Fireside Room Observation

There is a discrepancy when a room cannot be used in the way it was designed. The Fireside room, for example, is meant for community gathering, but, when it is occupied by interlopers, that purpose is unattainable. Based on extended observation of this space, vagabond Spring Arbor couples are the prime culprits of this defilement with their displays of affection whilst in the area. In particular, there is a couch within the room that attracts said couples and causes the whole room to be unavailable to any platonic company. The intent of this space is utterly disregarded and is exploited as a “public bedroom” instead of a “public lounge.” This paper will describe how the Fireside room’s purpose is abused, the tension-filled encounters I observed, …show more content…
Couples consistently occupy a certain part of the fireside room, usually on a couch, that they cannot seem to get away from. I witnessed some interesting occurrences take place while observing the space. First of all, there is only one couch in the fireside room, so it is possible that if there was more than just this couch in the room that the results would be thrown off, but that is not the case. Instead, it is blatantly obvious when a couple chooses to sit there, since it is the only one. Over a period of a week, I documented five separate couples on multiple occasions occupying the same space every single instance. Even when the couched was moved to the other side of the room, one couple sat in the same place where the couch had been, but within a day the couch had been moved back to its original position and a couple was sitting on it again! This suggests that there is an attraction not just to the couch, but also to the placement of the couch, with a wall at the couple’s back and a clear view of their surroundings in front of them. It would seem that the combination of the social security of the wall and the ability to sit next to each other on the couch makes for an irresistible combination. No matter the circumstance, I have observed that couples will sit in a particular area of the fireside room, especially if they can be next to each other on the …show more content…
There is definitely a priority for groups with a sizable number of people, since it is harder for a larger group to find a usable space than it is for a smaller group, or in this case, couple. The only time when a couple might have priority at all is if they happened to be the bigger group, as opposed to an individual, but that argument is invalid because while observing the space, there was never a time when only one person was using the room. The only time it has been used by one person this semester, that I am aware of, is me, observing it. Thus, on the hierarchy of Fireside usage priorities couples are on the bottom, even though it often feels to residents that they are at the