The first of the Gen Z students are now freshman and sophomores in college. Soon, they will replace Millennials on campus completely. When it comes to Gen Z, no website, brochure, or campus tour can compete with the power of social media; they have never known a world without it—it’s where they live, learn, promote, slam, etc.
When it comes to the design and space planning of your residence life program, the quality of the space you create will be reflected—good or bad—in the social media feeds of your students. Gen Zs may show up for a campus tour, but their opinion will be shaped by searching the #nameofyourhall to see what their digital peers are saying about it. Inspiring positive posts starts with creating positive spaces for these students to Gather, Bond, Play, Rejuvenate, and simply, Be. It starts with providing spaces that enhance the college experience and empower your students’ personal growth and success.
Sharing IRL/In Real Life (Bond/Be)
Private space for Gen Z often fits within the dimensions of whatever screen they’re using. Even within social groups, this generation will retreat into their phones for a little private down time before rejoining the conversation going on around them. Social media for them is both public (in the way it amplifies their ideas and connects them to peers) and intensely private (every parent of a teen has experienced the way the phone gets turned down or the laptop lid quickly closed when we walk into a teen’s space). Zs may be having an intensely personal text conversation in the most public of spaces; they’re blurring the lines of what happens in public/private.
Video (Gather/Be/Play)
When Zs want to learn how to do something (make slime, write cover letters, create Insta Stories, or use Excel), they turn to video platforms like YouTube or Twitch. If designed correctly, space can accommodate video for group activity (gaming vs. ‘the big game’); group learning (beaming in a subject matter expert for a small group session or watching past lectures) and quiet, focused learning. Designers and Residence Life Programmers need to recognize this key difference between Millennials and Gen Z and start incorporating spaces to support these activities.
Entrepreneurial spirit (Bond/Play)
What if the prior generations’ tech leaders didn’t have to leave their universities to create their start-ups? Colleges and universities should consider providing spaces that empower students to play with their ideas, taking them from inspiration to prototype to digital marketplace quickly. Gen Zs (and ahem, their Gen X parents) have watched the cost of college continue to rise. Luxury amenities in new and renovated residence halls do not resonate with Zs or their parents, but given Z’s entrepreneurial spirit, a makerspace will (incubator spaces or pop-up business spaces might as well). Well-designed student housing can provide Gen Z with space for both living and launching.
Smart Sleep (Rejuvenate/Be)
While Gen Zs are clocking more zzz’s than previous generations they are also facing a growing burnout epidemic across industries. Space must address their needs to tune-out and turn-off. Sleeping rooms must be designed to foster a quiet place to promote relaxation and sleep. This could be as simple as blackout shades or as complex as increased noise insulation and higher NRC windows on urban campuses. These elements must be considered and custom-tailored to your university’s unique situation.
Conclusion
Just when you thought you had Millennials figured out, Gen Z shows up on your campus. Are you monitoring hashtags related to your university and residence halls? Does your next student tour have a potential social media influencer on it? It would be a mistake to consider the physical space of your residence life program as mere backdrop for selfie scrolling Gen Zs. Updating those 70s era halls requires more than surface polish—it requires understanding Gen Z’s unique preferences, expectations, and ways of communicating. The impact is great and long lasting: the real-life connections forged in your campus housing will become the digital connections that last a lifetime. Providing space for students to Gather, Bond, Play, Be, and Rejuvenate empowers them to positively connect their peers IRL and online.
Related Stories
| Aug 25, 2014
Tall wood buildings: Surveying the early innovators
Timber has been largely abandoned as a structural solution in taller buildings during the last century, in favor of concrete and steel. Perkins+Will's Rebecca Holt writes about the firm's work in surveying the burgeoning tall wood buildings sector.
| Aug 25, 2014
'Vanity space' makes up large percentage of world's tallest buildings [infographic]
Large portions of some skyscrapers are useless space used to artificially enhance their height, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Aug 21, 2014
Apartment construction hits 25-year high
The boost to apartment construction suggests that job gains are encouraging the creation of households.
| Aug 19, 2014
Goettsch Partners unveils design for mega mixed-use development in Shenzhen [slideshow]
The overall design concept is of a complex of textured buildings that would differentiate from the surrounding blue-glass buildings of Shenzhen.
| Aug 18, 2014
Seaside luxury: Arquitectonica, Melo Group introduce Aria on the Bay condo tower in Miami
Melo Group has launched sales for Aria on the Bay, its new 647-unit luxury condominium in Miami. The bayfront condo will overlook Margaret Pace Park, Biscayne Bay and the Miami Beach skyline.
| Aug 11, 2014
Will Alsop's funky 'high-rise on stilts' will be built over an apartment building in London
South London's riverfront will soon be graced by one of Will Alsop's eccentric designs: a curved apartment tower on purple stilts.
| Aug 6, 2014
Multifamily Sector Giants: Younger consumers, Sunbelt renaissance energize multifamily housing [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Multifamily housing construction is expected to remain relatively strong throughout 2014. Starts picked up in 2013, with completions due to catch up this year, finally approaching pre-recession levels, according to BD+C's 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Jul 30, 2014
German students design rooftop solar panels that double as housing
Students at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences designed a solar panel that can double as living space for the Solar Decathlon Europe.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction market benefits from improving economy, new technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following years of fairly lackluster demand for commercial property remodeling, reconstruction revenue is improving, according to the 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Construction Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Structure Tone, Turner, and Gilbane top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
