Student ideas reinvigorating Ohio State campus

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Student ideas reinvigorating Ohio State campus

Design studio elevates student-designed space

Across The Ohio State University Columbus campus, students will find four soundproof pods from Framery, an office design company. Since they arrived in 2019, the pods have each been wrapped in unique, student-created designs. The designs are the result of an annual contest that is part of the Junior Interior Design Studio, taught by Rebekah Matheny.

Matheny, an associate professor in the Department of Design in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been with Ohio State since 2014. She developed the studio course after guiding a winning Ohio State team through a Big Ten Academic Alliance design competition in 2018.

"The charge is to design a wrapper for the pods that represents Ohio State," she said.

The contest is sponsored by the university, Framery, Continental Office and MillerKnoll. Winning designs have paid homage to the Oval, "Carmen Ohio," the university student body and campus landmarks.

"The pod wraps are designed by students," Matheny said. "There's no influence from the university or the manufacturers. The students create graphics that they believe tell the story of Ohio State and what it means to be an Ohio State student."

Matheny's class has opportunities for student design beyond the Framery pods. Two recent student projects are the lobbies of Hayes Hall and the Journalism Building.

Over the course of the class, students learn about color theory, the use of pattern and data-backed design strategies.

"People think that interior design is more residential, more decorative," Matheny said. "In fact, it applies psychology, space requirements, energy and accessibility codes. It's very human-focused - the ways that people think, behave, feel. I always tell my students: Architecture brings people to the front door and interior design holds the hand of the person and brings them through the unfolding journey of the space."

A perennial challenge for students is the university's colors: scarlet and gray. While the latter color is easily overlooked, the vibrant shade of red can be difficult to incorporate into a space.

"Every color has impact," Matheny said. "Psychologically, red creates alarm bells. If we have too much in our environment, it makes people anxious. That's not an environment that improves learning."

In the case of the Hayes Hall lobby, students complemented the color, reducing its impact with lighter and darker shades as well as patterns.

"We have our scarlet. The gray is there," Matheny said. "It just doesn't scream scarlet and gray. It says, 'Welcome, come in, hang out.'"

The Journalism Building is a good example of multi-use spaces, Matheny said. The lobby has tables that allow for collaborative work, as well as smaller niches for people who want to work alone. Each of those is separated by a scarlet wall cut by a darker red Script Ohio.

Matheny wants these spaces to become "third places," a term used to describe social gathering places that are separate from a person's home and workplace or school.

"We've been addressing those specifically in the studio," she said. "How can we extend learning beyond the classroom and create moments of engagement? How can we create opportunities for students to stay on campus longer? Those lobby spaces can become third spaces. Students can collaborate at a community table, work solo beside someone else or step away and into a Framery pod for a quiet respite."

The students whose designs are chosen for these projects are thrilled, Matheny said.

"Students love having a course based on a practical space, one they can go and visit," she said. "And the selected projects, those students have something amazing for their portfolios."

And it's not just the design students who are energized by the new spaces.

"We've seen students utilizing these spaces, the pods. Students feel more welcome, more comfortable," she said. "They want to stay longer. In Hayes Hall, we've seen the number of people using the lobby triple."

Matheny credits the university for fostering the development of student designers.

"It's innovative. There aren't a lot of places doing this," she said. "It gives our students a voice. It allows them to advocate for impact. When students have more input into their spaces, they're more engaged.

"They know their peers designed it and that their concerns were taken into consideration in the design. They always say, 'We love it. We want to be here all the time.'"

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