Collaborative Studio

In 2017, the campus parking garages were the tragic sites of six suicides which led the University to look into security issues of its parking garages, but also engage a series of more serious reflection around the question of mental wellness on its campus. Since then, access to the rooftops of garages has been restricted, barriers have been added to prevent further falls, security foot patrols and campus police presence have been increased, and permanent signs with the OSU counseling hotline number have been placed in all stairwells of multi-level parking garages. In design terms, OSU’s actions are considered coercive (or direct) strategies, as ways to enforce certain modes of use, or to limit unwanted behaviors. 

The actions taken by the university are commendable. Unfortunately, such interventions do not directly address the first recommendation of the Task Force which set to establish a “culture of care” where suicide prevention is an entire community effort. As designer’s, we argue that chain-link fencing, police presence, and prominent signage should be seen as counterpoints to a culture of care. Moreover, because mental health is a multi-determined and complex social problem, prevention issues commend innovative thinking and solution. 

In search of new ways to address suicide, a number of innovative experiments have seen the light of day. For instance, the South Korean Mapo Bridge, a notoriously famous suicide spot in Seoul, was redesigned with positive messages along the railing that light up as pedestrians pass by. A similar approach was adopted for the redesign of a six-mile stretch, known as suicide black spot, along the River Foyle, which runs through the city of Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland. The Future Foyle is an ongoing project at The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design which partnered with Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, to explore how design can be used to uplift an area associated with poor emotional well-being and encourage residents to help make the banks, river, and bridges a lively and lived-in place. What both of these interventions have in common is their consideration for how the aesthetic experience of a place may affect people’s behaviors. 

These experiments led us to examine an approach of place making wherein experience design and motivational solutions may contribute to addressing the parking garage situation and embrace a culture of care. In this collaborative studio, students engaged in the development of innovative environmental solutions to address user experience of the parking garage. To engage with the University community, students also facilitated a weekend long codesign workshop and prototype potential solutions. The outcome of the course took the form of an exhibition, as such a significant part of the project is dedicated to exhibition and communication design.