Piedmont North – Layout

The rooms in Piedmont North’s Building A are designed in such a way that creates an anxious sense of vulnerability. The hallways are outdoors, which means the windows of each room are facing said hallway. In other words, leaving your blinds open to let in sunlight means that any passerby can see straight into your bedroom. This leads the majority of residents to keep their blinds permanently closed as a way to reclaim their sensation of privacy.

I asked Piedmont North residents Cedric and Ashley how often they open their blinds, and both responded with “Never.” Ashley had a rather interesting story behind her reasoning:

Ashley: “My roommate and I decided to keep the blinds open for a whole day, just to see what would happen. It wasn’t so bad for most of the day – we got nosey looks from people in the hallway, but nothing too serious. Then, at night, a couple started breaking up right outside our window. We could see and hear the entire thing; the crying, the yelling – all of it, and the only thing we could do was sit there, pretending not to listen, until they finally left. It was probably the most awkward situation I’d been in all semester.”

At the end of the day, people enjoy their privacy, and less privacy has been found to correlate with higher drop-out rates and less involvement in campus events(Vinsel, A. 1980), so it seems obvious that universities should place more emphasis on preserving it.

 

 

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