With support from the Jefferson Trust, the A-School Student Council designs and builds relaxation spaces to improve student wellbeing

With newly received funding from the Jefferson Trust, the A-School Student Council (StudCo) aims to increase the School of Architecture community’s overall mental health, improve studio culture, and utilize underdeveloped spaces across Campbell Hall. They seek to do this by designing and building two respite pods for the School—named Sol and Luna, in collaboration with Assistant Professor of Architecture Katie Stranix, whose practice, research, and teaching focus on the transformation and enrichment of everyday spaces that enhance the physical, mental, and social health of inhabitants. 

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Last December, project managers and members of StudCo’s executive team Rachael Buchanan (BUEP ’28) and Coleton Seferovich (BSArch ’28), came together with Stranix and her research team to hold a design charrette in response to feedback from School of Architecture students about the lack of dedicated space for rest and mental reset. The charrette provided insight into what relaxation spaces might look like across different locations in Campbell Hall. These initial ideas fueled the development of Sol/Luna as two complementary respite spaces or pods where student can sit and meditate privately, offering moments of seclusion within an otherwise high-intensity academic environment. 
 
“We envision this project not only as the creation of physical interventions,” said Buchanan and Seferovich, “but as foundational components of A-School Student Council’s ongoing mental health initiative. Sol/Luna will encourage restfulness, foster a healthier studio mindset, and anchor improved mental well-being for our student body throughout the academic year.”

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The project team was inspired by Stella, designed and developed by Stranix and Assistant Professor of Architecture JT Bachman with Cassandra Dickson and Patrick Proctor in 2021. Stella is a relaxation intervention that provides refuge and privacy for students, faculty, and staff at the School of Architecture. “Nimble, deployable, reconfigurable, and not defined by the bounds of an enclosed room,” it gives members of the A-School community a place to unplug and re-center. 
 
Drawing on Buchanan’s background in environmental planning and sustainability, and Seferovich’s fabrication experience, Sol and Luna will be designed, fabricated and installed by students with support from the School’s FabLab. The two interventions share the same overall form but deviate in their design with Sol offering a more enclosed space, and Luna being more open. Buchanan shared, “While these distinctions derive from the iconology of the sun and the moon, they also adapt to their sites.” The pods will be sited in niches on the 3rd and 4th floors of Campbell Hall’s east addition, directly outside of review rooms and in close proximity to studios. “Since the third floor is louder and more populated, Sol’s enclosure will offer heavy acoustic insulation and privacy. The fourth floor has more natural lighting and is quieter, and while privacy will still be prioritized, the more open design developed for Luna will optimize views.”
 
Funding from the Jefferson Trust’s Flash Grants program will support Sol with a project completion date of December 2026. The spring 2026 cycle of flash grants awarded more than $111,000 across 17 projects, all supporting student-led initiatives that expand learning and student experience beyond the classroom.

For more information on the Jefferson Trust, visit www.jeffersontrust.org.