DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS' SATISFACTION IN SPATIAL QUALITY OF THIRD PLACES IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION LEARNING ENVIRONMENT OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Third places are places outside of work and home where people meet informally to relax and feel as part of the community. In the context of educational environments these take the form of “hangouts” where students spend most of their out-of-classroom time to interact with their peers in intellectual and social activities. Architectural design of these hangouts or third places are becoming increasingly important particularly with the shift from the teacher-centered to the learner-centered approach in higher education. Several new buildings for higher education have been built in Qatar which reflect this new trend in education. But to the authors knowledge, no studies have been conducted to evaluate either the students’ satisfaction from these third places or the effectiveness of these places in fostering the triple objectives of learning, socializing and the promotion of a community spirit within the academic community. This study contributes to advancing the knowledge on the design of third places in higher educational institutions in the socio-cultural context of Qatar by studying Qatar University. It categorizes the academic third places present at Qatar University according to their spatial characteristics, analyses the purpose and activity pattern in these spaces, identifies critical parameters that contribute to student satisfaction and examines the ability of the existing third places to respond to the demands of the student community. Survey research methods have been predominantly used for this research. Surveys were conducted using self-administered questionnaires. Personal interviews, behavioral mapping, and visual surveys were used to obtain deeper insights into the related issues.

It is found that appropriately designed third places that can support various kinds of study and socializing activities can enable more intensive use of third places. Presence of good third places encourage students to work collaboratively for longer hours and improve collegiality making them more productive individuals. Essential third places which are beneficial and intensely used by students and which should be part of all academic buildings have been identified. Critical parameters that determine the use and architectural design of third spaces and which are responsive to the socio-cultural context of the Middle East have been identified. The research results point out that with suitable interventions existing third places may be revitalized. Due attention to the critical parameters influencing user satisfaction can help in the design of more student-friendly third places in modern academic buildings particularly in the Middle East