The final outcome

This is the final outcome of our project regarding Lack of Social Spaces in School. In  my 16 weeks of Design Process lesson, I have learnt the right way to write a proper report, a case study and coming out with proper solutions to solve the problem.

With this A2 presentation board me and my group members came up with, firstly since we are doing research about cafeteria, we jot down the problems faced over there as shown on the top left hand corner of the board. Then, we came up with 101 ideas to improve the school's cafeteria.

Among 100 ideas, we choose the best 3 to improvise the school's cafeteria which is to install Multi-Purpose Furniture, WIFI and a Live Band(i feel that it's a good idea).  In addition, we want the school's cafeteria to have the ambience and atmophere as if we are in one of those cafes out there. As in you will tend to have this warm feeling and smell whenever you enter a cafe.

We did a sketch and render the final outcome shown on the top right hand corner of the board. From normal furniture, we planned to transform it into multi purpose furniture. We also want to put a live band on top of the school's fountain.

With this proposal, stakeholders will have this opportunity to be spending their free time at the school's cafeteria socializing and interacting with one another since it is one of the social spaces in school.

Multi Functional Furniture

I felt that by implementing multi-purpose furniture to the school's cafeteria, it would prevent from space constraint. I did a research regarding multi purpose furniture and so below here is idea that i would wish to put in the school's cafeteria. .

Bookcase designed by Sakura Adachi

This is a bookcase designed by Sakura Adachi. in between those furniture, you can put reading materials underneath it so you could add extra entertainment while you're eating. Dispersed it when in use and reassemble it when not in use. For those in pairs I feel it is a good idea to make full use of this for dining or reading. It is multi purpose furniture which offers a space saving solution and fulfills your everyday activities in small environment. 

http://www.designrulz.com/spaces-for-living/office/2010/11/bookcase-designed-by-sakura-adachi/

Problem with my school's cafeteria

Today, me and my group mates went to our school's cafeteria for our site investigation and we managed to spot some problems students like us are facing.

Firstly,

 Poor quality of furniture and easily stained.

 Unhygienic way of placing rubbish bin near the entrance of the cafeteria.

Poor arrangement of furniture.



*pictures are taken from both me and Bryan.

Case Study

Case Study

I am going to talk on how innovative design concepts can bring efficiency towards the
multipurpose activity zones to the school cafeteria.

Vincent is a NAFA student who is a big fan of the food in the school cafeteria but the problem is the cafeteria is always fully occupied by many other students and he always have a hard time hunting for seats. Furthermore, the cafeteria is too small and cramped. He knows he can really expand the cafeteria but he has to think  of something that would avoid space constraint. He feels that he needs to get something done once and for all. So he came up with solutions. 

http://www.chictip.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Full-Operation-Compressed.jpg

He did research on multi purpose furniture that could fit in the cafeteria and he came across this; a trans-formative furniture which is fold able and versatile. It could transform for having lunch for instance, working and even sitting down without the table.

Personally I think that he has a good idea of making the cafeteria less space constraint. The dining space will be enhanced by leveraging this space to more easily adapt and change from quiet seating to small group 

seating to large group seating.

Research: Sidewalk Cafes

Previously I have talked about the problems faced with students in cafeteria. Before I came out with solutions, the most important thing that needs to be done first is research!

I did research on various cafes in Singapore and get a better idea on how to revamp our school cafeteria to a campus cafe which makes student want to visit more often without having problems and complaints.

Here are the pictures of cafes I took...

Fig 1 eat@ red Antz, Prinsep Plaza (2014)

 Fig 1.1 Mr Bean's Cafe, Prinsep Plaza (2014)

Fig 1.2 Senor Taco, Clarke Quay (2014)

In today’s world, many people regardless of age and other significant people frequently visits cafe around their vicinity. Most of the cafes were situated close to the places where they congregated for leisure, dining in, studying or using (if it is available) the internet access which most of them have in cafes.

Typically in a cafe, there are tables and chairs placed both indoor and outdoor around the cafe. Most cafe’s furniture are designed in conjunction with the cafe’s outlook and it gives out a quaint atmosphere. 

My purpose of writing this is to suggest some obvious reflections on my thoughts and ideas of the social space me and my group members will be focusing about; our school cafeteria. Is our design concept of implementing multi-purpose furniture bring efficiency to the cafeteria? Does it create an interactive social hub among the people? 

Research: Survey on Social Spaces

I did a survey on what people think social spaces mean to them so here it goes....

Question : What is social space to you?

"A place for leisure" - Jannah, 19.

"A place to hang out and socialize with my friends!" - Narine, 21

"A place where people gather around and have fun!"- Bryan, 22

" You sit down one corner with your friend to chit chat. That is social space" - Li Shan, 24

Question : What do you think of the school cafeteria?

"So cramp! I cannot even find a seat to sit and eat! I am enraged!!" - Jannah, 19

"Shared among the 3 campuses? That is just ridiculous!" - Narine, 21

"The seating furniture are placed too near to the pathway, very uncomfortable when people want to pass by" - Andy, 20

Survey

Before we start off with our research, me and my group members did a survey regarding social spaces and below are the results we are able to analyze.

Stakeholder

Persona:

Name: Vincent Chin Wei Lin

Occupation: Architecture Student

Age: 19
Family: Mother, Father, 5 siblings

Address: Blk 1 Eunos Link

School: Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Daily Activity: Vincent is a student who lives in a 2 room HDB flat with his parents and 5 siblings. Due to the tight environment filled with 7 other family members at home,

it is difficult for Vincent to study at home. Unfortunately, the schools designated study spaces is always fully occupied by many other students. There is nowhere for him to do his revision and group projects due to the lack of social spaces in school.

Time Line:

7am: Wake up, bathe.

730am: Breakfast, pack books for school.

8.15am: Chauffer send him to school.

8.45am: Reach school.

9am: Lesson starts.

12pm: Have lunch with classmates at the canteen but insufficient tables and chairs.

1pm: Group project with classmates but couldn’t find any space.

1.30pm: Public places are full so group members decided to go home and Skype instead.

7pm: Skyped till 7 pm but there wasn’t much progress.

7.30pm: Dinner.

8.30pm: Assignment

2am: Sleep.

Client’s Problem:

Cafeteria:

• -        1 cafeteria shared among the 4 campus
• -        Limited number of tables and chairs
• -        Space constraint around the cafeteria affects the walkway
• -        The seating are too exposed to outdoor

Student’s Facilities:

• -        Insufficient discussion room in the library
• -        Most classrooms are occupied in the morning & afternoon
• -        School facilities close at 7pm.
• -        1 student lounge is not enough for students coming from the other campus.
• -        Doesn’t have a proper designated smoking area.
• -        Bad placing of study tables (most are placed against the wall).

Introduction: 
This proposal is intended to inform the Director of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts on the benefits of a redesigned  social spaces. The primary objective is to improve the schools facilities for the students to interact and socialize in and around the campus.

The social spaces must include necessary furniture to better connect the students and alumni.

Problem: 
There’s only a small cafeteria which is shared among the 4 campuses in school.

Not only that it is small, it has limited number of tables and chair for students to have their meal. Furthermore, the furniture made space constraint occurred that affects the walkway.

The seats outside the cafeteria are too exposed to outdoor. In any case of rainy or shine; it will be an inconvenience for the students to have their meals peacefully.

There are insufficient discussion room in the library. Most classrooms are occupied in the morning & afternoon. Classroom closes at 7pm. 1 student lounge is not enough for students coming from the other campus. Doesn’t have proper designated smoking area.

Bad placing of study tables (most are placed against the the wall).'

Benefits/Goals: 
The main goal is to better utilize currently available area in school. We have to continue to evaluate current spaces as well as identify new spaces in an effort to effectively meet the social and programmatic needs of students. Thus, it is the immediate solution to the social space problem.

Bibliographies:

Books:

1)      Pegler, Martin M., and Schleifer, Bernard, eds. Cafes & Coffee Shops. Joint Publishing (Hong Kong) Company Limited Retail Reporting Corporation, 1996.

2)      Myerson, Jeremy, and Ross, Philip, eds. Space to Work. Laurence King, 2006.

Magazines:

1)      Per, Aurora, Fernandez and Mozas, Javier. ‘a+t Reclaim Domestic > Actions’. Bianual (Spring and Autumn). Vol 15, No 5. 2002.

Websites:

1)      Rouse, Hana N. ‘College Struggles with Social Space.’ The Harvard Crimson. 6 May 2011. Accessed 26 January. 2014http://www.truecrimson.com/article/2011/5/6/space-social-student-harvard/#>

2)      Garinger, Alex. ‘Lack of social space may increase graduate attrition.’ The Chronicle. 10 October. 2002. Accessed 28 January. 2014http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2002/10/10-social-space-may-increase-graduate-attrition

Lack of Social Spaces in School Final Decision: Cafeteria!

4th Week of  Design Process Lesson, me and my group members have elaborated more about social spaces. We thought that we had a lot to talk about so our lecturers decided we should choose one sub-topic and so, we decided to go into deeper research regarding cafeteria!

I feel that it is an intriguing topic to talk about. I am not happy with my school cafeteria as there is only ONE I repeat ONE cafeteria among the 3 campuses. Can you believe that? Sadly during or not during lunch hours the seats are occupied by students from various campus and we did not get the chance to eat :(

Furthermore, the seats outside the cafeteria are placed near the pathway which resulted passer by to have a hard time walking. Speaking about space constraint indoors and outdoors!

Limited social spaces in school : Study Corner

Where is she? In school study corner.

What is she doing? Studying.

How she should feel? Inspired, well determined.

How she is actually feeling? She stares at the wall, the wall stares at her. LIFELESS, DULL, BORING!

There was this time where the library and the cafeteria are full when I wanted to do some revision, so i decided to sit at the study corner near the classroom. The study corner has been one of my most visited spots to study.. until today when I started studying, trust me I could not even find inspirations anymore. Every 10 minutes of studying I tend to stare at the blank walls like a fool looking for inspirations.

No offence walls, but I feel so uninspired having to study in front of a white blank wall with no sun light!

What's worst, the study tables are placed in front of classes along the corridor. This is the first time in my life that I have seen such tabled being placed over there.

Some of the students in school complained to me regarding this. At first I feel that It was absolutely fine studying there as I have no problem in concentrating. Nevertheless, I did put myself in their shoes and tried to study there for the last time and yes, I felt how they feel! From there on, I feel that it's the most boring place to study(no offence again).

If i could do something about this, I would placed the tables near the window so that they could at least feel the rays entering through the room.... like this....

 >> study corner near the window

http://www.college.library.wisc.edu/about/collections/openbook/about.shtml

Or maybe put some posters at the wall so that it wouldn't be boring? Well that's just suggestions to make study corner a better place to socialize with students in a friendly and relaxing environment.

Limited Social Spaces in Schools : Smoking Area

Are you annoyed when you always walk pass a pathway  near a bunch of students who smokes and you accidentally smell the harmful smoke?

This are some of the problems faced by smokers who don't seemed to get a particular space for them to smoke as it will harm those second hand smokers who happen to walk past.

Some people argue that eliminating designated smoking areas would create inconveniences, as students would have to drive or walk off campus to smoke.

What's worst, there's only a few smoking area (as less as 1) and people would tend to cramp into the place, and even worst if it's raining ; no shelter!!!

So as per normal I happened to surf the Internet and came across with these cool sheltered smoking area! 

....

.....

Google Images - smoking area design


http://garrickengineeringshelters.net/smoking-shelters-141/

This benefit the smokers as they could finally smoke without any worries. Also benefits the non smokers too as they don't have to inhale those harmful chemicals whenever they walk.

Oh yes! They should expand the sheltered smoking area too! Well, it's not few people who smokes, there's thousands of people out there who does.

Limited social spaces in schools : Grass Patch

http://morinoikedent.villagepages.org/2010/07/27/youkoso-mori-e-welcome-to-the-forest/100_4425/

http://studentblog.newcastle.edu.au/

Students hanging out at the grass patch.

It is known that students mostly from universities love to hang out at the grass patch. Yes, it is a relaxing place to get some fresh air especially on a sunny day, sleeping, chatting, reading and even drawing when it is placed at the best est view for students to sketch their ideas and inspirations. However, it is a disadvantage for them as the grass patch will be muddy and dirty if it rains. I understand the fact that there are still other 'hot spots' for them to hang out but let's just say that the school consists tons of students hanging out at the same spot. As a result, there will be a space constraint.

I did research on ideas that would complement with the grass patch....   ↓↓

http://www.sparkawards.com/galleries/index.cfm?entry=4177

Presenting : Landscape Extrusion!

This space were designed by the graduating students/designers from OTIS College of Art and Design's from architecture/landscape/interior course.

I feel that this is a brilliant social space design as it is partially sheltered with trees but can still feel the sun rays shining. The space is to provide seating for individuals and groups, reading, writing and social interaction between students occurring at once. For Art students, they could enjoy doing their sketches feeling tranquil.

Process :

This space can accomodate up to 110 people at once, in various seated and reclined positions. Profile of decks, seats, lounge, chaises, benches and tables that are extruded up to 12 feet in width are being installed here too.

Firstly, they began with 1 week of individual diagramming and parti studies that addressed two potential sites, after which proceeded with progressively larger teams through with schematic design schemes and site options were reduced, ultimately, to one. They presented solutions three times to a Client-group that selected the final design.

It is integrated into and customized for its site, a previously entirely unused band of trees and grave located between  OTIS' Galef Fine Arts Center and a lawn.

So for those nature and outdoor lovers, Im sure you would love to have this type of social spaces in school. So do i!

Social Spaces in School

Previously, I have talked about briefly on the topic that we chose. Now, I will elaborate more about social spaces. This is one of the most mainstream topic people often talk about these days.

From my observation, I think that there is not enough social spaces for students to socialize with and to hang out in school. I feel that students are 'cramping' themselves in certain social spaces.

By that, What exactly are the problems we are facing in school? What are they lacking of in school? How do we resolve the problem?

Student lounge - one of the social spaces in school.

http://international.fsu.edu/london/images/campus/student_lounge1.jpg

What is social space?

A social space is physical or virtual space such as a social center, online social media, or other gathering place where people gather and interact. Some social spaces such as town squares or parks are public places; others such as pubs, websites or shopping malls are privately owned and regulated.

(Wikipedia)

TOPIC CHOSEN : LACK OF SOCIAL SPACE IN SCHOOL

It is Week One of Design Process. Everyone is assigned to their respective group.
After that, each group have to choose a topic and emphasize on it.
So me and my group members, Bryan and Naufal chose Lack of Social Space in School as we thought that it is a manageable topic to talk about.

In Week 2, we had to do a mind map on our topic we chose. Initially what we did was to name social spaces in school that are common so here is our mind map..........

                     

Since the words here are partially clear, let me just jot it one of the social spaces that we will focusing on.

Cafeteria! We thought that it is one of the most common problems that resulted in lack of social spaces in school due to :

- Space constraint
- Lack of furniture that causes student having a hard time to find seats to eat
- Most of the benches are not sheltered ; disadvantage if it is rainy or sunny
- Dull environment

Apart from the cafeteria, I could named some of the social spaces I know :

• Student Lounge ( all time favourite spot for students to hang out)
• Outdoor seating (Bare Grass? Concrete floor?)
• Cafeteria
• Internet Cafe
• Library
• Mini Arcade
• Mini Studio
• Music Room

I am not exactly going to go through each an every social spaces above. Only some common places I would talk about.