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beccaelizabethWhich is weird, because I did not in fact like many minutes I can remember at boarding school.
So I was trying to think of which bits were in fact helpful.
There's the shallow stuff like leafy walls and wood on walls and the library with the old red chairs and just having a library where all the books seemed relevant.
... seems pretty small from here but I have pictures of a much bigger library that was for sale and looks like book church or something, just two floors and balconies and so many books. Everywhere needs data storage and I like books.
Useful functional parts are
someone makes the food. often. every day.
regular routine, external prompting.
things to do. lots of things to do.
granted I am not a fan of enforced things to do, and I would not sign up for the part where you cannot ignore people or leave, but, like, I havent left the flat more than an hour a week for well over a year now. some months I didnt leave at all. so it is not like I need much geography. But there could be more things to do.
I guess I like how it was a campus with no cars. place to live and work and play, big meeting halls for clubs as well as lots of little rooms and a common room, swimming pool, sports, changing rooms, pretty much everything except peace and quiet and I'm sure that can be designed in.
These things are also, not coincidentally, what I liked about university.
... the library at university was So Much Bigger. I didnt even read everything in my subjects. that is the appropriate size of library for sure. slightly bigger than you can actually get through.
The aesthetic is a teensy different there though. Concrete.
... I like that they have trees but somehow the sort where I can breathe happily. lots of green, still comfy.
Also there's an art museum, which clearly improves the experience.
So now I'm wondering how much of this I can design in to life without the actual school.
... because i cant live where the students do without studying full time and i cannot study full time or, like, much, so i cannot just pick a degree and go again or that would seem like a plan...
It's tricky because walkable communities without cars just arent a priority, and there are many places to get food delivery but that is an expensive way to do this, and also somehow more annoying? I think because there's more steps in the deciding and communicating phases, you cant just turn up and get Today Food, although by my recollection of boarding school there were many days where one would not want the Today Food anyway.
... if I was boss all food would be edible, and clearly labelled.
... you'd think that would be baseline, but noooooo...
Also the part where there are people must be optional, but if the world was working properly and safely again, it is a part of what is nice, food where people are around.
I think there's some pretty basic wiring that makes humans like social food.
There are also deliberate mechanisms in boarding school as I experienced it for thinking of a group as Us. Arbitrary house systems. Color coding. That sort of thing.
Like going to conventions to play Drazi politics. Green! Purple!
It's an ice breaker, but also really annoying for more than a weekend.
Joining a social group can be really simple if it's basically about colors and cheering. And who wins.
... I see the point of sport fans right there...
So a lot of this is, in normal times, around. Food I do not have to cook. Books sorted by topic for the borrowing. Groups to join to play stuff.
It's the getting to it conveniently and safely that is missing without a campus.
The way it concentrates people with similar needs and interests in one space is just handy, but goes away again as soon as you are done with that bit.
But then it is tricky to make everything walkable for so many different values of walkable. Humans be varied.
... I still think our living places could do much better at that one tho.
So I was trying to think of which bits were in fact helpful.
There's the shallow stuff like leafy walls and wood on walls and the library with the old red chairs and just having a library where all the books seemed relevant.
... seems pretty small from here but I have pictures of a much bigger library that was for sale and looks like book church or something, just two floors and balconies and so many books. Everywhere needs data storage and I like books.
Useful functional parts are
someone makes the food. often. every day.
regular routine, external prompting.
things to do. lots of things to do.
granted I am not a fan of enforced things to do, and I would not sign up for the part where you cannot ignore people or leave, but, like, I havent left the flat more than an hour a week for well over a year now. some months I didnt leave at all. so it is not like I need much geography. But there could be more things to do.
I guess I like how it was a campus with no cars. place to live and work and play, big meeting halls for clubs as well as lots of little rooms and a common room, swimming pool, sports, changing rooms, pretty much everything except peace and quiet and I'm sure that can be designed in.
These things are also, not coincidentally, what I liked about university.
... the library at university was So Much Bigger. I didnt even read everything in my subjects. that is the appropriate size of library for sure. slightly bigger than you can actually get through.
The aesthetic is a teensy different there though. Concrete.
... I like that they have trees but somehow the sort where I can breathe happily. lots of green, still comfy.
Also there's an art museum, which clearly improves the experience.
So now I'm wondering how much of this I can design in to life without the actual school.
... because i cant live where the students do without studying full time and i cannot study full time or, like, much, so i cannot just pick a degree and go again or that would seem like a plan...
It's tricky because walkable communities without cars just arent a priority, and there are many places to get food delivery but that is an expensive way to do this, and also somehow more annoying? I think because there's more steps in the deciding and communicating phases, you cant just turn up and get Today Food, although by my recollection of boarding school there were many days where one would not want the Today Food anyway.
... if I was boss all food would be edible, and clearly labelled.
... you'd think that would be baseline, but noooooo...
Also the part where there are people must be optional, but if the world was working properly and safely again, it is a part of what is nice, food where people are around.
I think there's some pretty basic wiring that makes humans like social food.
There are also deliberate mechanisms in boarding school as I experienced it for thinking of a group as Us. Arbitrary house systems. Color coding. That sort of thing.
Like going to conventions to play Drazi politics. Green! Purple!
It's an ice breaker, but also really annoying for more than a weekend.
Joining a social group can be really simple if it's basically about colors and cheering. And who wins.
... I see the point of sport fans right there...
So a lot of this is, in normal times, around. Food I do not have to cook. Books sorted by topic for the borrowing. Groups to join to play stuff.
It's the getting to it conveniently and safely that is missing without a campus.
The way it concentrates people with similar needs and interests in one space is just handy, but goes away again as soon as you are done with that bit.
But then it is tricky to make everything walkable for so many different values of walkable. Humans be varied.
... I still think our living places could do much better at that one tho.