ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the room environment. It also deals with a dormitory program and design proposal. The total time spent in the room is greater than that spent anywhere else. The design of the individual student room and its immediate surroundings is the key planning element in college housing. Periodic furniture rearrangement may be a way of letting off steam, trying to achieve variety in an otherwise monotonous environment, and expressing frustration with difficult social conditions. The concept of "personal space realm" or "personal territory," which has been understood by students of animal behavior for some time, and studied more recently by anthropologists and social psychologists, provides a clue to the nature of student irritation with the room. There is some evidence that in circumstances that require the individual to adapt to drastically altered cultural settings, "home" and its amenities assume ever greater importance than when the social and physical environment is familiar.
