A Space to breathe
Interior Architecture & Design
NTU - Newton Atrium
 Fig. 32 |  Fig. 33 |  Fig. 34 |
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 Fig. 35 |  Fig. 36 |  Fig. 37 |
 Fig. 38 |  Fig. 39 |  Fig. 40 |
 Fig. 41 |  Fig. 9 |
In order to assess the volume of use, I chose to personally analyse the space mid-week, during lunch hours which would supposedly be one of the busiest times of the day.
I chose to analyse these particular seats for the reason that they are all surrounding the busy walkway that students use to pass through when walking from Arkwright into the main areas of Newton, and vice-versa. A high volume of students have lectures at one time or another in one of the lecture rooms of the Newton building, so the space is always somewhat busy during the day. To access these rooms, the majority of students will use one of two routes – via the main Newton entrance (Goldsmith Street), or via the Arkwright entrance (Shakespeare Street). Some will also enter the building via Talbot Street.
To register the data needed, I positioned myself between the Cafe on the ground level and the student services area, so that I could view a good selection of seating areas of that space, including the cafe. I then created a separate time-line list for each group of furniture, and tracked how each one was being used throughout the hours of 11am-2pm on a Tuesday. I was particularly interested in analysing if people were sitting with friends or by themselves, and how long each person would be seated for. My aim was to determine the primary uses of these bits of furniture i.e. whether these seats were being used as a means to ‘chill out & kill time’, as a meeting point to wait for somebody, to socialise, as a place to eat, or a place to work.
Newton Atrium – Tues 25th Nov 14’
Large orange bench – 11am-2pm
11:00 – Empty
11:05 – 1 man with crutches meeting with 1 other man (business?)
11:08 – Both men left
11:10 – 1 man
11:12 – Man left
11:28 – Boy & Girl sat down
11:35 – Boy 2 sat alone
11:39 – Boy 2 left
11:41 – Lady sat alone
11:50 – Boy & Girl left; Lady left also
12:15 – Girl 2 sat alone
12:17 – Girl 2 left
12:22 – Boy 3 sat alone
12:37 – Boy 4 sat alone
12:40 – Boy 5 sat alone
12:42 – Boy 4 left
12:43 – 2 ladies sat, then 1 boy joined them soon after, all 3 of them on their phones
12:44 – Boy 3 left; Boy 6 sat alone
12:50 – Boy 5 left
12:51 – Boy 7 sat alone
12:53 – Boy 6 left; 4th person (girl) joined the group of 3
12:55 – Boy 7 left; Girl 3 sat alone
12:59 – Girl 3 left
13:00 – Group of 4 left for a meeting with Student Services
13:02 – Man 2 sat alone
13:05 – Boy 8 sat alone using his phone
13:08 – Man 2 left; 2 Boys sat together, then soon met friends and left
13:13 – Boy 9 sat alone briefly then soon left
13:15 – Girl 4 sat alone briefly whilst friend was in queue for student services, then left
13:23 – Lady 2 sat alone
13:25 – Lady 2 left
13:30 – Boy 8 left; 3 boys sat together to eat
13:40 – Man 3 sat alone briefly then left
13:48 – Group of 3 boys left
14:00 – Empty
Newton Atrium – Tues 25th Nov 14’
Seats 1 – 11am-2pm
11:00 – Empty
11:12 – Boy & Girl sat talking
11:13 – Boy 2 sat with the group of 2 briefly, then all 3 left
11:25 – Lady sat briefly to wait for friend in queue for Student Services, then left
11:32 – 2 boys stood by the seats, visibly waiting for someone
11:34 – 2 boys left
11:39 – 2 boys sat to do work
11:55 – 2 boys left
11:56 – Boy 3 stood next to seats
12:00 – Boy 3 left
12:10 – Girl 2 sat alone to eat
12:32 – Girl 2 left; Boy 4 sat alone
12:38 – Boy 5 joined boy 4, both sat using their phones
12:52 – Boys 4 & 5 left
12:59 – Boy 6 sat alone with laptop
13:05 – Boy 6 left
13:32 – Girl 3 sat alone, answered questionnaire for pair of students
13:50 – Girl 3 left
14:00 – Empty
Newton Atrium – Tues 25th Nov 14’
Seats 2 – 11am-2pm
11:00 – 1 Girl sat whilst working & snacking
11:30 – Girl left
12:01 – Boy sat alone gaming on phone
12:04 – Boy 2 joined him, also gaming
12:51 – Boys 1 & 2 left
13:02 – Boy 3 sat alone
13:05 – Friend joined boy 3 briefly then both left
13:22 – Lady sat alone doing work
13:29 – Lady left
13:30 – 2 girls sat doing work and handing out questionnaires
14:00 – 2 girls were still working
Newton Atrium – Tues 25th Nov 14’
Group Pods – 11am-2pm
11:00 – Group of 3 girls using Booth 1
11:10 – 2 Boys joined group, then girls left their things with the boys and left
11:14 – Girls returned to group – 5 people in total
11:25 – 1 Boy & 2 Girls left – 1B & 1G remaining in booth
11:28 – Boy & Girl left and moved to large orange bench
11:51 – Girl & Boy moved back to Booth 1 to do work
12:01 – Group of 6 boys sat in Booth 2
13:04 – Boy & Girl left
13:15 – 2 Girls sat in Booth 1 to work
14:00 – 2 Girls still in Booth 1; 6 Boys still in Booth 2
Newton Atrium – Tues 25th Nov 14’
Café Area Ground Level – 11am-2pm
– Analysing use approx. every 15mins
11:00 – Busy, more than half full
11:15 – Less busy, approx. half full
11:30 – Quiet, a quarter full
11:45 – Busy, three quarters full
12:00 – Less than half seats taken, but long queue at café
12:15 – Completely full, all seats taken, people with food searching for a place to sit
12:30 – Full, all seats still taken
12:45 – Full, all seats still taken
13:00 – Full, only 2 seats available
13:15 – Busy, more than half full
13:30 – Less busy, approx. half full
13:45 – Busy, only a few seats available
14:00 – Busy, more than half full
Analysis
During my time analysing the space, I noticed a pattern where every time the clock hit 10 minutes to the hour, there was a very busy rush which lasted until approximately 5 minutes past the hour (e.g. 11:50am-12:05pm). Throughout this rush, the atrium space becomes very noisy and it felt like hundreds of students were rushing through the space in all different directions. I assume the reason for this is that lectures normally start on the hour, so the rush is formed of students going from one lecture to the next.
Another observation, is that the majority of people sat alone on any of the seats, were on their phones for almost the entire time they were sat. Even some people that were in groups or pairs also did the same thing – A method of killing time, perhaps?
I have noted from the timeline above that the vast majority of individuals who sat down on the large orange bench or Seats 1 & 2, only stayed there for less than 5 minutes. The main exceptions to this behaviour were people who were either working or having lunch. This indicates that I am correct in thinking that the furniture provided is not comfortable enough, and also that people generally only use the seats as a meeting point to wait for someone.
The Group Pods were different – students here were always in pairs or groups, never alone. The booths were seemingly being used for people doing work, which suits the general design of the seating.
The Café area on the ground level was being used constantly for the entire time of the analysis, which was expected for the lunch hours, however, the changeover of people was continuous and people would not stay seated for long. I cannot assume this to be due to an uncomfortable environment because people may only have short breaks for lunch, however, I do believe if a more comfortable area was provided for the café it would be even busier and people would stay there for longer.
My general conclusion from this analysis, is that it confirms my initial thoughts about how people use the space. The number of people who used the seats during the 3 hours is fairly high, however the length of time spent by each person was extremely short unless they were doing work. The café area seems to be a great place for people to kill time between lectures and relax or have a nice calm lunch, however the environment and furniture provided do not entice that behaviour.
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