“Students Under Stress”
Startling Statistics Sparks Design Solution
THE PRESSURE’S IN THE PUDDING
For university students around the world, the end of the semester means exam season. And with exams, comes stressed students. However, according to the 2013 AUCCCD survey, this is more than just a simple increase of stress at the end of the semester.
Observing the above graph, the percentage of students who presented with anxiety as their main reason for seeking help at a counselling centre, has increased by 9.8% over 7 years (2007–2013) and continues to do so. Furthermore, the percentage of students who have attended counselling, who take medication, and who have been hospitalised, all due to mental health concerns, are adhering to this horrific trend.
This is the driving force behind our design solution.
RESPITE VIA RESEARCH
A study was conducted in 1996, called “Interior Plants May Improve Worker Productivity and Reduce Stress in a Windowless Environment”. As you can probably infer, this study revealed that when natural elements (in this instance, potted plants) were introduced into a computer lab, there was a 12% increase in productivity and a noticeable decrease in stress, however, no significant difference in the number of errors made in the test.
Only one year before that, a study called “Nature-Based Recreation, Mood Change, and Stress Restoration” was published. This article explained an experiment, wherein the participants were repeatedly exposed to a stressor (a time-based arithmetic challenge), and then placed in one of two closed environments: an urban park, or a plain, windowless room. The results conclusively showed that the artificially induced stress was relieved more rapidly in the participants who used the park.
More recently, a test was conducted in 2010, called “Stress Recovery during Exposure to Natural Sound and Environmental Noise”. However, instead of introducing physical elements, they tested the stress relief capabilities of auditory stimulus. Passive nature sounds, when pitted against the sounds of the city and a singular high-pitched tone, produced the more consistent result of greater stress relief.
CONSOLATION THROUGH ILLUMINATION
Based on this research, and in conjunction with the Gaming Technologies group, we devised a design solution. Utilising the open-source electronic prototyping platform, Arduino, we intend to develop a pavilion that helps reduce the stress of the user, through the use of LED strips. The French design company, RDV Design, created something visually similar, called “Immersion”.
Our idea involves a similar network of LED strips, hanging from any form of a ceiling, comparable to “Immersion”. Our intention is to simulate the natural element of rain, with the hopes that an artificial form of nature can provide the same results.
What’s great about this design solution, is that from a collaborative perspective, this concept only requires a floor and a ceiling to work. This means that if another group would like to dictate the form of the pavilion, they can do so freely.
