DINING BY DESIGN
How can the spatial arrangement of purpose-built student accommodation be more culturally inclusive towards the dining habits of Indian international students to promote their sense of belonging with other students at university?
PERSONAL MOTIVE
Being raised in an Indian household; having experienced being a student at Oxford Brookes University and living in purpose-built student accommodation, I came across my own challenges of trying to find a sense of belonging. Although I was born in the UK and have lived here all my life, adapting to a new home away from my family, away from the customs, traditions, and way of life I was used to, felt isolating. I realised I was not alone in my struggle to adapt to this new accommodation.
Acknowledging that PBSA’s are designed by private companies to directly address the enhanced student needs and ease the transition between two environments, made me go on to think about how they can address international students’ development of a sense of belonging since if my accommodation always felt like more of a hotel than a home, this must be heightened for students who are migrating to an entirely different country.
Food was always something that could make me feel at home and I came to realise how large an impact it had on my well-being. I decided to research these themes and think about how food identity and dining habits in the Indian culture can be addressed through design by purpose-built student accommodation to promote this sense of belonging in Indian international students. Understanding the psychology of a home and belongingness will help to contextualise how successful these spatial arrangements and facilities are in providing this inclusivity.
OUTLINE
This dissertation will focus on Indian international students, and how the interior spatial arrangement and facilities of PBSAs support them in their journey to finding their sense of belonging through food practices and traditions. When it comes to examining a specific group of students in this research, there is a focus highlighted on Oxford Brookes University students from India, within Oxford PBSAs. In 2019 there had been a 63% increase in Indian students choosing to study in the UK (International foreign affairs UK Gov, 2019). Presently, 117,965 students in the UK come from India, making it the second-largest country of origin for international students.
Unite Students is the UK’s largest owner and developer of PBSA (Unite Students, 2022). Currently in Oxford, they own three PBSA’s: Dorset House, Beech House, and Parade Green they are all reserved specifically for Oxford Brookes students. The research will use Parade Green; the largest of the three accommodations, as a case study to develop a guideline that can be easily replicated for future Unite Students projects and the typology of shared student accommodation.
The themes of belonging and dining will be addressed in a three-part structure throughout this dissertation: Understanding how a sense of belonging is created through food (part I); exploring Indian food customs and traditions (part II) and the application of these traditions architecturally through spatial design (part III).
