Philippine E-Journals

IMPROVING THE LIBRARY SPACE OF THE PHILIPPINE SCHOOL OF INTERIOR DESIGN USING DESIGN CHARRETTE

Jennifer J. Laluna

 

Abstract:

Purpose/Objective. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the physical library can be structured, arranged and improved by the important school stakeholders through the use of Design Charrette activity to meet the rapidly changing student learning needs and faculty teaching patterns of the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID). Significance of the Study. Design charrette as a visualizing activity will give the readers an insight on how school stakeholders who gather to have open communication, and exchange viewpoints will address the library spatial design problem and contribute to the development of planning the physical library layout. Furthermore, it is hoped that the result of this study will contribute to the LIS literature collection, which offers a promising approach for stakeholders to arrive at a shared and unified decision making for the successful implementation of the space design project. Design, methodology, approach. The research is qualitative in nature, engaging stakeholders in Design Charrette activity to capture students, librarians, designers, architects and administrators’ perceptions and views in terms of improving the design of the library. The desired outcome of the study is a design plan for the library that incorporates the needs of the users and a space that complies with the standards as well. Due to participatory focus, two groups utilized the Design Charrette method to analyze the data gathered from the semi-structured interviews, group discussions, and group reporting. Content and thematic analyses were done to describe and interpret the participants’ views in the stages of the activity. Findings. It is determined that a design charrette process offers a fruitful activity model in visualizing the library’s physical lay-out design solution that provide in-depth understanding on how the physical library can be structured, arranged and designed, achieving the full educational potential of academic library physical space facilities responsive to the current needs of any institution. Research implications. Design Charrette activities yield sustained interaction among the participants which offers participants shared and unified decision making for the successful implementation of the space design project. Thus, the outcome of the activity demonstrates how the proposed library’s social study space would advance the institution’s mission, which served as the basis of demonstrating the value of the library in the academic curricula. Originality of the paper. This paper could be useful to the librarians who plan to renovate available space, this study may help them consider Design Charrette as helpful activity for involving the school’s important key stakeholders in inclusive, highly interactive design activities to ensure an aesthetically, socially, and financially successful outcome.