School design is widely thought of being accomplished by professional designers who have no personal connection to the school. Through this project we broke that norm and used student design, along with human based design. We created a system of prototypes, in a project that was a prototype itself. We were tasked with interviewing all different types of users within our school, and using their personal values, to build a final prototype of a new school. The final prototype had to include, a design proposal, a blueprint of your final campus design, a rendering of a shared space within your campus, a blueprint of that shared space, and a budget for a shared space in the school. This new school that we designed would be more than a building, but would be a place that fit the needs of all users.
What are your takeaways?
Human Based Design
Through this project, I learned that a building can be so much more than just that with the help of human based design. Human based design is incorporating users of the school into your design. If the users have a opinion on what the school should look like and what should be involved in the making, the school's design is human based. Using this can make a space that all users enjoy being in. A good example of this is natural light. In our project the users clearly were telling us they valued natural light in the school. In our current school each room has one small window. This did not fit the value of natural light for our users. We used this information to bring more light into our final design.
Sustainable Building
Using sustainable sources was another large takeaway from this project. Cities are a big part of what is draining the world. For our next school, we want to intwine the use of sustainable design. This includes using local recourses like beetle kill wood, making green roofs so you are reflecting the suns rays, and using non processed insulation. Some of the chemicals in the insulation we use has been known to cause cancer among other problems. With our new school, we don't want this to be a problem. Using sustainable sources is a way to prevent this.
Group Work Reflection
In my group I became an obvious leader. In most groups I am a key contributor, but I have never been in a group where I was the obvious leader. My group worked efficiently with me as the leader. I think what stands out the most from this project is how well we worked when given tasks. If we knew what specifically we needed done, I gave tasks out and we accomplished them in good time. All of my group members had a purpose and role. It did sometimes become stressful for me being the leader. I felt that I was responsible for all the mistakes in our groups, and that the others relied on me. Although we worked well together, I'm not sure if I would choose to be the leader again. It is not usually what role I play. It was a very good experience for me to see how I functioned as a leader.
Is Student Design Something that is Important?
It seems the rest of the country has not caught up with the idea of student design. The idea of it is so new. I definitely feel that I am personally more of a traditional learner. So this project really did push me to break my typical learning design. I believe that student design is important and could definitely be in our countries future. Using human based design is more effective than using one professional's opinion to design your school. Using values of the people who matter in the building should be something more schools are paying attention to. The best example of this I can give is when I personally interviewed Dan Thurber. When I asked him to draw his ideal classroom he displayed his values. Just imagining that classroom made me happy. A space like the one he described really showed what human design is about.