A Space to breathe

I have found that in the past four years of my university experience that stress becomes part of everyday life, due to heavy workloads, tight deadlines and even from being home sick. This gave me food for thought and I was curious to discover if it was a common factor amongst other students. I then decided to base my research on the topic of stress and used NTU as a case study to find out what universities could offer that would help students deal with this.

At first I wanted to target a large audience to justify my results, but analysing students in general was very broad and I felt that it would be more beneficial to narrow down my research. By doing so, it provided me with plenty of primary research and I got very involved as I could analyse the spaces around me on a daily basis.

 

I had many concerns regarding stress, but my main question was ‘Do students at university need a space to breath?’ I wanted to find out how students were coping with stress, and what they thought of the spaces currently provided in order to confirm that there is an existing concern. As I reached out to the students of NTU, through use of questionnaires and case studies, it became apparent that there was a problem based on the responses. This is where my research became valid and very interesting because it began forming into something that I could really develop into a final design project. Some students stated they were happy to de-stress by socialising in the current “Chill out” areas such as the Students’ Union and café areas, but the majority have said they feel the need for a more calming environment to help them relax.

 

As the first questionnaire helped identify the lack of space to de-stress on campus, I created a second questionnaire alongside interviews to try and identify a solution. Both of these methods were conducted in order to find out what students prefer as well as what professionals suggest for de-stressing. The results brought a number of things to my attention, such as the temperatures, the lighting, and the facilities that need to be considered in each space. I collated the information gathered from these results and will be using them to form the basis of my design scheme: a place for students to breathe.

 

With what has been explained above, this concludes that my space will contain primarily small, quiet spaces for those looking to relax, with the addition of spaces that support those who prefer a socialising environment to de-stress. The space will ideally need to provide an ‘outdoor’ element, as this was also highly mentioned by the students as a relaxing factor which will create a soothing atmosphere.

I now feel confident that I can make informed decisions during the design process of my chosen scheme, which has been directly influenced by the students and professional that took part in my primary research.