Re-Envisioning Steensland; Design Principles for Constructing Hospitable Spaces
The question that I want to address with my senior project is as follows, “How can we formulate buildings on the St. Olaf campus to increase inclusivity and construct community?”
For me to attempt this question in the scope of Hospitality, I choose to think about ways in which St. Olaf could morph Steensland library into a place where acceptance is experienced and seen by all who consolidate there. This building currently lays dormant, waiting for an inspiration to take hold within its walls. My research will allow me to design a place on the St. Olaf campus that is inclusive and communal.
My project will be composed of two parts. The first part will be that of data collection and research. I plan to utilize a survey in which students will be able to self-report their answers regarding different spaces on campus. The survey will have a class distinction for every participant (first-years through seniors). It will also include question sets about the characteristics of their preferred places on campus as well as the characteristics of the places where they feel negative association. I plan to provide set choices for the participants to choose from in both categories (favorable and non-favorable places) along with the option to write in their own answers. I will do multiple rounds of surveys and in different locations on campus, for example tabling in Buntrock Commons or giving them out in classes of different disciplines. This allows for a diverse subject pool. Once I complete my surveying, I will conduct research outside of the St. Olaf student body on matters of public space design, general aesthetics, and cultural aesthetics. I will add this research to my results from surveying to create a final “research document,” which will be submitted to my advisor, which leads into the second part of my project. I will be assembling “design boards” that will encapsulate the data I collected. These boards will display what my vision of Steensland would be based on the research. I will be using both the St. Olaf student preferences along with outside research to design a visual representation of a building that is able to accommodate the variety of backgrounds that people have here at St. Olaf College. At my main presentation, I will further survey the audience to collect outside data that will be added to my research document.
The project will be incorporating perspectives particularly around the field of hospitality in order for me to make educated conclusions about the future design of Steensland. Pulling from information and courses in Social Psychology, Gender and Cross-Cultural Perspectives, and Race and Class in American Culture, I will be able to properly dissect and assess the student-based results that make up part one of the project. For part two, having experience in both Aesthetics and Architecture will aid me in composing the visual aspect of the project. My project will be based through many different cultures that glow on campus and having prior knowledge of key themes will help me make decisions about which information to include in the project and what is less vital. My extensive course list in the sciences gives me much practice in working with and through data and studies to make my own conclusions.
In the Hospitality field, cross cultural ideas and new ways to envision community are increasingly common conversations. Having had a background in the field, I have experienced these conversations first hand. My work adds new and relevant imaginings of communal spaces to the conversation and will be able to give concrete examples of how to solve the problem that is connectedness in our growingly diverse society. The St. Olaf community has a realm of diverse students and thus is relevant to the project, outside of the campus my work will help in the field by apply my concepts to the outside, pluralistic world. My work will give both theoretical and practical tools for people in the industry to better serve their consumer.