The Study Environment Day 2022 on campus in Copenhagen offered inspiring presentations, creative workshops, soil under the nails and great ideas. Today's program was kicked off by Aalborg University's vice-chancellor Anne-Marie Kanstrup who made it clear that the campus in Copenhagen must be made an even more functional and pleasant place to be, and that this can best be achieved with the help of those who use it.

Today's participants were divided into two workshops which made up the agenda of the day. The focal point for the first workshop was the development of the physical study environment in common areas with particular focus on three specific areas; the small canteen, the sunshine quay and the Mirror Room. At the second workshop, there was literally a green focus where the participants had to create urban gardens by building planters together with TagTomat.dk.

Great ideas, soil under the nails and green results

In the workshop with the physical study environment as a focal point, the participants did not hold back on both opinions and ideas. The workshop was filled with a tour, brainstorming and, not least, ideas shaped in modeling wax. There were several recurring thoughts about the study environment in the three focus areas and here is a selection:

• The small canteen: There was a general desire to create flexible rooms and separate rooms for e.g. watching football matches and a cozy area with, for example, beanbags - the flexible rooms could be done by using mobile furniture. There was also talk about the importance of using recycled furniture to reinforce the sustainability aspect of the room. The light was also discussed and wanted to be softer and not so harsh.
• Solskinskajen: Participants highlighted two elements in particular: leisure and activity. There was talk of the desire for more seating areas where students can combine group work with utilization of the sun. Some of the ideas that came up were a larger curved bench in the corner of the quay, small round benches with plants around them to create coziness and shields from the wind, and more table bench sets. A pétanque court was proposed to create some activity in the area.
• The Mirror Room: The main focus was on the poor acoustics, where the participants talked about the desire for acoustic panels on the walls and ceiling and room dividers such as plants. There was also an idea to divide the room into an activity area and a lounge area.

The result of the workshop with TagTomat.dk was a total of nine home-built planters, in which the participants sowed a mix of edible plants, flowers and herbs. The urban gardens are located in the courtyard between building B and C and contribute to making the outdoor areas on campus even greener and more sustainable.