For my Workplace Strategy Studio course, I worked on a team of three to transform the user experience of Cornell’s Rockefeller Hall through spatial and digital solutions.
I had sole responsible for designing the user app experience as well as equal participation in the other design initiatives. The team constantly collaborated and brainstormed to ensure a unified user experience.
This group project was an accelerated one and we were not required to fully flesh out the app designs. However, post-project I decided to continue working on building the digital experience for reserving spaces on campus.
The team was tasked with improving the current workplace environment in one of Cornell’s academic buildings. We were challenged to create two levels of the design solution: one that was more feasible and one that would require more resources.
My team aimed to maximize space utilization rates by revitalizing and reinventing the old building that Rockefeller currently is.
The project deliverables were a design brief and a high-level presentation (shown below).
To ensure informed design solutions, the team began with a research phase, which consisted of student surveys, faculty interviews, professional walkthroughs, and a literature review. We identified the current usability challenges in Rockefeller Hall through surveys and user interviews, which would be addressed in our designs.
This research process informed our persona development and helped us narrow down a mission statement to ground our work moving forward.
Our Mission: To program a more sustainable, collaborative, and inclusive learning environment for both faculty and students in higher education facilities.
The challenges we identified most often revolved around technology, wayfinding, circulation & accessibility, limited use, and rigidity. One key aspect of the current workplace experience that needed the most attention was the issue of underutilized space in Rockefeller Hall as well as various outdated collegial buildings.
We then developed four major project goals: (1) Seamless integration of technology, (2) Accommodating ambient environment, (3) Facilitating collaboration, and (4) Efficient space utilization.
We aimed to make the design recommendations relevant to all old buildings on campus to increase scalability of our solutions.