I remember working on a team graduate school project that focused on the design of collaborative spaces at the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) at Drexel. Part of our analysis and research emphasized glass exposure and lack of privacy. When you mentioned the example of the college, I immediately remembered the glass doors and the main floor entrance of the large office building on my way to class! The setting did not feel like a comfortable college. On my first day, it was very hectic and overwhelming.
Also a great example, and it shows the student perspective!
Interestingly, the faculty did get a little bit of input as the space was being built... Originally, the architects wanted all the doors/walls to be glass, including faculty offices. But there was a lot of pushback on that, and the compromise was to make the faculty offices have that frosted glass.
But I don't think that went far enough. As you point out, opacity isn't just about privacy, but it also does an important "information filtering" function, to stop us from getting overwhelmed or distracted.
I remember working on a team graduate school project that focused on the design of collaborative spaces at the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) at Drexel. Part of our analysis and research emphasized glass exposure and lack of privacy. When you mentioned the example of the college, I immediately remembered the glass doors and the main floor entrance of the large office building on my way to class! The setting did not feel like a comfortable college. On my first day, it was very hectic and overwhelming.
Also a great example, and it shows the student perspective!
Interestingly, the faculty did get a little bit of input as the space was being built... Originally, the architects wanted all the doors/walls to be glass, including faculty offices. But there was a lot of pushback on that, and the compromise was to make the faculty offices have that frosted glass.
But I don't think that went far enough. As you point out, opacity isn't just about privacy, but it also does an important "information filtering" function, to stop us from getting overwhelmed or distracted.