Student Project Team Redesigns Student Union Place-Making Using Participatory Design

Bailey Erin Herbstreit Design and Environmental Analysis, Cornell University
So-Yeon Yoon Associate Professor, Design and Environmental Analysis, Cornell University

Willard Straight Hall (WSH), one of the first student unions in the United States, was built to foster democracy and provide a common ground for students of all backgrounds and affiliations at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. WSH serves as a central node on campus, largely contributes to the first impression of incoming students and visitors, and resides the Office of the Dean of Students, Campus and Community Engagement, 3 dining eateries, cinema, student activities, and an esteemed view of Cayuga Lake. A post-occupancy evaluation and physical trace observation in 2018 indicated the main multi-purpose areas had insufficient traffic flows, especially the outdoor terrace space. Previous works supported the idea that environmental development can be disruptive and cause stress, alienation, loss of rootedness to places, and a variety of effective disruptions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate place attachment of a student design intervention using participatory design. 46 unique participants were surveyed before the intervention took place and after a permanent intervention was completed. In addition, user experience factors were used to record students and community member’s physical traces and opinions of the space. Participatory design facilitated each phase of the design process in order to collect community opinion, domain-specific thinking, and personnel to complete the project. In support of our integrated conceptual model of place attachment, the results suggest that the Cornell community will develop strong attachments to both the physical and social characteristics of place, supporting place identity and place dependence. Significant findings explain an interaction between nature bonding and gender, specifically males scored significantly higher in nature bonding after being exposed to the design intervention. Personal, community, and environmental characteristics with participatory design need to be accounted for future design interventions to see significant improvements in culture, mental health, and activity.

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