Last spring, students arrived at the University Center to find a surprise. During winter break of 2023, the UC cafeteria underwent a makeover. The previous layout divided the space with gray half-wall countertops. Now, the gray dividers are gone, leaving an open layout that leaves many feeling overwhelmed.
“Freshman year I would hang out here a lot because I liked hiding in the cubbies,” Kacey Rebstock said, a third-year studying fashion design at Parsons School of Design.
The cafeteria used to act as a third space for students like Rebstock because of the structure and privacy provided by the gray dividers while still enjoying being out of the house. The renovations strike a conversation on the lack of third spaces for students on campus.
Third spaces are places separate from work or home that foster community and conversation. Instead of providing a safe space for students to spend their downtime, the current layout of the dining hall leaves students and staff with mixed feelings.
Many students expressed that since the remodeling of the dining hall, the space feels messy and crowded. “When you’re walking through here, when people have their chairs pulled out, and you’re holding your portfolio, it’s just impossible,” Nina Wilhelmy said, a second-year BAFA student.
“I have to find another lounge area because I don’t want to be [in the dining hall],” Rebstock said. She recalls eating her lunch in the previous student-made “street seats” structure on 13th Street outside the University Center last semester. The structure, constructed by Parsons students who took the course Design Build: Urban Spaces, has since been taken down.
The structure Rebstock references was created by students taking the spring 2023 course, who go by @streetseats23 on Instagram. In collaboration with the New York City Department of Transportation, students taking the course worked together to come up with a design that would best suit the community.
“One of our goals for the 2023 year was to accommodate not only New School communities, but all communities that might be engaging with the project, who are in that area,” Kasper Bielecki, a 2023 product design graduate from Parsons, who worked on the structure said.
Jac Clayton, a fifth-year BAFA student studying integrated design and urban studies, worked on one of the previous “street seats” structures back in 2022. “We have no space to hang out and to sit and to talk to each other, except the Lang courtyard, but only Lang kids go over there,” Clayton said.
However, Parson’s student Jalyn Young, a fourth year studying fashion design, stated she enjoyed spending her time in the Lang courtyard despite not having classes in either buildings. “I feel like this is nice. I like that it’s outside,” Young said.
The 39 West 13th Street building, which was recently renovated and reopened in January, gave students access to a new potential third space on campus. The building is intended to be used as a student-centered space, though some students haven’t been to the building.
Regardless, students from all over the university are looking for spaces on campus to help foster community. “[Third spaces are] one of the most lacking things about our school,” Clayton said.