The Musagetes Library is home to 200 square feet of the most uninspired space in the entire building...our conference room.What would you do with this space? How should it be used? Sky's the limit...money is no object!
Come take a look and tell us what you think. We want your ideas, your plans, your hopes and your dreams! We want to know what you would do with the pole in the middle of the bloody room!
Come on! Let's get excited about the most boring room on campus!
22 comments:
As soon as possible (before investing more in finishes), shift the partitions to eliminate the column. 'Bite the bullet' and accept that the architects made a mistake that needs to be corrected. The room is really important to the school, and it can't be used for its intended purpose because of the design misjudgment. Let's fix it.
I would like to see a few sofas and tables instead of the set that we have in the conference room. The cabinet in the room is useless for us. A big white board will be very useful for us while we are discussing different subjects. So, basically I would like the conference room to be more comfortable.
So what is the intended purpose of the room from the student perspective? Is it a typical conference room where many people can sit around a large table for discussions or a flexible, more relaxed space - perhaps 2 smaller tables with a small sofa and some soft chairs allowing for different room reconfigurations? What do you want to use the room for?
-Michele
Flexibility is what is lacking in the conference room. There are no provisions made for how different students may want to use the space. The large central table and basic chairs are very limiting. If there were more options available for using the room (moveable tables, a couch, etc.) it would encourage more students to use “conference” in the library.
Uninspiring. The conference room is by far the most boring room to work in. As a student, I would rather work just about anywhere else than in this conference room. The hallways have more character! Instead of having such a plain, typical, straightforward conference room, let's change it up a bit. Maybe some colour? Perhaps a new floor? This space could be an individual entity within the school, not following any of the design principles that are seen throughout. It should be a departure.
I agree, the column should be engulfed within the partitions, as right now the space around it is useless anyway. Other than that, I've heard yellow is good for studying. The addition of a couch in the space would be wise. A configuration with, say, two smaller tables that could be put together to form a larger one when needed would also work very well, I think.
First of all, the column in the middle of the room is very very funny!! Especially in the school of architecture!!! The cabinet is totally useless for people who use the room; a big white board will function better than the cabinet. A sofa or two and a few small tables will work better than what we have now.Another problem is the echo of the voice inside the room, which bothers people in the library as well. Lighting is ok but if we move the wall partitions to a place that has natural lighting -and has no column in the middle- will be perfect.
In order to make the conference room more appealing to a broader student base, there needs to be some sort of attracting element that engages people's desire to use it. I barely know that it exists, and have never actually used it for anything. Regardless of what changes occur, I think an important aspect in increasing its usage would be advertising. Posters of a sick space that has just been redone would encourage people to check it out. If the changes were successful enough, students would come back and reuse it.
That being said, one of the changes that I propose would be to create a more comfortable and fluid space that enables both a formal group meeting as well as providing opportunities to relax and have communal discussions. This could be achieved through many of the previous comments, and further added upon by the addition of more multi-media equipment. A projector? possible television with dvd player? It needs more exclusive features that would make it worthwhile to use.
Mmmm. I smell a WEEF grant proposal in the wind. While the library can purchase a whiteboard and pay to have the room painted (colour suggestions besides yellow, anyone?), new furnishings and media equipment are a little beyond our current budget. WEEF, however, funds equipment/hardware purchases. Both of my previous WEEF proposals were accepted and I'm willing to try for a third this summer. Are there any other WEEF applications from the School in the works? Anyone willing to work on the proposal with me?
-Michele
It could be made into a duo purpose room, comfortably functional for conferences, and at other times it could become an architecturally created version of a 'Snoezelen' room. This is a Dutch concept and the name translates to words such as "groovy & mezmorizing," "to seek out & relax." There are thousands of these rooms in over 30 countries where relaxation and inspiration are promoted through the use of calming music & shimmering fibre optics...(Here I am thinking that projected pictures of popular architectural buildings, or whatever, could possibly play across a new whiteboard when it is not in use while a water fountain, (constructed around the column?) creates a peaceful atmosphere. And of course there must be comfortable furniture, beanbag-like chairs maybe? The walls, a calming, warm, mellow, light green?) It could become the inner sanctum, an oasis in which one is able to destress, find an inner calmness and focus.
Examples of Snoezelen Rooms:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31449130@N00/sets
/72157600262695310/
(this idea gets my vote, btw)
There are two productive directions this room could take, and both options would involve moving the partitions to conceal that stinking pole! The first option would be to stick to the "Conference Room" program, and actually facilitate conferences and more formal presentations. Going in this direction would require equipment such as projectors, speakers, etc.
The second option is to steer away from the formalized setting and actually make it comfortable to work in. Group meetings are often more productive in settings more like the student lounge. So why not invest in a few comfortable couches and a coffee table?
Has anyone looked into a product called "Walltalkers"? (basically floor to ceiling whiteboard) http://www.walltalkers.com/
Think about the Perimeter Institute with its walls of blackboards and its niches of couches. This type of idea could really make this room worthwhile.
-Valerie Aiken, 2B.
PS. I don't think it is wise to waste money on making it pretty... that won't increase interest or productivity.
I have used the conference room a couple times, and I found that the only workable area is the big table in the room, where the walls and the column are completely useless. I believe they can be more useable with some modifications applied. Whiteboard can be used on the walls (like the one in the new lecture room), where students can draw down ideas, sketches, etc. during meeting. The wall should also serve as a bulletin board where projects can be pinned up for discussion. So that the disarray on the table (piles of tracing paper, notebooks, laptops, and many other things scattered around, etc.) can be avoided. The space can function as a multi-purpose media room with possible addition of a projector and a DVD player for easy previewing of movies, etc. Regarding the big column in the middle of the room, maybe it can be made to function as a hanger of some sort; it can also serve as a surface where student can pin their projects on (small sheets of sketches, proposals, etc.). Circular couch with the column as the backing can be an option to provide comfy seating where students can relax. The couch can have several moveable seats, so that it would be more flexible in how people want to seat in the room.
-Joan Zhu 2B
I also think it is very important to move the walls of the room. It is not even possible to use the space for projection as it is, and if there was to be a white board on the wall it would be awkward to view. Another option would be to have one of the walls some kind of surface for pinning things up. It is a lot easier to talk about projects if they are pinned up rather than laying on a table. The most important thing is to make the space versatile and comfortable.
-stephanie neufeld
The conference room is a unique meeting place. However it lacks flexibility to accomodate different types of gatherings. I propose a fold up table along with informal chairs (sofa), so an informal charette or discussion can also take place, along with a more formal "meeting"
I think there is an Opporunity to also allow the student body to design unqiue wall coverings for the walls. Either a mural or a vinyl type panel, that can be changed. But something to break the monotony of the blank large walls, something that could also be pinned into. A call for submissions and then a winner.
First off, to make it more desirable for students an informal atmosphere should be created. Right now this room is cold and uninviting. This could be done by removing the table and chairs and replacing them with comfortable seats such as the colourful ones by the windows.
Secondly, this room could really benefit from white boards on the walls. It would be easier to draw on a white board than to keep rolling trace out when working on a group project.
The conference room needs to be lighter (translucent) in order for people to assess its vacancy and to make it a bit more inviting. Semi transparent glazing is an option, and would follow the same aluminum/glass style of the main office. It just does not feel visible (its behind a giant map - its hidden!. For the column, it can be relocated/repositioned with some clever engineering; maybe the wall panels are the structure allowing the column to be removed.
If money is truly no object and ideas are just ideas - the room could be moved to the corner on the right side of the GIS workstation by all those "dated" periodicals, which I'm sure not many people look at (I could be wrong though). This way every student will be forced to look upon the conference room the minute they enter the library. Cruel maybe - but it could work. The comfy chairs and sofas could probably be included in the room as well.
There should also be a laptop hookup and projector for presenting images/3d models, etc. Tech stuff required. And a good whiteboard , and metal track to hang sketches would be a nice addition on the walls.
First off natural light is key, there are those pathetic windows which allow light in but absolutely nothing else. So glazing the north or west wall is and option. Glazing the west wall through the stacks would be a really unique effect. This would allow a more informal meeting to still feel like part of the library network. With the use of blinds, more formal meetings can create as much isolation as needed.
Another option to white board wall paper one of the walls and tack board another. Remove the odd inaccesible cabinet and replace it with shelving that models and project can be placed on ( maybe even a show case) these shelves could even house a projector.
I have use the conference room for a few times. The first time I was told to go there I couldn't find it because there is that wall blocking the entrance. Therefore the first thing I think to do is to remove that wall to let people know that there is that room available. The lighting and the table layout should also be change. Maybe some more lighting could be added to brigthen the room up, it's a little gloomy right now. And the table is only using half of the room. There can be more chairs or couches on the extra space, the existing chairs are not that comfortable to sit on, and perhaps a shelf could replace the existing cabinet since nothing is really stored in there. Another thing is on the wall, there could be white board and those walls that we can pin into so the room could also be use for presentations.
Its the lighting in there, its too stark and has no atmosphere! A whole new set of lights should be installed.
banker lamps
A flat screen and a sofa for screening WAC film club movies.
:)
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