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19 March 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Leonie Bolleurs
Ergonomics
Martie Bitzer, senior lecturer at the UFS Department of Architecture, says an architect envisions how the user will live in a space and designs accordingly.
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs

Whether at work or at home, scientists have found a way to “comfortably” carry out tasks. According to Martie Bitzer, senior lecturer at the University of the Free State’s Department of Architecture, we all experience discomfort due to the effects of repetitive actions in a day – whether in daily tasks of necessity like washing the dishes or hours spent at work behind a desk or a countertop. “The word ‘ergonomics’ is the key to ease this discomfort!,” she said.

Martie believes that a space needs not only to look beautiful but that it must be practical as well. 

“The specific dimensions of the human body should serve as the designer’s ‘measure’ for the height of your kitchen counter or the angle of your computer screen,” says Martie.

She continues: “In architecture, ergonomics is always the starting point for design. The architect envisions how the user will live in a space and designs accordingly. Ergonomics touches all aspects of a person’s life in a building – from the distance you walk in your kitchen while cooking to the impact of the height of a specific space. It is working at best when you live fluently in a space, unaware of obstacles and challenges. The human body’s capabilities and limitations are at the heart of the responsible designer’s task to improve the quality of life in a building.”

In a world where we are daily more aware of how we engage with our surroundings, good design matters!



News Archive

Grant from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation provides significant boost for graduate and postdoctoral studies in the Humanities
2013-05-19

20 May 2013

The Andrew W Mellon Foundation has made an award of US $500 000 [c. ZAR 4.85 million] over three years to support graduate and postdoctoral studies in the Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS).

The award will underwrite 20 postgraduate studentships and postdoctoral fellowships, as well as annual postgraduate skills training workshops and a research seminar programme, amongst other initiatives. Already underway following national and international advertisement, the programme has attracted highly qualified young scholars from South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as from the United Kingdom and the United States. While their fields of study include history, politics, anthropology and development studies, most of the research projects have an African focus and a marked historical dimension.

Postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students alike are associates of, or are registered in, the Centre for Africa Studies. Several of them, have already published articles in international refereed journals. Chapters in books, edited collections and single-authored monographs are all in the pipeline.

“The application to the Mellon Foundation was made in the context of UFS' strategic plan and the priority given to the importance of fostering and consolidating postgraduate and postdoctoral research. Together with other funding, this grant gives the university the opportunity to develop graduate studies in the Humanities in such a way that it surpasses many South African universities and approaches that of the best universities in the country,” says Prof Ian Phimister, Senior UFS Research Professor.

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