Rooms Designed for being Social

I have to say there is something very important in how you set up a room that will determine how social a place it will be.

If you want people to visit your room, you must provide them with a way to visit.

I think as always, the perfect example was Stuarts room in residence. At least between him and I.

I could come to his room at practically any time and sit down in the chair next to him and see what he was doing. He didn't have to stop working or doing what he was doing, yet I could still interact with him and talk with him. And there was space for me to work also, even another computer I could use if I really wanted to. What was really important was that I had a place in his room, and for that his room was a very good spot for us.

So if you are designing a room, and want it to be a social spot, it needs to be designed as such. If it is where you work, it needs to be set up so that whenever a visitor comes, they have a spot that will not hamper you, yet still provides them with some insentive to coming (Stuart often had food or a Rubix cube out).

I think the space I would change first after having figured this out is my desk at home. It is facing the wall and there is no good way to sit at it and converse with anyone else. Somehow it needs to be changed so that if I am working in the room, if someone comes up they are welcome, yet I am not completely thrown off what I am doing. It will probably only take some minor rearrangement to figure out.

Kyler