REVIVING THE 'COLLEGE CAMPUS ECOSYSTEM'
THROUGH SPACE
CATEGORY: SOCIAL DESIGN / SERVICE DESIGN
PROJECT SUMMARY
The aim of this project is to come up with a comprehensive solution, in the form of service design, to aid in reviving the campus ecosystem of Ambedkar University (AUD) Kashmere Gate Campus post the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational Spaces across the world have experienced marked changes in their functionality, creating uncertainty regarding the implications for higher education.
Universities and college campuses are buzzing cultural hubs which facilitate interactions between students from a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds. Recently, the foundations of this unique ecosystem have been impacted significantly due to the pandemic. During this time, surveys and studies done on students showed increased stress, depression, loneliness, lack of motivation, difficulty focusing on schoolwork, restless sleep, appetite changes, job loss concerns, and difficulties coping. Most wanted to return to campus and felt social/physical distancing was effective but were mixed in terms of testing or masks.
With campus spaces now reopening, the experience for students has drastically changed. During the course of this project, several ethnographic research methods including surveys and interviews, as well as design research tools like stakeholder mapping, zonal cognitive mapping and user journey mapping were used to understand these changes on the AUD campus.
The design process involved rigorous rounds of feedback with the stakeholders at every stage in order to comprehensively design a service. The solution took the shape of an online portal/application for students to interact with each other without the pressure of physical interaction, which many students were apprehensive about since the pandemic. This portal allows students to share their academic work and interests with the student community on campus and facilitates conversations, as a starting point for the revival of campus ecosystems. Although designed specifically for the AUD campus, the service is scalable and can be adapted to almost any other university campus.
FIELD SITE :
AUD CAMPUS,
KASHMERE GATE
This project started with a simple observation - the lack of any proper benches or common areas for students on the AUD campus. As I deep dived into understanding why student common areas are necessary for campus spaces, I started to realise that the pandemic has played a massive role in changing the functionality of these spaces. In order for any new common spaces to function, it became necessary to first understand the changes in student behaviour within the spatial context of a campus.
Interactive Map of the AUD Campus : Click to view campus spaces
STAKEHOLDER MAP
Students were the primary stakeholders that I chose to interview because a lot of the problem areas that I identified were based on my own experiences as a student, and interviewing a larger base of students was the best course of action for me to gain more insight.
ZONAL COGNITIVE MAP
The zonal cognitive map helps us understand the layout of the campus in terms of spacial use by the primary stakeholders. Currently, the only areas that allow for student interaction (outside of the classrooms) are the eating areas and the lawns. However, both of these spaces lack any proper seating area forcing students to return to their classrooms, limiting the interaction between students to those in their own classrooms.
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ADMIN
OFFICES
EATING
AREAS
CLASSROOM
SPACES
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LAWNS/
FIELD
HOSTELS/ RESIDENTIAL
OTHER
CAMPUS
Based on stakeholder mapping and cognitive mapping, four main groups of students were identified and interviewed in order to understand how the pandemic has impacted student experiences on the AUD campus.
The interview data enabled me to categorise the responses into three main types of user personas, each with different needs that need to be met by the same service (solution) .
USER PERSONAS
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Willing to interact with people on campus
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Apprehensive to step out of their home and interact with people because of the risk of COVID
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Prefer minimal physical interaction with new people in a campus space
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Still eager to socialise but prefer if its online and not physically
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Prefer online classes
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Do not come to campus unless necessary
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Introverted Behaviours - do not enjoy socialising
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Enjoy their own company
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Idea of interaction - engaging with academic and creative work of others
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Find it tedious to come to campus everyday - lack of motivation
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Comfortable with the COVID routine - like to study from home/remotely
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Barely try to interact with new people on campus
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Tired of the COVID routine, eager to return to campus and interact with people
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Extroverted Behaviours - enjoy socialising and meeting new people
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Miss the pre-covid 'college experience'
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Willing to physically come to campus
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Dissatisfied with the 'college experience' at present (post-covid)
CONCLUSIONS
The design solution should aim to foster interaction between students on campus through space.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
After rounds of feedback, it was revealed that my concentration on creating a physical space may have been misguided. There was a need for an intervention and re-analysing the primary data.
INTERVENTION
IS CREATING AN OUTDOOR SPACE THE MOST SUITABLE DESIGN SOLUTION?
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A physical space does not meet the needs of every type of persona
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If research has proven that the majority of students do not come to campus, is a physical outdoor space actually going to be useful?
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A need to reimagine the concept of space.
CONSIDERING A DIGITAL SOLUTION
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FINAL SERVICE BLUEPRINT
The following service blueprint is a detailed visualisation of an online portal (service) that allows for seamless student interactions and attempts to echo the 'campus ecosystem' , but within an online space rather than a physical one.
