“Observe people’s behavior patterns. The truth is in their patterns and cycles. Not so much in their words.”
- Lalah Deliah
Taking On The Functionality Challenge With A Behavioral Approach
We took on the challenge of functionality with the help of one of our favorite places: The Arlington Heights Public Library. Mike and I would hideaway in a conference room for a couple hours at a time, calling these our Happy Boolo Project library nights. Taking inspiration from the organizational change work I do with clients, we took an ethnographic design-thinking lens to our current and desired lifestyle in our home.
I share a quote by social theorist Fred Steele with clients: “Humans are environmentally incompetent” – meaning humans are often completely unaware at a conscious level of how the space we are in actually shapes our behaviors. Knowing this, we started to study our current behavior in the home – how we actually live on a daily basis, what our routines and habits are, as well as what new behaviors we would like the house to foster.
Library night!
Pandemic sadness
Boolo behavioral analysis
Some findings from our self-study:
Our happiest moments are out in the garden and hanging out in the kitchen together to cook.
We love to have family and friends in our home, so we need a home that is easy to share with others.
We constantly drop our keys and other things we bring in the house onto our dining room chairs.
I work all over the house because I think better when I move around.
Mike is a bit of a ‘Harry of many hobbies’ so we wanted space that accommodates these various pursuits.
Making pomodoro sauce
The Primary Passion
More of the passion
Pumpkin patch
Ice cream bar!
Chair valet
Bountiful harvest
Ear plugs
Flintknapping fun
Combat kit
All in two hours!
Dissecting our behavior helped us get clear on what we really wanted so we could achieve maximum functionality using the latest building and human design science versus a home based on trend. During working sessions, our architect, Mike Kollman, and our designers, Julie Ondo and Kerry Molina, challenged us to make sure what we decided on would indeed result in maximum functionality supported by the most appropriate home technologies.
