Date of Award
Spring 5-30-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master in Interior Architecture [Adaptive Reuse]
Department
Interior Architecture
First Advisor
Jonathan Bell
Second Advisor
Heinrich Hermann
Third Advisor
Wolfgang Rudorf
Abstract
Th e Rhode Island School of Design as an arts-cultivating institution endeavors to provide abundant resources to mentally and physically support students. Even though the campus provides various mental health resources, the expression of depression, eating disorder and suicide from students has never diminished. RISD students work under high-stress conditions caused by their assignments, expectations from others and themselves, and the environment surrounding them.
Studios and work areas become spaces associated with stress and negative atmosphere. Th e materials, ceiling, fl oor and even the breathing air hint at this gray emotion. If a space where art students spend the majority of their time is associated with negative thoughts, how can this atmosphere be transformed and generate a sense of peace?
Restrooms oft en become unexpected rooms of mental and physical rest for students. A restroom is a space without judgment, scattered conveniently throughout every campus. Moreover, they allow students to escape their stressed environment wherever and whenever they need.
Th is thesis proposes a series of resting areas which function as a form of acupuncher throughout campus, poking strategically to provide relief and heal the RISD community. From being in the studio to entering these resting rooms, this special process is expressed with the fully consideration of materiality, lighting, and the postures people use to occupy these spaces to create the experience for students to transit from the feeling of pressure to the feeling of rest.
Recommended Citation
Ho, Fang, "Imagine of space : rest(ing) rooms for high-stressed RISD students" (2017). Masters Theses. 175.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/175
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