After carrying out a large scale brainstorming session with every groups, we stopped brainstorming for a while and made the function analysis, which should have been the first thing to do. We broke down the sheltering function into three main sub-functions which are protecting from the outside, making people feel comfortable inside and integrating with the external environment. Then we kept on breaking down the sub-functions in order to better understand every dimension of the problems we needed to solve.
Concerning the second function, being comfortable means for us being convenient, tunable, stimulating, intimate as well as communicating and having proper microclimate conditions.
The inside of the building must be convenient in the sense that we must think about the arrangement of the rooms and the connections between them so to ease everyday’s chores and activities. We must also be able to easily change each room purpose and tune it so to adapt it to what we need. Moreover, we don’t want the building to be too much comfortable in order to prevent students from just feeling like sleeping. That’s why the interior design must be stimulating and must make students remember all the time that biology is awesome. This is influenced by the colors and material that we will use as well as by the lighting of the rooms. An interactive and inconstant inside would also motivate students. Another important comfort factor is the intimacy, since students sometimes need to isolate themselves from the rest of the world in order to concentrate. Proper climate conditions are also relevant when wanting people feel good somewhere. That’s why we must work on the ventilation, the temperature and the humidity control. The building should also communicate by itself so that people inside don’t feel lost.
