Ohio state campus implementation concepts developed as a part of a group project in Autumn 2020.

A primary research project in which myself and three other classmates studied how happy and healthy the Ohio State campus is in it's current form. We began by sending out a survey asking general questions about how happy and healthy campus is, and what students feel is missing from campus. Following this survey, the research team conducted co-design sessions with students to ideate on what the future of Ohio State's campus could be in terms of happiness and health.  

We began by asking students to select from the following categories images that stood out as happy to them, and then repeat as what stood out as healthy to them.  

 Following the happy/healthy exercise, we asked students to analyze a large color palette and identify emotions which stood out to them, creating a color-emotion association. Finally, within these emotions we asked students to select sensory images that they associated with their designated emotions. 

 Following the primary research, my team discovered that students found connection to nature is important to a happy campus, mental health and nutrition resources need to be more accessible in order to create a healthier campus, and students expressed an want for the implementation of biophilia on campus. 

 From our findings, our team was challenged with creating design insertions that can be placed on campus to improve the health and happiness of the Ohio State Campus 

 The insertion that I designed was the concept of implementing pocket parks on campus. With each park iteration, I selected a different sensory experience to engage the users. 

 The first pocket park designed is a sound park, which implements the sounds of falling water in the warm months and the crackling of fire in the colder months. The park implements large water and fire features around the outside to create a sense of refuge, and includes smaller water and fire features in between tables to further provide a sense of privacy. The rendering shown below is of the park in the warmer months with the water being featured, but the visualization of the fire features are also shown. This park is located in a green space between multiple dorms on South Campus.  

 The second pocket park designed is a light park, which implements a ceiling-esque screen that creates unique patterns of movement of light. The sense of refuge in this park is developed through the use of the screen, as well as the location as it is located in a currently unused area of campus between the design and art buildings.  

 The final pocket park designed is a refuge park, which implements greenery to create a relaxing, biophilic experience for students. Ivy is implemented on the buildings surrounding the park to create an oasis of greenery, and trees are specifically placed to create a canopy effect. This park is located in a small space between two classroom buildings and a parking garage near the student union. 

 Other insertions developed by my teammates include Glassrooms (small and large glass spaces located throughout campus to allow working outdoors without dealing with the elements), Mobile Wellness Stations (movable stations providing resources in all aspects of wellness such as financial wellness, nutrition, and fitness, as well as mental health counseling), and a wellness app which provides further wellness resources, allows for scheduling and locating campus wellness resources and spaces, and access to nutrition information for on-campus dining options.  

 Finally, my team developed a user journey throughout our insertions to bring together the way in which the insertions interact with one another. Our user begins her day by scheduling a mental health counseling appointment within the mobile wellness station. Following her appointment, she utilizes her app to select what she is going to each for lunch. She gets her lunch and meets a friend at a glassroom to eat together. When she leaves the glassroom, she goes to meet up with another friend at the refuge pocket park to do some homework and relax with her friend.