Juncheng Qian
IPD Studio at Tangen Hall
Feburary 2020 - May 2020
Client: Sarah Rottenberg
Mentor: Steelcase
The Integrated Product Design (IPD) program at UPenn is moving into a new building, Tangen Hall in Fall 2020. To support the growing program and create a new space for collaboration, ownership, and creativity, Sarah asked us to study the current work behavior and need of the students and envision a new studio.
"The harmony between social interaction and personal space."
Background
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The Integrated Product Design (IPD) program will be moving into a new space in 2020. Our current studio is a hub for our program - it is where most of the program's students get together to create, socialize, and learn. This transition is a great opportunity to re-envision what the program needs from a space, which is the premise of the project that our client Sarah, the director of IPD program, provided. Her initial question to us was, "how might we design the Tangen studio so that it best facilitates students’ work and embodies IPD values?
Approach
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1.
Understand how stakeholders use the current space.
2.
Identify what makes the IPD studio unique and current pain points.
3.
Design a space that, among other things, promotes collaboration and ownership of the space.
User Research
We started by identifying the key stakeholder of the IPD studio and conducted multiple interviews with the current IPD students and faculties to understand their current usage of the studio and underlying needs. We interviewed multiple students and faculties, program-wide surveys, and conducted co-creation sessions of "my ideal studio" with the students. This researches led us to identify key stakeholder needs and the current user needs of the old studio.
What Makes the Studio Unique
Emotional Timeline of the Current Studio
Key Insights
After generating these insights, we then developed them into two “how might we” statements:
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How might we design a space that adapts to support essential IPD activities while promoting a sense of comfort and ownership among IPD students?
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How might we ​find harmony between social interaction and personal space so that the studio promotes collaboration and productivity?
Design "A Space Within A Space"
In order to promote ownership, collaboration, as well as focused workspace in the studio, our solution focused on creating "spaces within a space" that is easy to set up. We aim to give students the opportunity to choose between social interaction and seclusion.
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Our five criteria include:
1. Flexible
2. Privacy
3. Control
4. Minimal Disturbance
5. Temporary
Solution: The Floorplan
Lounge Area: most flexible, social activity, group meeting
1st Year Area: encourage social interaction and collaboration
Movable Adjustable Whiteboard Divider
One of our main design concept is a movable divider; it is a height adjustable divider that can provide space separations for the user to concentrate on their individual works. When pulled down, the divider can hide itself under the desks, and provide a flat surface for social interaction without obstacles. With the three wheel stand design, the divider can be moved in between the tables easily without the need to move the tables.
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We showed the initial concept to some IPD students and received some feedback that a whiteboard blocking the neighboring student might be perceived as too aggressive, and some student would always leave the dividers up to pin stuff to it. We modified the divider based on the feedback to make the main body transparent, like matt glass or fabric, and added detachable whiteboards.
Personal Storage Shelves
Lounge Furniture Selection (Designed by Steelcase)
