COVID’s Impact on Student Life Facilities

COVID’s Impact on Student Life Facilities

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Student life facilities are extremely important in defining the culture and traditions of a collegiate campus.  Student unions and campus centers must consider necessary reconfigurations and changes to these shared facilities to meet social distancing requirements.   

Hastings+Chivetta can assist your campus in understanding and planning the required modifications to these core facilities for campus life. H+C professionals can analyze your student union or campus center facility to provide customized social distancing strategies so you can safely welcome back students, staff, faculty, and visitors.

Issues to consider in Student Life facilities  may include:

  • Social areas – relocation and removal of furniture to allow for social distancing
  • Dining Facilities – installation of safety shields and increased separation of seating configurations plus expanding grab-and-go options
  • Retail space – reduction in number of customers based on square footage as well as local and regional orders
  • Offices – reconfiguration of seating arrangements to provide adequate social distancing
  • Meeting spaces – rearrangement of existing furniture to allow for social distancing
  • Pedestrian circulation patterns – establishing circulation patterns to minimize exposure time between individuals
  • In-depth analysis for high-touch facilities like banquet rooms, student lounges, theatres, and game rooms

We will partner with your campus to provide  services to meet your needs including:

  • Space utilization and touch point analysis to provide recommendations
  • Creating dimensioned drawings of community spaces for use by campus staff to set up new furniture arrangements and assisting with demarcating furniture location
  • Producing signage for each space with seating diagrams, distancing requirements, and circulation flow
  • Rearranging user traffic flow by designating in- and out-only building and room entries, one-way corridors, and one-way stairs

 

For more information on how Hastings+Chivetta can assist to understand, analyze, and implement modifications of your Student Life facilities to maintain a healthy and safe environment, please contact Erik Kocher at [email protected].