Hopi Dorm & Communal Form: How effective is the dorm's design for sociability & community?

Abstract

There is a problem of sociability when it comes to homes and people staying in them. With more people in the United States spending more of their time in their homes more now than ever (Kaysen & Parlapiano, 2024), it is important to understand what factors improve the mental health for residents, and how housing design can play a role in this. At the same time, it is expected that there will be an additional 2.5 billion residents in cities by 2050. Our current system of housing development comes with a swath of negative effects,including destruction of natural habitats, less engagement with the local economy, and deteriorating social fabric. If we want to house this incoming population while not perpetuating our current pattern of suburban sprawl, we will have to create denser, multiunit developments with effective communal space. This is a design capstone that has a research portion utilizing a mixed methods, “e-POE” (electronic post-occupancy evaluation) methodology to learn the living experience of University of Arizona students who are residents in the communal dorm of Hopi. In addition to informing the redesign of communal spaces of the dorm, the findings reinforce ideas in the field of the built environment (and residential development) such as the importance of clear delineation between public, private, and semi-private space, visible corridors, and adequate space to encourage community and social interaction.