Designing Of University Halls Of Residence

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29916, 1 September 1962, Page 13

Designing Of University Halls Of Residence

If the study bedroom in a university hall of residence was badly designed, no amount of common rooms, grand dining halls or cunning grouping of rooms would save the day: the study bedrooms were the key, said Mr F M. Warren, a Christchurch architect. in a paper pres nted to the New Zealand l nvers.iy Students' Assoc ation s conference on halls of residence at Lincoln Colleee yesterday. The conference will end

"Start from the study bedfooms. design them most carefu.ly. group them ingeniously in o sets of houses. Organise these about one or more courts with a central block of communal services, take twc years of hard work, and one begins to get a hall of residence," Mr Warren said. It was essential that a study bedroom be able to seat three or four for supper. I: was important to have furniture movable to allow the student to organise his own arrangement.

A single bedroom was unlikely to be really satisfactory if it was of less than 120 sq. ft., inclusive of s.orage.

All wall and floor finishes within “bashing range” should be durable. The aim should be to design a room surface that could be easily repaired, and where, if it was pounded, the student would come off second best. He favoured unplastered double brick or concrete block for walls between bedrooms. This deadened sound and acted as a fire barrier.

He felt the long, noisy institutional corridor lay-out should be avoided. The grouping of rooms about a staircase was capable of producing a much more successful architectural solution than the corridor style. Mr Warren said that attractive dining halls were important. They should be spacious and tall. Common rooms should be as lavish as funis permitted. Only the best furnishings were good enough in the long run. Carpets or rugs, large sofas, and comfortable, solid chairs were essential.

The spaces about a building were as important as those within. Beautiful lawns and paved areas surrounded with buildings belonging wholly to the college were as much a part of a hall of residence as the study bedroom "Values Influenced’’

Mr G. Shiuksmith. a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Canterbury and warden of Rolleston House, sa d that students’ attitudes and sets of values were influenced by the hall in which they lived. The three main aims of a hall of residence were to provide residential facilities conducive to study, to add to the general education of the student through contact with staff and other students, and to develop the individual through social education. A survey of students' pre-

ferences in halls showed single-sexed halls and single study bedrooms to be most favoured. More than one common room was felt to be essential, as were well laidout surroundings and gardens In the United Sta.es two Significant developments were the use of small lounges to break down too large groups and attempts to cut s>wn waste of space.

British practice rested on .he value of the right sort of oemmunity living, with student interaction and staffstudent contact the major theme.

Two points which emerged from Australian experience were that the bursar or business manager should be adequately paid and tbnt building for cheapness in the first instance was false economy. Mr Shouksmith then listed what he considered essentials :n the planning of a hall of residence. This included private study space, a common room, a recreation room, a library, sound proofing. and adequate telecommunications.