Story Cube – UW Campus, Circular Design
Originally uploaded by la_purdy
I noticed as I walked around campus this week that a lot of our buildings have an element of circular or semi-circular design. So I decided to sit in these circular spaces and think about the purpose of this design. The commonality that I found between these circular spaces was that they all promoted some type of open communication between students, faculty, and/or visitors. I found that the typical semi-circular layout of lecture halls allowed students to see each other, which in turn promoted open conversation/debate. With places like the centre of the PAS building, the stairs all merge into one circle which in a sense allows students, faculty, and visitors to cross paths and thus communicate.
For me, open communication is an important element of university life as it allows for the development of ideas and through the development of ideas we encounter innovation. This in turn teaches students that being open to communication can only help not hinder. For example, a product development engineer needs to be able to openly communicate with their colleagues in order to develop a well rounded product that address various consumer concerns, likes, and dislikes. This idea also relates to teachers, where teachers need to openly communication with each other in order to know what types of lessons are effective and what types of lessons are less effective.
So overall, I believe that the circular designs found on the University of Waterloo campus are beneficial to students, faculty, and visitors as they allow for open communication.
(Another interesting element of this discussion can relate to the design of elementary schools vs. high schools vs. universities)
