Space and Environmental Graphics

In addition to functionality, urban environments in a mature society tend to offer greater amenities and friendlier spaces by applying visual and other elements that are appealing to the senses. Friendly and comfortable environments, relaxing spaces or stimulating and extraordinary spaces are sought after. For corporations and shops, the effective use of visual elements such as graphics, colours, and lighting is becoming more important to comprehensively enhance their images.

Many interesting and innovative projects that incorporate these elements are being built. Such is the case for educational institutions. Spaces created with clear and novel themes help draw out children's creativity and promote their learning through play, and educational environments are being constructed that stimulate students to change their ways of thinking.

This trend is especially apparent in public spaces such as parking garages, subway stations, and pedestrian tunnels, which have tended to be uninteresting and unfriendly. There are even walls on which different graphics appear interactively in response to the movement of a pedestrian to give him/her an artistic experience. It's an example of an original idea that helped transform a part of the urban environment into a safe and enchanting place.

Graphics and other visual elements are often applied to the surfaces of buildings and are useful for designing an environment or space effectively and economically. Increasingly, the designers of buildings are required to skilfully apply such visual designs in their projects. This book presents leading-edge designs in this field.