by Marcene Kinney
Sheltering in place. Social distancing. Working from home. No matter what you call it, students have been navigating a lot of remote-ing since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with a vaccine on its way, hopes are rising that this, too, shall pass. When it does, among the lessons taken from this experience is more proof that students need and crave in-person connections. Sure, they have had online interactions in virtual classes and they see and digitally communicate with friends, but what they report missing the most are live face-to-face encounters for discussions and deeper conversations.
Even before the pandemic, Generation Z students arrived on campus needing a nudge to form connections at their new home. Many were tethered by technology to familiar high school friendships and felt less comfortable with the practice of forming new friendships. And now students are increasingly reporting feeling unhappy or a lack of belonging. The 2019 World Happiness Report revealed that first-year university students reported the lowest levels of general happiness of the last decade, a trend that has accelerated during the pandemic. Overcoming these feelings of isolation is a complex process of finding meaningful connection within a larger group as well as bolstering self-esteem through achievement. Fortunately, residence hall design teams have taken note of how purposeful activity programming and space design can play a part in supporting students.
Student life programs have been actively helping students overcome these feelings of isolation and connect to each other. Rethinking shared public space can allow students to live within an improved support ecosystem to better engage with peers on their own terms and forge friendships. And, shared in the appropriate way, public spaces provide residents with a sense of autonomy and control, connection to others and the world around them, and chances to experience creative challenges and accomplishments.
Not all public spaces are created equal, but they can be broadly categorized into five activity types: gather, play, study, bond, and be. While every space can be used in unique ways and a single space can support multiple activity types, there are physical and spatial characteristics that enable each space to support collaborative behaviors. Gathering spaces help a person find their fit in a larger group; playing spaces build common experiences as a larger group; studying spaces support personal growth, alone or as part of a team; bonding spaces facilitate more meaningful exchanges; and being spaces provide room to contemplate one’s self and one’s connection to a bigger world. What may not be as obvious is the quantifiable way in which these different areas can be planned and plotted for optimal impact.
For Marian Spencer Hall at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, which opened in January 2018, community building was an active element of the design process. By utilizing the outcomes of early qualitative conversations and statements about the desired student experience inside the future hall, computational analytics were able to provide real-time square footage impact and cost modeling by drawing upon a data base of completed residence halls and subsequent student survey data. Space types were deployed on different floors to encourage vertical cross-floor travel. Since the building was intentionally designed for first-year students, more see-and-be-seen space was included to encourage familiarity and group formation. Corridors were designed to be wider than code requirements in order to accommodate ad hoc uses like sitting on the floor or spontaneous broomball games. In the end, it was decided that the primary focus of the hall’s community spaces would be on those that facilitated bonding (32% of the available public square footage) and gathering (30%). The remaining spaces would be designed for being (17%), studying (11%), and playing (10%).
Gathering spaces are often the most easily accessed and inviting environments for groups of people who did not know each other previously. They become community anchors that draw students throughout the facility by providing them with a breadth of spatial experiences. While the dining hall on the first floor of Marian Spencer serves the entire campus, a small, fully functional kitchen hub where the residents can prepare meals and snacks was placed on the second floor, near the building’s primary entrance. It acts as a community anchor and gathering hub for residents – a place for both chance encounters and intentional meet ups. Views across campus from expansive windows draw students into the space, and the large island in the kitchen lets many gather to make and eat a meal. Students on their way to different parts of the building see peers from a distance, allowing them to assess whether to join the group.
A variety of details can impact the satisfaction students have with a space. For example, correctly setting the kitchen size was an important process in this case. Groups of three or four can easily gather at one end of the island, but its length leaves room for someone else to comfortably perch at the opposite end. When people are 6 to 8 feet apart from each other, conversations still can be overheard, and it can be easier to interject a question. Common experiences, like watching frisbee being played on the quad below, can expand the group conversation to include the entire island. In addition, short-term activities (things that take 15 to 60 minutes, like waiting out a laundry cycle or boiling pasta) can be grouped together to increase the crossover traffic of different residents. This is where equipment and programmatic needs can encourage making connections.
The areas designated for bonding and being are less task-specific. Students are very adept at finding the right spot to fit their mood, and the being spaces provide a place for alone time and mental recharging. Meanwhile, bonding spaces allow for more engaged and involved conversations and provide a level of sharing that enables trust building. They are more effective when removed from busy circulation paths, ideally set apart by at least 6 feet to minimize distractions and provide a sense of privacy. In Marian Spencer Hall, alcoves at the end of floor corridors provide places to step away while a roommate has a private phone conversation or to just look across the campus from the eighth floor. Often these types of nooks are the first to be eliminated during design budget challenges, but their role in helping students de-stress and manage anxiety is more important now than ever.
For the Marian Spencer project, after the spaces were designated, the next step was to create a schematic design that began to place the community areas strategically in ways to maximize them. To that end, gather and play spaces were set along primary circulation pathways so that they would draw students through the building. The central space for gathering is the kitchen hub (the blue area of the diagram below, right), intentionally located adjacent to the hall’s pedestrian bridge and elevator lobby. Space for play is located on an upper floor but along a circulation pathway (the diagram below shows the building’s circulation pathways).
Residents crossing the pedestrian bridge or coming down the elevator can survey the activities and engage at their comfort level. The placement of the elevator lobby near the kitchen hub increases the chance for resident interactions. Gathering spaces are easily found and allow residents to join activities on their own terms. Because a considerable number of the residents in the hall would be first- and second-year students, these spaces are particularly valuable as they enable and encourage students to test and join different groups.
Spaces for play often do not have doors, making it easier for someone to easily move into them from the corridor. They accommodate vibrant and energetic activities: scary movie night, volleyball game watch parties, bingeing Netflix, or ping pong. Successful play spaces are large enough to encourage a student to pause and watch from a distance, generally 8 to 12 feet away. The space offers an invitation; the student decides whether to accept. Furniture choice and interior aesthetic should signal the mind to relax and let go. Since technology is vital for Gen Z play, speaker systems that can be controlled from mobile devices, larger screens to change the scale of streaming, and robust Wi-Fi should be considered so students can easily appropriate the space.
Even though fewer square feet were set aside for other public area types, they were addressed with no less strategic thought. The study spaces were created to accommodate two types of activity: casual and focused. Casual study spaces accommodate less intense work and are successful when located along primary circulation paths. Students studying alone can people watch and listen to nearby conversations. Spaces for focused study, which requires quiet and separation, are provided by carrels and booth seating, which also create a visual barrier to potential distractions and are covered in soft materials to help muffle sound. Seating is near windows, but not right next to them, so computer screens are easier to see but students can still see views of the campus, which act as a subconscious reminder of their connection to a larger community.
More casual studying often occurs in gathering spaces, where desk-height furniture placed against a window allows students to see others crossing the pedestrian bridge, overhear parts of conversations, and quietly become familiar with the same people they see at this time of day, all while simply reviewing class notes.
While digital interactions are undoubtedly here to stay, face-to-face meetings are essential to foster richer conversations, empathy, and understanding between people. Thoughtful shared public space design empowers students to engage with peers on their own terms. Student affairs professionals know all too well the feelings of anxiety and isolation that students are grappling with, especially after a year that has forced everyone to endure more screen time. By understanding students’ social dynamics and psychological needs for well-being, student life professionals, programming, and the residential built environment can create an ecosystem of support.
Marcene Kinney is a principal at GBBN where she directs education and culture projects.