Page 24 - College Planning & Management, May 2018

PLANNING FOR MOVABLE FURNITURE
FRIENDLY FURNITURE: Students enjoy sitting in the colorful Adirondack chairs in MIT’s Eastman Court, where they can relax and catch up email, listen to the birds, chat with a friend, or even glimpse one of the rabbits that have proliferated across the campus.
The Starting Point
When I started working at MIT in 2015, the movable furniture count in open spaces totaled six chairs and two tables; our team wanted to increase that number. Our big break came in 2016; a chancellor-sponsored initiative called the MIT MindHandHeart Innovation Fund held a competition seeking creative ideas to promote com- munity and mental well-being on campus. A competition entry from an associate professor in the Political Science depart- ment suggested that some colorful chairs be incorporated into public locations to promote connectedness. This idea won the grant—a substantial one, at that—and approval from leadership to move forward. Unsure of how to proceed, MindHandHeart reached out to the director of Campus Planning for assistance, and the project landed on the desks of our landscape archi- tecture team.
Our initial experiment with movable furniture showed that it was well used by students, faculty, and staff. However, we felt the equipment was smaller and lighter than we’d hoped for. Also, over time we also noticed the material was taking a beating, becoming slightly rickety after
a season or two, particularly when we at- tempted to overwinter them.
Refining the Plan
For this next project, we knew what changes we wanted to make and we hit the ground running, studying multiple fur-
niture types and more durable materials. We also considered lounge chairs versus standard seating, and chair-and-table com- binations. We researched various campus locations, and deliberated between internal pockets of campus versus locations along campus arteries. If this was going to work we realized that we needed a highly visible space to not only make it successful but also to keep the furniture in place. Similar projects at neighboring schools had seen attrition, resulting in a few universities instituting an “amnesty day,” where staff turned a blind eye as furnishings made their way back to their original locations.
While we narrowed down sites and furnishing types, we also began to road- show the idea to the necessary institution- al departments. We contacted Grounds to discuss how these would affect standard site maintenance such as mowing, and sought their help with winter storage.
We met with campus police to discuss potential locations. We contacted building managers for approvals of particular loca- tions. Each group had suggestions that we used to make adjustments and improve the overall project.
The Installation
The final furnishings came in the form of 12 colorful Adirondack chairs made of recycled materials, each weigh- ing 50 pounds. Selecting products using recycled materials aligned well with MIT’s multiple sustainability initiatives; each chair was made of approximately 50 milk jugs. The extra weight would make it easy enough to pull chairs together at the site, but harder to lift them up and carry them away. Each chair itself is strong and well assembled, the color integrated into the soft and durable plastic, and it was roomy even for my 6'2'' frame. For a final touch, the chairs were outfitted with a sticker that labeled each of them as part of the MIT MindHandHeart initiative, meant to further deter pilfering as well as publicize the initiative.
The winning destination for the installa-
tion was Eastman Court, a picturesque open space cradled between MIT’s Main Group
to the west, Building 18 designed by I.M. Pei on the east, and the Hayden Memorial Li- brary to the south. Each building, like most of MIT, is active 24 hours a day, providing around-the-clock eyes on the area. The court’s most compelling feature, however, is the copse of 70-foot-tall London Plane trees
MINDHANDHEART @ MIT
MindHandHeart (MHH) is a coalition of students, faculty, and staff with fresh insights, new ideas, and diverse perspectives working collaboratively and strategically to strengthen the fabric of the MIT community.
Co-sponsored by the Office of the Chan- cellor and MIT Medical and led by Faculty Chair Rosalind Picard, MHH fills a strategic niche in areas shown by research to promote mental health and well-being and reduce the risk of suicide. MHH does this through four main channels:
1. An Innovation Fund seeding novel ap- proaches to well being and mentoring passionate students as their innovative ideas develop. This is the fund that made the moveable furniture project profiled in this article possible.
2. A volunteer coalition that brings voices from across the Institute together to solve problems and develop opportunities in new ways.
3. Strategic partnerships designed to con- nect MHH with other culture-shaping initiatives promoting respect, health, and the community’s shared humanity.
4. And, a Department Support Project,
an effort in several academic depart- ments to share successes and coordinate enhancements in order to strengthen the welcoming and inclusive nature of MIT’s academic climates.
To learn more about MindHandHeart’s
mission and impact at MIT, visit http://mind handheart.mit.edu/about.
24 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / MAY 2018
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PHOTO © MAISIE O’BRIEN