Over the past two weeks I have been working on studying the physical space and movement of the Office of Student Involvement along with studying the physical and psychological affects of certain aspects of interior design. One fact that I have been interested in so far is that the three sided cubicles in the office create a false sense of privacy. Because the staff members think they have more privacy than they actually do they tend to be louder than they would be if they didn't have the screens. This contributes to the noise pollution in the office. Last weekend, I visited the OSI and sat and observed the basic activity that took place in the actual office space. I also printed out several copies of the floor plans and asked students and staff members to map out their daily routine in the office. During the actual co-creation session I was paired with Patty (one of the main staff members in the OSI) to talk about possible solutions for the office. Like with the other people I interviewed I had her map out her daily routine in the office. With her insights and the other information I have been gathering over the past week, I created a "heat map" of the office. (Seen below)
This particular heat map only shows the most used parts of the office by the student workers, student visitors, Trey, and Lamar. Now that I have more information from Patty and Gina, I intend to make two more maps: One specifically tracking the staff members movements and one that maps the whole first floor of the student center.
