Exploring Bryn Mawr's Campus

Personal Happiness Scale

1. Morris Woods
2. Glass Staircase in Dalton Hall
3. English House I
4. Campus Center Parking Lot
5. Laboratory in Park Science Building

Comfort Level

1. Morris Woods
2. English House 1
3. Glass Staircase in Dalton Hall
4. Campus Center Parking Lot
5. Laboratory in Park Science Building

My comfort level was influenced by how open each space was and how easily each location was accessible to the outdoors. The place I found the most pleasant, enjoyable, and relaxing was the location that a person was least likely to stumble upon. When I saw people at the other locations, I felt a strange sense of invasion.

Plant Happiness Scale

1. Morris Woods
2. Glass Staircase in Dalton Hall
3. Campus Center Parking Lot
4. English House 1
5. Laboratory in Park Science Building

The plant comfort level is contingent upon how much natural light penetrates each location, how close each place is to the outdoors, and how close other plants are to the setting I visited. In the Laboratory in Park Science Building, there is very little fresh air that gets through. At least in the English House, a breeze from someone opening the door could invigorate the plants every now and then.

There are many similarities between what plants and humans find most comfortable: fresh air, proximity to plants, ecosystems, other creatures, and light. I think plants would be happier in the parking lot than English House I because they already grow there, even if they are restricted from moving outside certain boundaries. For me, English House I stimulates knowledge, memories of incite, deep discussions, growth, taking chances, and pushing boundaries. The parking lot, on the other hand is a separated, mostly sealed space where few people interact.

Campus Center Parking Lot

I feel closed in. The fence limits my freedom and guides my movement. The campus center is another barrier. There are too many lines and restrictions: spaces where one can park and the layer of cement that blockades the grass from growing beyond the designed triangles and squares. There are designated places to escape. Everything is controlled. There is an invasive emptiness. The architecture: campus center and lights, does not blend in with the trees on the other side of the street. I feel lonely, structured, contained. Everything feels dead and motionless. The few plants are placed, positioned, situated. There is a lack of mobility.

Laboratory in Park Science Building

Upon entering the laboratory, a sign on the door cautions and warns: “Eye protection required in laboratory.” There is a pervasive, irritating sound and it seems like something is being ground up. There is no natural light that comes through. The lights are invasive and strong. I keep blinking. The different parts of the lab encroach on the limited walking space.  There are too many unknowns: chemicals, bottles, machines, and uncomfortable sounds, to let me relax. I am on edge. There is a strange mixture of seemingly old and extremely new machines and tools.

The glass staircase in Dalton Hall

There is an intensity and power that goes along with the height of the building. The building’s loftiness makes me feel removed and above stability- the ground, grass, snow. The glass both serves as a barrier and is a permeable screen to the light and what lies beyond. I feel caught between an escape and complete design. It is a tease.

I would imagine the feeling of the room would change a lot depending on the weather. There is a strong feeling of structure and confinement. A mechanical, blowing sound persists. I feel anxious. The narrow staircase makes each floor small, but there are many of them.

English House I

I wonder if the color of the green wall exists naturally outside. I know that it must, but it looks so fake, out-of place. The walls are mostly blank, giving off a bleak feeling. There are four windows, but they shape my view of the outdoors. Sitting at the table, looking outside, there is a very small outline of the roots and halfway up the trees. The clock ticks in the background of the mostly bland, empty room. There is a feeling of emptiness and solitude. Two walls do not have any windows, confining and framing my space, comfort, and ability to move.

Morris Woods

There is no Internet connection out here. The roaring of cars begins to fade and this feeling of discovery and adventure washes over. The trees outline and create figures in the sky. Houses surround and shape the woods. I feel a sense of release, but not complete comfort. The human traces feel invasive and out-of-place. The normal becomes the natural. There is something wild, freeing, uninterrupted here. Here lie the contradictions. I feel I can be my best self, which isn’t perfect or flawless, but uninhibited, unmonitored, unprocessed. A calm, chilling breeze burrows under my skin, digging, searching. I am waiting, longing. The brownish, cream-colored leaves on the trees are illuminated in the sun that is struggling through the clouds. There are many paths, footprints, and marks below me as I walked to the bench.

Other-Than-Human Animals’ Happiness Scale

1. Morris Woods
2. Campus Center Parking Lot
3. Glass Staircase in Dalton Hall
4. English House 1
5. Laboratory in Park Science Building

Animals require movement, space and openness, which the Campus Center Parking Lot and the Glass Staircase in Dalton Hall offer more of than English House I or the Laboratory in Park Science Building.