Anna Hiss Gymnasium Placemaking Stategy

June 30, 2024

Department of Design, School of Design and Creative Technologies

Designed for wkrm Studio, UT Austin, Spring 2023

See the Final Result
THE ASK

Research and investigate the Anna Hiss Gymnasium to understand why it's underutilized by the design community.

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CONCEPT

The research started with a question: what makes a place great? That led to a multitude of answers and responses from the team.

We used this framework developed by the Project for Public Spaces to organize our research and design because it enables us to look across experiences of use to/from and inside/outside AHG. You will learn more about it through an assigned reading.

  • Uses & Activities
  • Comfort & Image
  • Access & Linkages
  • Sociability

These factors helped influence our research and honed in our focus towards specific areas of our research, and in turn, helped inform our problem statements of:

  • HOW MIGHT WE FOSTER COMMUNITY IN DESIGN?
  • WHAT IS THE LOOK AND FEEL OF DESIGN?
  • WHAT ARE THE ACTIONS AND ATTITUDES OF DESIGN?

These three problem statements led to the creation of specific criteria that helped inform our prototypes and further research and iderations.

DESIGN CRITERIA

Design criteria are derived from research and prototyping. They inform the concepts developed by the Spring 2023 wkrm team and those created by future teams. Every idea doesn’t need to be in service of every design criteria — it just can’t go against any of them. When working with Design Criteria, a good rule of thumb is that every idea must at least “Abide by one, but contradict none.”

  1. Our design must convey the promise and potential of a Design education at SDCT.
  2. Our design must promote a culture of critique.
  3. Our design must orient students and faculty toward collaboration and dialogue.
  4. Our design must externalize the design process at every stage, educating students through exposure.
  5. Our design must work through the tensions and ambiguity of the design process.
  6. Our design must make Anna Hiss feel at home.
  7. Our design must cultivate ownership and stewardship of the space.
  8. Our design must inform and inspire students, launching them into the next phase of their design careers.
  9. Our design must inspire students to take action and seize responsibility.
  10. Our design must grow with the program and the community.
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IDEATION

Ideation and research spawned over 80 quick concepts–from mild concepts, to wild concepts. All the concepts were then grouped into our four problem areas: Community, Look and Feel of Design, and Attitudes and Attributes of Design. From client input and feedback, we were able to narrow down 9 total quick concepts to prototype and test with end users:

  • Anna Hiss Ambassadors
  • Critique Station
  • Welcome Wall
  • Projection Display
  • Environmental Graphics (wayfinding, course schedules, blade signage)
  • Print Station
  • Flexible Furniture (AHG Beach, Table Layouts, Work Bays)
  • QR Wall
  • Zine Zone

FINAL RENDERINGS

The final prototypes stemmed from multiple iterations based on user testing and client feedback. For example, the environmental wayfinding signage went from directory-based signage, to simplified horizontal stripes to signal key locations (i.e. room numbers).

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