NookPod

When Alison Kwok and several of her graduate students attended an educational conference in Portland last fall, they weren’t expecting to bring something home. As a professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Oregon and founder of the NetZED Lab, she has an eye for form and function and the way spaces are utilized. Professor Kwok wasn’t sure initially if Nook was meant for schools and students, but learned how Nooks are often quite useful in educational settings, for small group activities, and she said to her students, “What do you think? Should we bring this home with us?” She placed the order that day at the show. Their Nook story began. The Nook placement in her department has unfolded organically and Kwok says the Nook has become a part of the way that the students use their space daily. One of the more unexpected benefits is the way “students could be working at the table, yet be part of a bigger social thing; still feeling like they were sort of sheltered, yet totally comfortable. And the students have said, ‘When we’re in here, it’s just so quiet!’ They really like being near their noisy friends while avoiding distraction.”