The main entrance\atrium space that users are greeted to upon entry at the Parkside Campus at Birmingham City University, features a rather minimal colour palette, with a mixture of warm and harsh materials.
As I entered the space, I'm instantly reminded of Bentham's theory of the Panopticon (1700s). The theory features a single watchman central to a prison, so that he is able to watch any of the inmates as and when he feels. However there is no actual way of the single watchman being able to see all of the inmates but it forces them to remain concerned with their behaviour.
Looking over from any floor inside the Parkside building, users are able to see all the way down to Level 0 (the Ground Floor). Meaning the people on the bottom floor may feel a little uneasy as they can easily be watched from anyone from any of the 4 floors above.
From the images above and the video below you can see that the minute you enter the space, your presence is logged possibly 3 times over. As there are cameras in the lobby area, and in the video below you can see that the doors opened for me.
However with close analysis, I realised that the few places where people's presences aren't logged, are private and public bathrooms. The toilets in Parkside have no cameras, meaning it is one of the few 'Uncontrolled' spaces. The video below shows another blind spot/ Uncontrolled Space within the Parkside Building on the 4th floor
CANNON PARK SHOPPING CENTRE
The place that I chose to analyse myself was the Canon Park Shopping Centre, Coventry.
The shopping centre is a widespread open area that has 3 main entry points, meaning that there are a large number of ways the user's presence is logged upon entry.
VIDEO THREE: Cannon Park Shopping Centre
SOURCES:
FIGURE ONE: Author's Own
FIGURE TWO: Author's Own
FIGURE THREE: Author's Own
FIGURE FOUR: Author's Own
FIGURE FIVE: Author's Own
VIDEO ONE: Author's Own
VIDEO TWO: Author's Own
VIDEO THREE: Author's Own
