I initially interviewed young adults (18-25) about their exeriences and desires in public and community spaces, like a movie theater. The biggest takeaway was that people want more third spaces, something other than home and work/school.

A key point of discussion in these interviews was college memories and the common theme was community. College is such a unique space as the campus lifestyle is engrained with structures and systems that foster community.

For me, a personal favorite in undergrad was simply sitting outside with friends on a sunny day and how quickly the number of people would grow— we never really did the work we set out to, but it never felt like a waste of time. As I walked around Penn, I realized there were limited outdoor spaces that fostered community. And these spaces, similar to Stanford, often consisted of 4 chairs attached to a table.

I sought out to transform pockets of land, on and off campus, into dedicated community spaces. I went through a cycle of prototyping where I found that people were excited by the concept of a hanging maze in which the seats could be moved around. From there, I spent time refining the form factor and having continued interviews to find what made the space feel welcoming and playful, circles!