IN Collaboration with Endian Xu, Visiona 2022 is a proposal for the Cornell Annual CCA ( Cornell Council of Arts) Grant. This project is a response to the architecture building created for students that only accounts for aesthetic reasons instead of the comfort of a human being. Students were carefully interviewed, were asked about an ideal space for comport and care. The design was articulated after the deep research of Student's mental, physical and emotional health and well being. Our goal was to create a soft space where students can rest, nap or even hang out. It is placed in Milstein Hall, a building fro architecture students, to give hem a place to rest after a long day in studio or crit to relax and to feel comforted.
“I wish Milstein had a corner I could go to where I wouldn’t have to be in display all the time.”
“I feel like I am being watched all the time here. I think we need a place where we can just hide from all of this.”
“Being in this space makes me feel like I am under surveillance at all times. I wish I could just curl up in a ball and disappear.”
“Milstein makes me sick!”
“I feel like I am being watched all the time here. I think we need a place where we can just hide from all of this.”
“Being in this space makes me feel like I am under surveillance at all times. I wish I could just curl up in a ball and disappear.”
“Milstein makes me sick!”
70% of Cornell students are sleep deprived according to Cornell Health. Not to mention the predominant depression and occasional suicides under the academic and social stress. In the Milstein Hall alone, students unconsciously fall asleep in classes and critiques as a natural response to sleep deprivation. They nap on the readily accessible physical space, the table, the chair, even on the bathroom floor. On the other hand, hard and cold surfaces do not foster effective napping and decrease learning efficiency. This pressing phenomenon prompts us to ask ourselves, “How is the physical environment helping with or worsening the current issue” and “How can we as designers create a truly human centered space for students’ better mental health.” Our project thus proposes an integrated way of reconsidering spatial design for the inhabitants involving an empathy-based approach across disciplines from psychology, environmental and human-centered design to architectural science in order to blur the established disciplinary boundary. Architecture and space should never undermine their own significance by isolating themselves from their inhabitants as a pure form of art. They should serve their people and create a sense of belonging for those in need through interaction in the present post-digital world. The proposed project is under the category of space and installation arts. It is a simple, design-to-build, interactive installation that creates a sanctuary for the Cornell students and responds to their emotional needs. We want to prioritize the spatial experience and texture, the very fundamental sensations shared by human beings, over the platonic form, to create a space where Cornell students can find a shelter, a sanctuary for themselves.
While exploring this topic it was very important for us to ask “What does the student body at Cornell need?” We are in desperate need for more care towards our mental health. Although Cornell Health facilitates some of our concern, it is solely not enough. Thinkng about the rate of suicide and depression, Cornell campus continues to battle with the incidents. Suicide rose from 8.1 to 11.5 percent and attempted suicide from 1.3 to 1.7 percent, nationwide. Following the national trend, rates of reported depression, stress and anxiety among Cornell students also have risen during recent years. Statistics show more students at Cornell are seeking mental health care than in the past: Cornell Health Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) provided care to 21 percent of Cornell students in 2016-17, up from 13 percent in 2005-06. According to CAPS director Gregory Eells, this increased demand is due to both an underlying rise in student distress and to students being more open to seeking care. The goal of our interactive installation is to give students the freedom to rest, relax and destress whenever needed. It is a flexible way of approaching and accommodating for such a huge student body.
If we scrutinize the Bachelor of Architecture program and Milstein hall as a case study, we find that it is a device that makes students into machines. The physical, mental, emotional health of these students have been tarnished for the sake of a promise for a degree. It is almost an education that limits your learning beyond the architecture realm. Our goal is to help these students not feel helpless or be afraid to show sadness, to cry, or make each other feel better. Our goal is to crate a safe space for students who have experienced trauma, abuse and discrimination in the real world. This is not only particular to architecture students but students all across Cornell Campus
What the University does for us is solely not enough for our mental health. It is time to ask “What are we doing for ourselves and for our peers?”. This generated a question of what we are in need of on campus. We are in need of a safe space, a space that makes us realize we are human again. We are proposing an installation that students can go during their break and take a nap, cry, or just hang out with their friends. We imagine a soft space for this kind of interaction where the architecture itself gives us comfort, energy and nurtures us.
If we scrutinize the Bachelor of Architecture program and Milstein hall as a case study, we find that it is a device that makes students into machines. The physical, mental, emotional health of these students have been tarnished for the sake of a promise for a degree. It is almost an education that limits your learning beyond the architecture realm. Our goal is to help these students not feel helpless or be afraid to show sadness, to cry, or make each other feel better. Our goal is to crate a safe space for students who have experienced trauma, abuse and discrimination in the real world. This is not only particular to architecture students but students all across Cornell Campus
What the University does for us is solely not enough for our mental health. It is time to ask “What are we doing for ourselves and for our peers?”. This generated a question of what we are in need of on campus. We are in need of a safe space, a space that makes us realize we are human again. We are proposing an installation that students can go during their break and take a nap, cry, or just hang out with their friends. We imagine a soft space for this kind of interaction where the architecture itself gives us comfort, energy and nurtures us.
Concept: Soft Space
1)Corner: corner condition as inhabitable space, metaphorically and physical shelter the vulnerable souls. Softening the triangular corner of architectural space.
2)Cloud: formal and experiential quality of soft, ephemeral objects
3)Cocoon: using gravity and elasticity to create spaces and release stress