Yeeching Lau

Third places are informal public gathering places that complement home (first place) and work (second place). They are playful, accessible, and inclusive of social and cultural diversity.

Third places are essential in university life as venues for social discourse that facilitate informal learning and student development.

The need for third places will be intensified in the post-COVID campus as social gathering and experience consumption immediately replace social distancing and imposed asceticism in isolation.

The Union House currently fulfills the role of third place on the Parkville campus.

However, its future identity is currently threatened under the University’s infrastructure plan.

As such, this design thesis proposes an alternative future for the Union identity as an activated north-south student walk with series of third places in between.

In particular, design focus is placed on promoting the Union’s social agenda, as solidarity and activism are central to its mission.

The walk is thus divided into three precincts of distinct social characters: the southern gateway precinct provides an outlet for student voice and expression; the middle activates South Lawn for intimate semi-public gathering and social discourse; the Union House at the north of the walk remains the heart of student identity and genesis of ideas.