THE HUB – A co-design project for a third-place on Linnaeus University campus for social change

THE HUB is thesis project that aims to propose the establishment of a vibrant social space on campus inspired by Ray Oldenburg’s “Third Place” theory. To show our vision we organized a popup one day event on Campus in collaboration with students’ associations that could showcase to the University the potential that facilities’ design have to improve the students’ experience.

We propose the establishment of a vibrant social space on campus inspired by Ray Oldenburg’s “Third Place” theory. We believe this space will significantly enhance students’ wellbeing, academic success, and foster a strong sense of community and belonging.

Ray Oldenburg’s “Third Place” theory emphasizes the importance of informal gathering spaces that exist outside of home (the first place) and work or school (the second place). These spaces serve as essential hubs for social interaction, relaxation, and intellectual exchange. By creating such a space on campus, we aim to address the growing need for students to have a designated area to unwind, connect, and engage in meaningful conversations outside the classroom.

We understand that University studies represent a crucial aspect in the development of the individuals and not only an educational challenge but also a personal one. Students face the challenge of moving to a new place, leaving everything behind and finding themselves facing the struggles of a new culture, environment, people and language. How our space represents an opportunity to Social sustainability becomes then our main focus. We believe that healthy individuals form healthy communities and we believe that giving a space to students to engage, play, learn and socialize could be the key to improve their wellbeing and make their university years memorable.

As designers of this project we were facilitators focused on creating social sustainability and making sure that the social space would meets students’ needs. We used methods like surveys, co-designing workshops and mapping to understand the wants and needs of the students and make them help us visualize their ideas. Our role included involving stakeholders such as students, faculty, and administrators to gather diverse perspectives and ideas for the social space and to plan the event test day in collaboration with all the parties. We played a crucial role in showing the stakeholders how their actions can contribute to the development of a better campus by creating a design proposal.

“We are an open mixing place for the general public, but we are strongly committed to bringing together people who may not normally spend time together in the hope that they will become friends, seeking deeper relationships with each other and with the community. A sign I once saw in an old café window proclaimed, “There are no strangers here, just friends who haven’t met,” and that pretty much captures what we’re about.” ― Ray Oldenburg, Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories About the “Great Good Places” at the Heart of Our Communities

Even though our initial idea was to create a fixed space on campus, we encountered a lot of bureaucratic challenges so we decided to downsize the project and create a one day event instead. With this event we are hoping to raise awareness on the issue and let the University visualize the concept.

We collaborated with different student associations, the Student Union and others to create a day full of activities, games, food and workshops. Each association hosted an activity aligned with their identity, from board games to clothing swap.

We created a brand identity for the event, making sure that all the elements were aligned with our vision. We chose vibrant colors that could show the energy of the event and designed doodles that could transmit playfulness and cheerfulness. To promote the event we designed posters and business cards to spread around campus and created digital advertisement material for online platforms. The physical space was organized with areas with couches to chill, tables to do activities and a game area with ping pong and taca taca.

The event was hosted from 10:00 to 17:00 on the 23rd of May in the Glass hall of the K Building. With soft music in the background, fika , food and games we created a memorable event that brought people together, creating a sense of belonging and community. We hope that this project will spark the curiosity of the University and that it will develop further, becoming the Third Place we always needed and making our vision come to life.

[Image gallery, 3 columns in grid. Images from the event not available yet

References

“Ray Oldenburg.” 2008. Www.Pps.Org. December 31, 2008. https://www.pps.org/article/roldenburg

“Ray Oldenburg Quotes (Author of the Great Good Place).” n.d. https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2831.Ray_Oldenburg

Steelcase. 2015. “Q + a With Ray Oldenburg.” Steelcase (blog). January 8, 2015. https://www.steelcase.com/research/articles/topics/design/q-ray-oldenburg/

Stone, Tyler. “Third Places, True Citizen Spaces.” 2023. October 16, 2023. https://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/thirdplaces-true-citizen-spaces