This semester's Ad Lab project is called the Pain Gate. It is being offered as an Honors Interdisciplinary Seminar so our class is composed of students from many different disciplines including Art, Advertising and Public Relations, Event Management, Biology, Engineering, and Anthropology to name a few. Our class goal is to design an innovative center to help alleviate people's chronic pain. We have been compiling a lot of research on the different types of chronic pain as well as the traditional treatments doctors prescribe to treat chronic pain. Our concepts however are anything but traditional.
Our ideas have been ever evolving as we gather more information, speak with experts, and inspire each other. As of right now, we are focusing on designing a standalone building that will house our “MedSpa.” We are experimenting with innovative design ideas like circular architecture, chromotherapy, feng shui, virtual reality, and biofeedback.
We have had four guest speakers: Alex who taught us about Project Management, Dr. Ariani from the Florida Hospital Pain Management Center, Laurie who is a nurse practitioner and sufferer of chronic pain, and Dr. Hoekstra a professor in the Engineering department as well as an interior designer. Each guest speaker has been more informative than we could have imagined. Following each presentation, we adjust our ideas based on the new information; our ideas seem to become more focused and on target.
The Ad Lab class will present a booth at the Florida Statewide Symposium on Engagement in Undergraduate Research this Friday and Saturday. The keynote speaker, Jennifer Blackmer will be visiting the Ad Lab classroom on Friday before the expo begins.
We have a lot of work ahead of us including building a final model of our proposed spa but the path we are on looks promising. Despite the outcome of this class, the experiences we are having working together on this project are invaluable. Having such freedom as students is a bit scary and sometimes it feels like we are barreling ahead with this project blindly, however as Mr. Reedy reminds us during each class period, “vaulnerability is a strength not a weakness.”
