Contract Magazine - March 2017 - 18

PHOTOGRAPHY: MACKENZIE STROH

EDITORIAL

Designing for Education at Multiple Scales
Architects and designers of college and university buildings increasingly
have a heady task. Higher education clients are pushing design
professionals to consider both big-picture issues related to an institution's
place on a campus or within a city, as well as the details of how interiors
will foster an optimal environment for teaching, learning, and research.
In this issue, we feature four excellent examples of the best
in higher education design, including three projects that are new
construction of schools of business, law, and life sciences. To be sure,
design solutions are varied, but there are commonalities in these
projects that are lessons for where education design is today. These
lessons are relevant for all readers, no matter the project type that
you are focused on, because we all know that design strategies in one
typology can influence many others. And, pragmatically, the design
of these buildings will influence the students who will soon become
the decision makers in the workforce.
With the work highlighted in this issue (page 49), here are key
elements of design for higher education that are most significant.
Place-making and recognizing context
Each featured project is designed to connect with its location and
place-both visually and in terms of the building presence and scale.
Walsh College (page 50) in Troy, Michigan, has been reconceived
by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates to be attractive from the road
and to be a beacon at night for its mostly evening students. Ennead
Architects, in association with Jones Studio, designed Arizona State
University's Beus Center for Law and Society (page 56) to be one with
its downtown Phoenix environment. The Loyola Marymount University
(LMU) Life Sciences Building by CO Architects (front cover, and page
62) weaves sustainable design strategies into its Los Angeles campus
setting. And a former Toronto hotel with proximity to several colleges
and universities has become a welcome home for students called the
Parkside Student Residence (page 68) by Diamond Schmitt Architects.
Indoors and outdoors as one
Two of the projects in warm locales-the Beus Center for Law and
Society and the LMU Life Sciences Building-take full advantage
of the climate with multiple outdoor spaces. Rather than simply an
open-air patio adjacent to the building at ground level, both of these
schools feature fluid connections between indoors and outdoors that
are explicit and well-woven with terraces at varied levels. In this way,
the experience of studying or simply sitting outdoors is a norm rather
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than a rarity. And while the Toronto climate is harsh in winter, the
Parkside Student Residence connects with its city context with a large
glass-enclosed volume that overlooks the street.
Know your student body
Each project was designed with a keen insight into the school's
student body. Walsh College is primarily for adults attending school
at night, so the feel is sophisticated and welcoming during evening
hours for busy professionals. The leadership at Beus Center for
Law and Society expect its law students to engage with the people
of the city, so the school is an integrated aspect of the urban context
rather than an unapproachable academic structure.
Flexibility and connectivity inside
Inside, each of the buildings is designed to encourage exploration,
connection, and collaboration, with active learning and greater
student-faculty interaction in mind. Laboratories are highly visible
within the LMU Life Sciences Building, where science and research
is openly on display. Bleachers have become common for education
interiors, and at Beus Center for Law and Society they can be folded
away for more varied seating arrangements. Flexibility is essential,
with spaces readily adapted for different uses within a given day.
Taken together, the college and university interiors in this issue
represent the most progressive aspects of higher education design.
Enter the Inspirations Awards
For architecture and design firms that have completed recent
projects for a worthy cause, I encourage you to enter the work in the
Inspirations Awards. Sponsored by Tarkett and presented by Contract,
the awards honor projects that practice initiatives that are socially
responsible. A $5,000 grant from Tarkett will be awarded to the client
of the winner of the built project category. The entry deadline is April 21.
Visit contractdesign.com/inspirationsawards to learn more and to enter.
Sincerely,
John Czarnecki, Assoc. AIA, Hon. IIDA
Editor in Chief
Visit contractdesign.com/editorial to read all of Editor in Chief
John Czarnecki's editorials
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Contract Magazine - March 2017

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