Terry Jordan Singh
April 25th, 2016
Robin Wharton
Built Environment Analysis
BUILT ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF STUDENT HOUSING AND ITS NEGATIVE EFFECT ON ITS RESIDENCE
The built environment of Student housing can have many different effects on the residents that occupy the campus. The effects may include benefits and positive opportunities; however, the negative consequences outweigh the benefits by far. The rhetoric of the interior built environment is made to get rid of the students that are influenced by the buildings different social amenities. The exterior built environment of student housing affects the students because it keeps them inside and away from the outside world.
The Interior of student housing differs people from the horrible environment that the exterior has to offer. Furthermore, inside of student housing is usually beautiful, clean and elegant looking to pull the student in. All the amenities that housing offers keep students inside instead of outside. Student housing has many opportunities offered to their students; however, every day they miss out on great opportunities and begin to neglect the outside world due to the interior keeping them inside. Students usually are confined to the building and can’t actually go anywhere when staying on campus. Georgia state parking is very expensive, so it eliminates the incentive to bring your car on campus. Due to the lack of transportation students are trapped on campus and forced to have a “bridge” between them and the outside world. The loss of friend’s back home, the lack of communication with family, and the engaging activities are all put to a halt due to the lack of transportation and the increase in the “At home and welcoming feeling that the campus gives.” Students are less likely to see the lives they had back home because they are so caught up with campus life. 
Being caught up with campus life is not a downfall as long as you do not get trapped in the distractions like the environment is meant for you to be. According to Shelly Frost in this source Frost, Shelley. “The Disadvantages to Staying in Dorms.” The Disadvantages to Staying in Dorms. Demand Media. Web. 27 Mar. 2016. http://education.seattlepi.com/disadvantages-staying-dorms-2614.html . She explains how distractions can incredibly impact someone’s college career. There is a vast amount of distractions that come along with living on campus that can influence a student’s mind. The main distraction that may affect student’s minds is other students. The main goal in many teenager’s minds is to fit in and to be accepted by society. The route that this leads to is that the students that are on campus are going to increase in social productivity and decrease in every area such as school and work. The way that the campus environment is built makes students want to socialize and have fun all day every day; however, this leads to distractions that can negatively affect the student and their whole purpose of going to school.
The way that the architecture was planned and how the campus environment was built is made to affect students negatively due to the increase in socializing that the campus influences. Georgia state campus is built to increase how much students socialize.The dorms are set up in a way that makes it too easy for people to meet everyone in the building and too easy to find new friends to hang out with. The access to people in university housing is incredibly easy, and because the dorms are small, it has an enormous effect on students and their willingness to stay in their dorms. It becomes hard to stay in your room all day because the second you look over, you see a roommate, or in many cases; roommates. This can make people feel very uncomfortable, especially because Lots of people never had to share a room and also because you are now an adult and have to share a room. The small dorms influence students to leave their room and go to the lounge, the dining hall, someone else room, the hallways, or even outside; where everyone is always socializing and distracting each other.
When students continue to leave their room, their productivity about their school work goes down drastically. Many students that stay in their room all day are proven to have better grades than students that go out and enjoy the social scene.“College Residence and Academic Performance: Who Benefits From Living on Campus?” College Residence and Academic Performance: Who Benefits From Living on Campus? Web. 05 Feb. 2016. According to the following source, many student’s grades are negatively impacted by staying on campus. When students are at the dining hall, or at another person’s room, they cannot get any work done compared to someone that stays in their room or at home doing work all day. The more distractions that a student encounters, the more they are going to procrastinate with the assignments and objectives they need to complete for school. Grades are imperative to college, and it is a known fact that people that aren’t concerned with their grades too much usually lose hope and are forced to drop out of school. Allocating time for academics is very important, and the environment of student housing makes it incredibly difficult to make time for studies because 24 hours of the day is social hour. The lounges that are located throughout the University housing buildings are all social friendly due to many factors about how they were set up. For example, at Piedmont North, the lounge in Piedmont B is made up of a couple of booths. However, the booths contain TVs that have cable. This encourages the student to watch TV with their friends, “because it is a booth where multiple people can sit.” The way that the lounges are set up are for many people to occupy the area and the more people that occupy the area, the more talking and distractions that will occur.
The growing minds of students are very fragile and can have lasting effects when a student has to deal with a great amount of stress.The Psychological mindset of a student can change according to Lau, Esther Yue Ying, Chronobiology International: The Journal of Biological & Medical Rhythm Research. Aug2013, Vol. 30 Issue 7, p910-918. 9p. 3 Charts, 6 Graph. When the brain has to deal with stress that it never had to deal with in the past. Students being negatively effected from campus are usually dealing with their grades dropping, stressing about keeping hope, dealing with social/college drama, trying to meet deadlines, struggling to keep up with the curriculum, and all of this while usually telling their parents that everything is OK. The campus can bring a great amount of stress onto a student when they are at their weakest and have many things going on with their lives. These effects can make students want to give up and just be done with school altogether. Students that aren’t used to dealing with stress also will look for outlets that can help them get through school without pulling their hair out. These outlets that students use are most likely going to be life changing and can negatively impact their well-being.
Stress can make many people’s mindset change and can make them succumb to things that they believe can relieve them of their stress such as drugs, alcohol, and an increase in sexual activity. Student housing is a central Hub when it comes to the promotion of the use of Drugs, Alcohol and Sex According to B. M. Robinson: Robinson, M. B., and Roh, S. (2001). Crime on Campus: A survey of space users, Crime Prevention, and Community Safety: An International Journal 3(4): 33‑ 46. Original published and copyrighted version by Palgrave Macmillan (ISSN: 1743-4629). DOI:10.1057/palgrave.cpcs.8140104. Parties are also a huge outlet that students use to “get away” from their stress and anxiety about school and academics. Due to the rooms being right next to each other, and the fact that you can have next door neighbors that may be the opposite sex may sell drugs, or may always have alcohol; it makes the influence a lot stronger. Students now have a consistent influence to use substances to relieve stress on campus and the accessibility to these substances can also promote the addiction of these substances. Many students Increasing their sexual activity and using substances due to the stress put themselves at risk for STD’s, Pregnancy, Jail time, getting kicked out, or even becoming addicted to illegal substances can end someone’s’ college career, and their dreams go right down the drain.
The Built Environment of Student housing can negatively impact students in many ways. The difference between students that live on campus and students that still live with their parents are that students on campus have too much freedom, and their adulthood is just thrown at them. Living at home increases your academic productivity, limits the influence and distractions of others, decreases the risk of substance abuse, helps maintain a good psychological well-being, and helps keep students in touch with their families for guidance and support. Student housing is built for students, and although it has many benefits, its designed to destroy your goals and ambition if you let it do its job. Student housing is also built to influence parents to send their children off to school while most parents are not aware of what happens during some student’s college years. The rhetoric of the Built Environment of Student Housing is designed to distract you, and make you do things you normally never would’ve done so that the weak minded will eventually flunk out of college and the studious, well-disciplined students will prosper and be able to achieve their goals.