The person across from me just excused himself to leave and go sit elsewhere in the new Mansueto library, due to the fact that he was being blindsided by the sun reflecting off the whiteness of his pages. The woman sitting in that same seat before him had her sunglasses on. Yet I have decided to continue squinting at my computer screen as the black of my laptop becomes hotter and hotter. This place was not designed for the user. I am a mere 5 foot 2 inches, on a good day, and yet, in order to type on my keyboard in a way that is comfortable and typical for my hands, I have to sit slouched in the chair. This place may look cool, and indeed it does look very fancy. However, I would personally prefer to sit in the older part of the library where I can see without squinting, or wearing sunglasses and do not ultimately end my time with a massive backache from slouching. This may sound like a complaint, and indeed it is. In order to design a fully functioning space that works for the user these are issues that need to be addressed from the beginning, so one does not end up with these kinds of problems.
It seems from this video that the architects for this particular space did a wonderful job with it as far as technology goes, and even as far as the library's needs are concerned. However, once again the user was left out of the equation. Fortunately there are few users for this space, only the first floor of the dome actually has space for users to study or work.
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