Dealing
with the program of a residence hall comes along with a lot of program.
Improvement increases the burden of design that much further. At the root of
the problems of the Wallace Residence Center, is the strict delineation between
public and private spaces, and the reduced access to community because of it.
There are spaces that are defined as community spaces, but they are often empty
and unused because they are out of the way and closed off. I believe there is a
need to activate these spaces and use architectural language to encourage
interaction of the users.
In
order to inform my design, I plan on interviewing Dee Dee Kanikkeberg, the head
of University of Idaho Student Housing. I would like to hear from her what she
believes is lacking within Wallace since it houses the most students as well as
housing her office. I would also like to know the difficulties she has seen,
from her side, which could be “blamed” on the architecture. The limits that she
sees, from outside of the profession of architecture, could very well be some
of the most valuable information I acquire. There are also financial restraints
on such a project which she would have access to. The amount of current
residents and/or the amount of students they would like to hold in a dormitory
in that spot would be valuable for technical application, and would be required
for design.
The
installment is a conceptual experimentation of blending public and private
space. These windows into people’s private lives serve as a boundary
examination; when does this blending become uncomfortable. There is the
question of why we experience discomfort with the public/shared realm and how
that can be incorporated into an inherently shared structure.
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