of me. I can sit or lie comfortably to watch films or TV shows I can enjoy, to switch off and unwind from work. It feels like my

180 she stated “I love to be warm” and further to this, when getting comfortable on her sofa in the conservatory, she stated the following:

Figure 49: Jessica, Conservatory, Perceptual Comfort

References were also made to seasonal or climatic differences in behaviour, participants described how they would use spaces differently during the winter and summer seasons [Pauline, Mike, Jessica and Olivia, 5 photographs]. Olivia drew upon the seasonal differences, commenting how her lounge area (Figure 48) is enjoyable for different reasons during the summer and winter seasons. She states:

Similarly Pauline (Figure 47) also described how her conservatory provided a different environment during the varying seasons; she also discussed at interview stage the use of heating in the conservatory:

Sitting comfort was noted by several participants [Pauline, Walter, Kevin, Rachael, Lewis, Jessica and Olivia, 11 photographs] and numerous references have already been discussed previously in this section (for example see Figure 44, Figure 45 and

Olivia: “In summer it's nice and relaxing as it overlooks the garden opposite patio doors. In winter it's warm and snuggly.”

Pauline: “In the summertime this can be a very cooling space - after the harsh sun has passed over the house - we can relax and enjoy the light airy

room. In the winter time it is still a comforting place to sit & relax…. [in reference to using oil filled radiators when the conservatory gets cold] I wouldn’t have it too cold because otherwise you lose it then as a useful

room.”

Jessica: “I often lie down to watch TV and snuggle up with a blanket…. I’ll

181 Figure 43). When asked how this aspect signified comfort, the seating was often associated with word ‘comfy’ [Kevin, Rachael, and Jessica, 5 photographs], emphasising its importance within the comfort experience to the participant.