Campus og studiemiljø - Bygningsstyrelsen

“ Hvad forstår jeg ved gode rammer? mange ting spiller
her ind, men først og fremmest noget så simpelt som ro
og tildelingen af ens egen autonome lille ø af et bord, ens
egen lampe; rammer, der udstråler, at de dels er til for
de studerende, dels at man som gruppe figurerer som
en faktor / what do i mean by ‘good framework’? a lot of
things, as it happens, but first and foremost something
as simple as peace and quiet and the allocation of an
individual, autonomous little island, a table, one's own
lamp; a framework that emanates partly that it is there for
the students, partly that as a group you figure as a factor
CBs bibliotek solbjerg plads / CBs library,
solbjerg plads square
What do I mean by ‘good framework’? A lot
of things, as it happens, but first and foremost
something as simple as peace and quiet
and the allocation of an individual, autonomous
little island, a table, one’s own lamp;
a framework that emanates partly that it is
there for the students, partly that as a group
you figure as a factor. This strengthens one’s
identity and in the end, one’s motivation.
Additionally, the libraries of CBS and NYU
excel by being there to an even higher degree
for the students. The library at CBS is open
not only during the week and on Saturdays,
but also every Sunday until 5 pm, and it is
crammed full of people, a living island in an
otherwise dead Copenhagen. In New York,
they have gone one step further: here, you
can use the reading rooms until midnight
every single day of the week, and there are
hundreds of computers with Internet access
available to the students, a wireless network
across the building, gigantic reading rooms
as well as individual rooms if you want complete
quiet. It may well be that the institute
library’s Monday to Friday opening hours
are one of many reasons that I have not used
it even once. In other words, the three libraries
offer a level of accessibility that suits
me – and many others, I’m sure – because it
matches perfectly the desire to manage your
own time across weekends and the Act on
Closing Hours. Just think of podcasts, which
are an expression of the same phenomenon.
Thirdly, all three places contain a duality
of community and individualism. You sit
together with a lot of people, who are in
principle busy with the same thing – acquiring
knowledge – in long rows, but you do so
at your own table, just as your own project
remains your very own, usually completely
different from that of the person at the next
table. The duality of community and individualism
is strengthened by the physical
framework in all three places. At the Diamond,
for instance, the long rows of tables
offer a view to students both in front of you
and behind you. I think this spacious view is
tre stemmer: studerende / tHree voiCes: students
crucial. It strengthens the sense of community,
and in the end the identity as a student,
that you are able to see others engrossed in
the same activity as yourself.
Fourthly, in all three places, thanks to the
glass facades, there’s plenty of natural light
in the reading rooms. From the Diamond,
for instance, you have a view across the harbour
of Copenhagen. The building opens up
instead of closing in, which gives you the
impression that you have not shut yourself
off to the world, but that you are still a part
of it. At the same time, the inflow of light
simply provides energy and a chance to lift
your eyes from the books or the computer
towards a place of life and movement – a
ship sailing by, people standing around chatting,
etc. In this way, the break is integrated
to a much higher degree, while you remain
in your seat. And this, I believe, is more productive
in the long run, because the contrast
between break and work is more blurred.
In terms of the physical location of a campus,
I think that ‘proximity’ is essential to the
sense of belonging to an actual study environment.
The relative proximity among different
university functions enhances the sense of
a true identity-creating space. Again, in this
respect, I experienced the campus at NYU as
something close to the ideal. The university’s
administration, institutes, training centres
and dorms are all located around a park,
Washington Square Park, which in turn is
surrounded by New York City. And whereas
on the one hand you might say that it is impossible
to compare Denmark and the USA,
as the structure in Denmark is significantly
different – for instance, in the USA, typically
the universities are privately owned with a
much more widespread campus culture – on
the other hand, you might say that not everything
has to be comparable for you to be
inspired. New York University is unique, because
campus is the city, not a delimited area
outside the city, as you see it in practically all
other American universities and certain Danish
ones. And this makes it obvious to make
a comparison with e.g. Copenhagen. What
I mean is that at NYU, they have succeeded
in creating a study environment that is not
forced. It is a study environment that on the
one hand features the relative proximity
127