Needs

When an architect or urban planner is working on a Project, he has to consider the categorization made by Ching, because it establish that any project must be emphasized in fulfilling the needs of the people who are using the building, the structure and functions of the building and the context or space in which the building is going to be placed.

The needs of the people can be classified in three parts: physiological, psychological and sociological, which should maintain the balance and scale to provide comfort, the sense of security to support self-esteem, and the distribution of private and public spaces to provide interaction with other people. The structural needs of the building are related to the weight, resistance and protection that it provides to the occupants from facts like the weather and other nature forces. The distribution, flow and comfort make reference to the stable and comfortable living it should maintain and the right distributions of spaces. The context needs includes the culture of the location, the environment and connections with the surrounding activities, economics and its flexibility with the dynamic needs.

Finally, Ching mentions that those needs are in conflict with each other and constantly changing, so the urban planner or architect has to consider them every time since he starts working on plans, to maintain the necessary balance between them.