PREFACE: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THESIS RESULTS

DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND CONCLUSIONS

Women under stress need everyday spaces where they can re-center or restore themselves. During the course of this study, I interviewed nineteen women inside their self-identified, everyday restorative spaces. This study's sample population was women who have been affected by alcoholism in a family member or friend.

This summary introduces the richness of the data and what I have learned, and it synthesizes the research outcomes into principles for designers seeking to create restorative spaces. My analysis of the interview data suggests that a diverse typology of spaces and environments was used by this population to pursue variable restorative experiences. Patterns and themes of spatial character are reported from the analysis. My conclusions and design principles for practitioners who wish to design public and private restorative spaces for women under stress include the following:

SPACES WITH CHOICES

The majority of women in this study described their restorative space as a quiet, relaxing place where they could enjoy complete solitude or where they could be alone but have other people nearby. Designers can accommodate these different needs by providing a range of spaces, both indoors and outdoors, that offer these qualities and degrees of sociability. Varying degrees of sociability can be achieved by dividing a large space into several small spaces or by providing multiple small spaces.

These data show that women under stress most frequently engaged in passive activities in their restorative spaces, both indoors and outdoors. The most frequently mentioned passive activities were reading, writing/journaling, meditating, and eating. Designers should facilitate a diverse set of activities through carefully selected design elements and spatial layout.

The women in this study frequently mentioned designing their own restorative space, especially when it was in their home. They felt most comfortable changing the environment when they owned the space. Designers should strive to create restorative spaces, in public as well as private, where women can feel comfortable designing their own space, even in small ways.

• By providing a variety of places to sit and offering moveable tables and chairs, women can choose their space and alter their environment by taking advantage of different degrees of enclosure, light, and views of other people and nature.

• Because respondents explained that the objects they brought to their restorative spaces had great personal significance, triggered memories, and told their stories, designers should design spaces that women can personalize by arranging or displaying their special objects.1

DESIGNING FOR PRIVACY AND SCENT

One of the most important qualities mentioned during the interviews was a sense of privacy or refuge.2 Designers creating restorative spaces can create a private retreat or sanctuary by creatively using plant materials or built structures to create a feeling of enclosure, a sense of refuge, or a place of solitude.

Many of the women in this study placed a high value on having a view from their space but not being seen while in their space. Designers should ask themselves several questions. Can the user be seen from outside the space, and is "not being seen" safe or unsafe in this space? Is the view desirable or undesirable? Sculpt the view from the space and of the space, using plant materials or structures, to either reduce distractions, interruptions, stimulation, or enhance the dynamic nature of the space.3

Scent was a surprisingly important characteristic of the restorative spaces for the women in this study. Design with scented, fragrant plants, especially in areas through which a user would walk or sit, and buffer unpleasant odors of the site.

INDOOR SPACES: STATIC OR DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT?

When women in this population chose indoor spaces, they most often chose passive activities in a static environment. Architects should be aware of this need when considering seating, tables, wall/window locations; and the user's ability to regulate the view and light by closing blinds or curtains.

Static environments were most preferred by the women using indoor restorative spaces, however, some preferred dynamic environments. Indoor spaces can provide either type of environment; designers should be sure to ask the client which type she prefers.

OUTDOOR RESTORATIVE SPACES THAT SHIELD AND SHELTER

Because indoor spaces successfully shield and shelter women from a variety of distractions, and respondents responded positively to this quality, landscape architects should strive to create outdoor restorative spaces where this sense of privacy and shelter from distractions, such as other people, noise, and weather, can be fostered. When designers create indoor restorative spaces that provide this "shelter" function for women, they should consider extending these restorative qualities to the adjacent outdoor space.

When women in this study population chose outdoor restorative spaces, they most often chose dynamic environments and engaged in passive activities. Landscape architects should be aware of this, and design to emphasize the view and the changeable nature of the outdoor restorative space, and program for passive activities.

A CALL FOR CHANGE IN DESIGN PRACTICE: SPACES FOR RESTORATION

As a result of this study and after much reflection on the design professions, I am calling for a change in design practice. Below, I have listed challenges and questions for designers who are creating spaces for restoration. These challenges.and questions grew directly out of the original narratives of the women I interviewed, and they can be a valuable tool for designers of these spaces.

• Resist the notion that designers "know best." Design spaces meant to be altered by the women who use the space; create a framework for people to live in.4 Women under stress want the ability to create or arrange the restorative space themselves, especially when the space is in or around the home.

• Consider restorative spaces as a long-term investment in the health of women; they can provide consistency, familiarity, and continuity in the stressful lives of this population of women. A well-designed, restorative space may become a woman's personal space at any time, and she may use the space for twenty years. Design these spaces with "heart," using as many considerations as possible.

• Ask the client which type of cognitive/affective process she is experiencing or wants to experience in her restorative space. Each cognitive/affective process has characteristics, qualities, activities, and levels of sociability associated with it; design to facilitate the desired cognitive/affective process.

• Question: Are there too many spaces devoted to people being together, both outdoors and indoors, both public and private? Challenge: Design more spaces where women can achieve the sense of being alone in both the public and private realms.

• Question: Are there too many spaces devoted to active activities, both indoors and outdoors, both public and private? Challenge: Design more spaces for passive recreation, especially in areas near populations of women under stress.

• The extant programming of public spaces favors certain populations. Men, organized groups, and children have been catered to in most public parks. Historically, women have gone to places such as parks to accompany others, rather than to meet their own needs. Question: Have we been designing our public spaces with women in mind ? Challenge: Support and improve the mental/emotional health of women under stress by acquiring and designing new restorative spaces, or simply by reconfiguring or redesigning existing spaces to suit their restorative needs.

1This idea supports the design philosophy of Studio Jaso, of Seattle, WA, who created "hearths" in the Cal Anderson House, low-rent Seattle apartments for people living with AIDS/HIV.

2 Jay Appleton's research on "prospect and refuge" has been supported by the results of this study (Appleton, 1975, 1996).

3 The results of this study indicate that these women who sought to restore themselves chose spaces with either a static (unchanging) or dynamic (changing) environment. Most women who chose indoor spaces selected a static environment, while most women who chose outdoor spaces selected a dynamic environment.

4 This notion supports the design philosophy of Studio Jaso, Seattle, WA.