Executive Summary of Important Issues In many respects La Paz is a very successful exploration in de-institutionalizing the traditional "dorm" image, creating a visually distinct and highly valued hotel-like character on campus. In concert with American uses of space, La Paz focuses greatest functional and social activity at the scale of the private room. The only exception in this regard is the incidental friendship formation occurring in shared bathrooms and one or two of the corridors. In spite of some task-performance problems of desk space, lighting, electrical outlets, storage, and plumbing noise residents seem quite comfortable with the overall intensity of different room uses. Many organizationally inclined interviewees expressed concern over La Paz' lack of "sociability" compared with other halls, and many hall activities are specifically intended to increase contact, friendship formation, and even social groups. Nevertheless, the survey questions seem to paradoxically reflect a general disinterest in a hall's (physical layout) ability to stimulate group and even friendship formation. Even though wayfinding is widely felt to be unusual especially when residents first arrive, it may present a greater problem for administration during these periods. Two safety issues might be immediately discussed or investigated further: falling on wet patio surfaces, and the perception of territorial non-surveillance within portions of the building at night.   Potentially Important Issues in Choosing a Site for the Next Project Wayfinding: Easy identification of the entrances, drop-off areas and parking for first-time users of a new residential hall or variation thereof could be variables in site selection or district planning. Visual and non-visual aesthetics: With such intensive use of double rooms, the occasional need for quiet, meditative spaces may be met by adjacent campus landscape or built-in settings (one could map good landscape areas which are nearby) La Paz is quite close to the mall and other positive settings. The extreme importance of fresh air and operable windows in rooms could be a factor in site selection, though the west windows of La Paz don't seem to be seriously impacted in this regard. Car alarm and other noises from the La Paz parking lot might have been mitigated by distance, plant materials (need drop-off in back but all cars don't need to be this close?) Distant or strong landscape views don't seem to be a requirement for most student rooms, mostly light and the absence of any negative view. Works well for most part with Highland codes. Climatic control of heat gain from east and west facing windows is substantially enhanced by courtyards; those windows with direct exposure are adequately controlled by blinds and individual a/c (siting considerations). One might conclude that the everyday aesthetics of the courtyards, terraces, patios and other routes through the building really are not very important to music-loving, tv watching, web using, very mobile residents (while these characteristics may contribute much more strongly to the social, "hotel" image). In this case, such might not only alter the aesthetic basis of the Highland code, but could also influence other issues affecting larger scale site and district planning. Task Performance: The amount of food preparation in rooms raises questions about site adjacency to some grocery store, particularly in relation to the inconvenience of frequently and perhaps spontaneously driving to buy food and/or having to borrow someone else' car to do so. If design exploration were occurring about a possible noise separation between "quiet" and "active" portions of rooms and/or corridors, then such might have site related considerations. Adjacency to quiet and active study places in the libraries and other campus buildings will influence the number of such places having to be included in new construction and possibly its location. The more residents use their own rooms for activities, the more they will probably rely upon cars to socialize off site--rather than doing so in residence hall spaces. Similarly, hotel-like or apartment-like halls would seem to generate greater parking demand (a strong site and district planning issue). Pick up/drop off, delivery parking strategies can be important variables to site and district planning. Social Territories: Any larger scale social intentions of the Highland urban district must clearly address the strong patterns of "atomized" socializing which takes place among friends in residence hall rooms, especially La Paz. The frequency of group meals in La Paz rooms, and lack of such in its public spaces, has clear implication for larger scale strategies for providing or accommodating food to residents in the Highland district. The somewhat surprising lack of privacy concern for other rooms being placed across small exterior courtyards (views into each other's rooms from windows) works well with the Highland codes, allowing greater flexibility in site organization. It is more difficult for occupants to maintain a natural territorial surveillance of a complex systems of corridors and courtyards as in La Paz. It is also relatively easy to "tailgate" into the building. Thus altering the scale of defensibility from the entire building to wing or other more localized area might be a design issue and could have implications to overall site and district design and planning. Cultural Expression: The good impression La Paz makes on people is less dependent on its immediate facade than the hotel-like, new, novel materials and spaces throughout the building. Thus the facade of some next hall could equally be subordinated to a wider streetscape or neighborhood context. Any strong cultural extension of theme or group identity from room to wing or corridor scales might run contrary to strategies of more simply linking different spontaneous scales of socialization.   Considerations for the Design of a Future Residence Hall The following issues explore possibilities of keeping a de-institutionalized image, but increasing the usability of the private room and increasing either friendship formation or indigenous group definition: 1. Given the amount of activity in the rooms, the number of room varieties (39) and flexible furniture, the question arises whether a more extensively designed room could still provide some choice but wouldn't be too institutional in character. 2. Bathrooms are the most likely place in La Paz for residents to meet potential new friends. The varied numbers of residents using any particular bathroom (26-28, 13-14, or 6) might be reevaluated in relation to the room placement of newcomers to the university. The location and size of bathrooms will be a most important consideration in any new strategy to increase socialization especially at wing or corridor scales. 3. The distinction between traditional freshman/sophomore halls which induce friendship formation, and apartment-like clusters for people with established friends seems contradictory at La Paz. While a traditional double-loaded corridor scheme is usually intended for underclassmen, its apparent lack of social grouping beyond bathrooms and the occasional corridor has resulted in its reputation as a quiet hall for upperclassmen. Courtyard (climatic) codes actually produce this "quietness". 4. The intention for the courtyards was not to be social, but quieter (both in Katz and administrators comments), if so then this seems to contradict the idea of New Urbanism. Any intention of the three scales of courtyards and passages as naturally attracting social use doesn't relate to the traditional double-loaded room scheme as primary social generator. The code is partly a climate response and partly a reflection of certain scales of Arabic cultural space. Courtyards within Middle Eastern residential settings have strong religious and even sacred meaning and compared to public streets contain little spontaneous socialization. 5. Any attempt to create greater spontaneous friendship formation would integrate bathroom and corridor scales to other activities, all as "public street". Move the scoreboard café, laundry, game rooms and even perhaps more organized conference/classroom activities to one public street location which relates to multiple living clusters--either freshman/sophomore shared bathrooms or smaller upperclassman apartment like suites. A small grocery store would be a nice component here. One might even consider a place for cultural events put on by particular halls or other organizations. In this case spontaneous linkage between all scales should be as adjacent as possible. Certainly these ideas are implicit and even explicit in campus planning, and could relate to a somewhat decentralized Student Union facility. Another possible link is with a south Library entrance and courtyard. 6. To a certain extent, however, simple socially spontaneous schemes may work naturally against any more formally organized, culturally expressed relationships between social scales, i.e. room, wing, hall, district, university. Yet it is not impossible that indigenous, culturally expressed groups might spring naturally from some friendship oriented, spontaneous setting. To do so, residents would have to be given the chance to form their own wing groups coincident with some latent definition of space (different from "outside" administered and initiated RA or hall government organization). Like co-housing, such local organization may be limited in scale, simply due to the lack of need to form larger scale relationships. In some office settings, however, several scales of participatory social/functional groups are possible. 7. Any building scheme should be tested for wayfinding clarity during the design process. 8. Designers should go some length to avoid any special accessible routes through public spaces of any residence hall, i.e. fully integrate accessibility with "normal" routes.