Case Studies

The University of Auckland, established in 1883, is New Zealand's largest university with over 40,000 students. To enhance student experience, it has created the "Student Hub" in the General Library for academic and administrative support services.
Purple Shirt used human centred design methods to collaboratively define an architectural brief for the introduction of a Student Hub to the University of Auckland’s General Library.

Developing a student hub architectural brief with human centred design

The University of Auckland, established in 1883, is New Zealand’s largest university with over 40,000 students. To enhance student experience, it has created the “Student Hub” in the General Library for academic and administrative support services.

The challenge:

The needs of customers, administrative and academic staff needed to be at the heart of the design process. The university engaged our design and innovation company Purple Shirt to employ human-centred design methodologies, focusing on the needs of students and staff.

Our approach:

An activity-based brief was developed, specifying requirements for various support activities, informed by previous work on self-directed learning. Collaborative design workshops were held with stakeholders, including students and staff from diverse backgrounds, to define the vision and principles for the hub.

The results:

  • Comprehensive consultation with various student groups
  • A coherent architectural brief reflecting the diverse needs of students and staff
  • The introduction of universal design concepts
  • Specific spatial requirements for different activities (focus, collaboration, socialising, relaxation)
  • Customer scenarios illustrating the service delivery model within the space.

“Working with Purple Shirt on this major initiative provided us with critical expertise on human centred design. The architectural brief met all of our requirements and has given us a terrific foundation for moving to the next steps. Purple Shirt are great partners, really listening to our needs and working with us throughout the process.”


Sue Roberts
University Librarian and Director Libraries and Learning Services

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