Course: Capstone in Integrated Design
Timeline: 15 weeks
Contribution: storytelling, project management, user research, synthesis, prototyping, and final concept
Collaborators: Kate Hodges, Grace Kim, Hannah Kwan, Caroline Rock, Lindsey Thompson, Annie Xue
Proposal
Project Waller Creek: Proposal | via Medium
Our proposal for Waller Creek at The University of Texas at Austin consists of three proposed spaces. These spaces are not mutually exclusive, nor meant to be used as exact blueprints. They are simply guiding ideas that speak to what we’ve discovered students might want and need. They could be implemented anywhere along the creek, and to any degree. We are optimistic and hopeful for the future of The University of Texas and the potential of Waller Creek to become a mental wellness resource to help students manage their stress.
The Oasis, The Nook, The Perch
We believe that all three spaces call back to our insights and benefit both those who want to spend more time in nature as well as those who simply pass by. Students are exposed to high levels of stress, and spending time in nature benefits mental wellness in a proactive way. This is especially needed in today’s increasingly urban settings here at The University of Texas. Finally, our research shows that students need for a rejuvenating space. The three spaces call back to these insights and answer to the needs of the students at The University of Texas.
Design Principles
Through our research and sensemaking, we found many consistencies between talking to both students and experts. We wanted to solidify these themes and create a set of design principles to abide by while finalizing our proposals. We believe that this list is not only a way to think about our proposal, but any proposal surrounding the creek in the future. They are representations of the detailed research we conducted to uncover expert and student perspectives of the Waller Creek.
Background
Project Waller Creek: Background | via Medium
One by one, the seven of us, the first students eligible to enroll in the inaugural Capstone for Integrate Design course, filed in on the first day of school. Full of excitement and curiosity, we waited in anticipation to receive our semester-long design challenge from our instructors, Gray Garmon, Director of the Center for Integrated Design, and Brooks Protzmann, Design Program Director at IBM. Soon after, we were given the following problem statement: How might we improve the experience of Waller Creek?
To better understand the history of the creek and its network of stakeholders, the we conducted some preliminary secondary research. Our major findings included details on the Battle of Waller Creek, which was a notorious student protest at the University of Texas in 1969. The students were protesting the removal of 39 centuries-old live oak trees to make room for the expansion of the Darrell K. Royal football stadium. Students from many disciplines at the university advocated for Waller Creek and her trees. Students from the law school, architecture, biology, journalism, and other areas of study combined their talents in attempt to save the trees and halt the stadium expansion, even coming up with alternate, compromising plans.
However, on the morning of October 21st, the bulldozers rolled in. In a final act of protest, many students climbed into the branches of the trees to prevent the bulldozing. Though the police promptly removed the students. In total, 27 students were arrested and all 39 trees were cut down. The students, though, were not yet finished. After the bulldozing was over, several hundred students grabbed branches and towed them out of the bed of Waller Creek. They marched the branches up the 21st Street hill, through the South Mall, and up to the Main Building. As the students approached, administrators locked the doors as the branches were piled in the entryways. The news of the Battle of Waller Creek made headlines all around the nation and the globe.
This was the story of Waller Creek in 1969, and there is a much different story of Waller Creek today, nearly 50 years later. Today, the Waller Creek is overlooked and ignored. As a new wave of interdisciplinary students at the University of Texas, we wanted to bring student’s attention, pride, and advocacy back to the creek. Waller Creek is still increasingly becoming the geographical center of the 40 Acres as campus expands eastward. So, if the UT Tower stands as the head of the campus, then we proposed that Waller Creek should be the heart.
After the first class, we re-framed our original problem statement to: How might we engage Waller Creek to enhance the UT student experience?
Research
Project Waller Creek: Research | via Medium
To begin our primary research, we first built a stakeholder map of specific and non-specific individuals that we knew we wanted to interview. These people included subject-matter experts, students, and faculty. We then began strategically scheduling these interviews. Between the seven of us, we specialized in different interviewing roles and created a number of unique research tools. We began by focusing on subject-matter expert interviews, and then expanded our research to the general student body.
Subject-Matter Expert Interviews
For our six subject-matter expert interviews, we scheduled 90-minute timeframes with each expert and prepared a set of specialized questions for each interview. We typically had one team member conducting the interviews and two team members taking notes, taking photos, and managing the audio recording.
We spoke with six experts with different perspectives on the Waller Creek: Jim Walker (Director of Sustainability, The University of Texas), Kevin Anderson (Coordinator for the Center for Environmental Research, Austin Water), Allan Shearer (Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Sustainable Development, School of Architecture at The University of Texas), Stuart Reichler (Associate Professor of Practice, College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas), John Rigdon (Director of Planning and Design, Waller Creek Conservancy), and Marie Lorenz (Brooklyn-based artist and Lecturer, The University of Texas).
Student and Faculty Interviews
In order to collect a vast, yet accurate student perspective on Waller Creek, we used several different methods of research, including an electronic survey, intercept interviews, contextual interviews, an interactive perspective board, and self-guided interview packets. In total, we received/conducted:
507 perspective board responses
104 electronic survey responses
28 intercept interviews
9 self-guided interview packets
5 contextual interviews
Three major themes emerged from our conversations in the research phase: the benefits of urban nature, the stressors of college, and the unfulfilled student needs at The University of Texas.
Archetypes
We used another tool to make sense of our research, called an archetype map. We mapped students from our intercept interviews along the axes of “attitude” and “awareness.” We started to notice some clear trends appear. Most students fell into this neutral category, and completely unaware people don’t have an opportunity to develop an opinion. But we found that in these intercept interviews, once we took students down to the creek, they were automatically optimistic about the creek’s potential. Even “The Unfamiliar” and “The Unopinionated” started to imagine the possibilities of the space.
Personas
Next, we created personas based on the students we interviewed and the archetype map. Students like our personas, Paul and Haley, were our target users. We wanted to help them gain awareness for the creek by showing them it’s something that can benefit them. Based on our personas and what we learned about mental wellness from our research, we crafted a new problem statement: How might Waller Creek become a mental wellness resource for students at The University of Texas?
This is Passerby Paul. Paul is an accounting junior who spends most of his time in McCombs. He parks in the San Jacinto garage, which is near the creek. He walks over the creek every day on his way to and from class, but he doesn’t even know it’s there. Paul is “The Unfamiliar,” completely unaware and therefore neutral.
This is Hang-Out Haley. She’s a studio art freshman who spends a lot of time on campus, in her dorm or in class. She knows the creek is near the art building. She sees it every day, but it doesn’t look welcoming to her. Haley is “The Unopinionated” — she is sort of aware of the creek, but still neutral about it.
Ideation
In ideating, the team went wide before we went narrow. We aimed for quantity over quality in the generation of ideas. First, we individually spent time externalizing our ideas through written words and sketches on Post-It notes, and then we shared-out our ideas. Once we shared all of our individual ideas, we posted all of the ideas on the wall into groups for further consideration. With the groups of ideas, we chose the most-promising ideas to consider for prototyping. Some of the “winning” ideas were combinations of multiple ideas. We then spent the next three weeks prototyping these ideas.
Prototyping
Project Waller Creek: Prototyping | via Medium
Over the course of three weeks, we prototyped three concepts that yielded us critical insights for our final proposal. Based on our previous sensemaking phase, we kept our two personas, Passerby Paul and Hang-Out Haley in mind when deciding on our concepts.
We chose to prototype along the Waller Creek, and specifically in areas large enough to afford enough space for group gatherings and set-up. We wanted an area with enough traffic that was a convenient for someone like Passerby Paul to enjoy, but also a place with enough space and with a peaceful environment for someone like Hang-Out Haley to spend time. We discovered that the open space just north of 24th Street would be the perfect home to test out our ideas.
Violin Concert
Our first prototype was a pop-up violin concert. Our goal was to create an engaging experience targeting students passing by through bringing live music to their daily commute. From this prototype, we learned that a less-formal event attracts more students and allows students to interact with the event in whichever way they felt most comfortable — whether that was sitting, standing or even just slowing down on their way to class.
Community Garden
Our second prototype was a community garden. Our goal was to create an experience that students like Hang-Out Haley would feel comfortable frequently come back to—by providing an opportunity for students to spend quality time interacting with nature. From this prototype, we saw that students actively participated in planting seeds—and concluded that when given the opportunity—students genuinely do want to spend time in nature to improve their mental well-being.
Creek Retreat
Our third prototype was a casual creek retreat where students could design their own waller creek experience. Our goal was to learn what kind of space would encourage students to come back even without a formal invitation — by seeing how students envisioned the future of this space. From this prototype, we found that students were more interested in things that create a relaxing environment — like hammocks and comfortable seating, rather than a high-activity environment — like yard games, or things that they found less purposeful — like public art.
