Preliminary research on the effect of spatial layout on peer academic support relationships in first-year university students: a case study of the school of architecture at SCUT

Contemporary university curricula increasingly encourage students to develop peer academic support relationships, especially first-year students who are facing the transition from teacher-oriented to self-directed learning. Previous studies have identified spatial layout as a factor impacting peer relationships by comparing the effects of different spatial layout categories. More insights into the quantitative correlation between spatial layout and peer academic support relationships will meaningfully complement the existing findings. This paper therefore uses spatial configuration and spatial proximity as quantitative measures and adopts a quasi-experimental approach to investigate the effects of spatial layout on peer academic support relationships in first-year university students. Data were collected from a sample of first-year students enrolled in the School of Architecture at South China University of Technology. We use longitudinal data to measure and compare the peer academic support relationships as well as the corresponding spatial layout. The results support the importance of the spatial layout of the learning space for the development of peer academic support relationships. In addition, suggestions for university administrators and architects are proposed.