News_Belonging – Workshop Architects

The Workshop Way is a series of white papers, research reports, and reflections that articulate the “why” behind the way we approach our work.

Brian Shermer, PhD, AIA, Principal Workshop Architects

Belonging and Community

The role of student life environments on college campuses fundamentally informs our approach to design and engagement for belonging and community.

“College students who feel that they belong at their institutions get better grades and fare better on persistence, engagement, and mental health. Students who do not feel like they belong rarely stay in college.”

Chronicle of Higher Education, February 13, 2023

Workshop Architects is committed to a student-centered approach to planning and design, including from the unheard and disengaged.. In our research, we find that student life environments offer opportunities and experiences that appeal to large majorities of students. Yet, there can be significant numbers of students who feel alienated or uncomfortable. We endeavor to fully partner with our university clients and all students to help them build community. A focus on belonging and community is integral to our student life planning and design. We describe a few important examples below.

Michigan Union Renovation
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Perhaps because of the University of Michigan’s proactive stance and leadership on the topic, belonging and community were high priorities for Michigan students. We asked students to reflect on the essential roles that the Michigan Union should play on campus. “Embrace students from all walks of life” ranked highest. Student life staff also expressed genuine concern about the needs of students who feel invisible.

They were uniformly committed to making the Michigan Union a place in which all students will feel welcome and comfortable. It was especially important therefore to improve accessibility, and provide accommodations for spiritual and religious acceptance.

These improvements have created a sense of safety by providing programs and activities that attract a diverse range of students and provide places for respite, especially for students who expend a great deal of energy on their own activism work.

Illini Union
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Diversity and inclusion were critical priorities for students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. According to on-campus interviews and an online survey, students and other members of the UIUC community wanted the Illini Union to be a place where they can bond with friends, meet new people, and welcome people from all walks of life.

For all students, but especially international students who comprise nearly a quarter of the student population, the Illini Union should be a place for cultural exchange and to meet people from around the world.

To live up to expectations of the UIUC community, the overarching vision for the Illini was that it should be a “union without borders.” Space priorities included an enhanced student involvement hub, a variety of meeting rooms and enlarged event spaces, quality food options, new recreation and wellness facilities, a live music venue, space
for cultural events, and outdoor dining and
lounge terraces.

Campus Center
Georgia Institute of Technology

For Georgia Tech, one of the top priorities for the new campus center was to be a place where people can build friendships and bridge across cultures, disciplines, and interests. Data from our “campus capital mapping” workshops suggested that the campus lacked effective social space.

This was especially true of the one building intended to promote and support interaction: the current Student Center. Students envisioned another important function for the new Student Center: to bridge across cultures, disciplines, and interests. Students recognized they hail from many different countries and cultures. They look to their new student center as a key resource for making Georgia Tech a truly dynamic community. This led to the identification of a number of key program priorities, including expanded and enhanced student involvement co-working spaces and a new
cultural center.”

Our research on the role of student life spaces on college campuses fundamentally informs our approach to design and engagement for belonging and community. This is especially important because these spaces influence the sense of belonging felt by students from historically disadvantaged groups. Strange and Banning’s “Hierarchy of Environmental Design,” which they describe in Designing for Learning: Strategies for Student Success, provides a guide to how campuses should prioritize their efforts.

The model includes three levels. At the base is a student’s need for safety and inclusion. These must be met before progressing to the next level, involvement. Involvement includes both academic engagement and participation in co-curricular activities. Involved students make it possible to attain the third level in the hierarchy: full membership in the community.

Belonging and community will be ongoing priorities for universities for many years to come. Workshop is taking its lessons learned from our initiatives and applying them to our current projects at some of the most complex campuses in the nation.

No matter the campus, it is important to get to know the priorities of students, staff, faculty, and administrators.

We’ll update this post from time-to-time to keep our clients apprised about our thinking about this most important topic.

“Without a fundamental sense of inclusion and security... [or] a basic sense of belonging to the campus community, free from threat, fear, and anxiety, attempts at other more lasting goals will likely fail” (pp. 140 – 141).

Strange and Banning

201 E Pittsburgh Avenue, Suite 301
Milwaukee, WI 53204

Call us 414.272.8822