Solutions for the Design-Versus-Budget Challenge

This article by Ellen Kollie is blurbed: "How do you get everything you want — and need — in the design of new facilities when the project budget doesn't match the shopping list? The answer comes from the experts who are in the trenches daily. They've seen technology and space requirements increase and budgets decrease, and they have at their ready an arsenal of tools to assist administrators."

Many administrators will only complete one new building in their professional lifetimes. This factor, coupled with the enormous number of decisions that must be made, make it even more difficult to come out ahead in the design-versus-budget challenge. In closing, Meadows returns to the plan-early-and-thoroughly approach that his team uses: “We know what we want when we come to the table. We’re not a leaf in the wind. If you’re not clear on what you want, the consultant will drive the situation and make the decisions for you. That’s not where you want to be.”

Inside the Design of U. New Mexico's New School of Architecture

Architect Antoine Predock got to design his alma mater's new facility. This Architecture Week article describes the facility and his perspective on how the design came together:

the building is "an interpretation of what I think is wonderful about the area."

This interpretation is evident in the big concrete wall facing Central Avenue, which is part of historic Route 66. The wall signifies power and gravity to Predock; it is reminiscent of the towering sandstone cliffs of Canyon de Chelly. The monumental wall defines the building's relationship to the rest of the campus and establishes a strong presence on Central.

University design directives also required that the style and feel of the architecture building, named George Pearl Hall, integrate with other buildings on campus, which Predock says was achieved through the earthen color and stepped massing.

One goal was to facilitate intellectual sharing. "When you get inside the building, there are a lot of spatial dynamics where different levels visually connect with other levels," says Predock. "You have a real sense of students visually eavesdropping on each other's activities, and lots of cross-pollination. Ideas are constantly crossing over from one studio to the next."

By revealing infrastructure and environmental systems, the building constantly exposes students to its interior workings. Predock describes the building as being "turned inside out."

From Academic to Architectural Practice, and Back

This brief (4.5 minutes) video begins, "Life is a design problem. Anything is a design problem."

Mardelle Shepley, DArch, director of the Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University, describes her adventures moving from the academic setting to an architectural practice for several months, and what the experience taught her about the information needs of practicing architects wanting to pursue evidence-based design.

Guest Blogger: An Imaginary Letter About Design and Sustainability

From the Chronicle's "Buildings & Grounds" blog from Gretchen Schneider:

Thank you for turning your campuses into classrooms, for including students in your decision making and discussing with them what, why, and how you are building. Even more important than all the landscape and architecture students on your rosters are those economics and sociology and political-science and journalism majors (to name only a few). These students will go on to decide the future of our buildings and neighborhoods; they’re the ones who will set the agendas; they will someday hire architects — and they’re the ones most likely not paying attention to this stuff right now. By teaching them that their decisions do affect the built world they live in, and by demonstrating to them that the built world of the future can be better than the one they come from, you will change the shape of our country.

Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University

Of interest:

1. Green Design Institute [pdf]
http://gdi.ce.cmu.edu/

The Green Design Institute is a "major interdisciplinary education and
research effort to make an impact on environmental quality through green
design." The primary goal of the Institute is to form partnerships with
industry, government, and other foundations in order to develop processes
that "can improve environmental quality and product quality while enhancing
economic development." Located at Carnegie Mellon, the Institute involves
faculty, students, and other partners in their efforts to develop practical
pollution prevention technologies and lower costs by recycling scarce
resources, using fewer raw materials, and creating better products. Visitors
to the site may wish to begin by reading the "About Us" section to learn a
bit more about the Institute. After getting acquainted with the goals of the
Institute, visitors to should visit the "Research" section to learn a bit
about on-going projects on sustainable infrastructure, energy and
environment, life cycle assessment, and environment. Perhaps the most useful
section of the site can be found by clicking on "Education". Here, a link to
eiolca.net can be found, which is economic input-output life cycle
assessment software. The model allows users to estimate the overall
environmental impacts of producing commodities or services in the United
States. In addition, courses and course materials on environmental issues
are available here. [KMG]

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2008.
http://scout.wisc.edu/

Design for a New Generation: Trends for Student Organization Suites

In this article forecasting trends, Lawrence J. Payne reports on interviews with "14 U.S. institutions about the use and design of student organization spaces. The total number of registered student organizations represented by the institutions interviewed was approximately 3,600; the average of those registered student organizations that had assigned office space within student life facilities was approximately 11 percent."

Learning Spaces: An EDUCAUSE e-Book

"Space, whether physical or virtual, can have a significant impact on learning. Learning Spaces focuses on how learner expectations influence such spaces, the principles and activities that facilitate learning, and the role of technology from the perspective of those who create learning environments: faculty, learning technologists, librarians, and administrators. Information technology has brought unique capabilities to learning spaces, whether stimulating greater interaction through the use of collaborative tools, videoconferencing with international experts, or opening virtual worlds for exploration. This e-book represents an ongoing exploration as we bring together space, technology, and pedagogy to ensure learner success.

Please note: In addition to the e-book's core chapters on learning space design principles (chapters 1–13) , this site also offers case studies illustrating those principles (chapters 15–43), including links to examples of innovative learning spaces. The entire collection is complete and available for printing as individual chapters or the entire book. The printed book is available through Amazon.com."

Taking Control, With Room Control Systems

"One might think that adding another level of technology to an already complex IT infrastructure might require additional staff. On the contrary, says O'Rourke. 'There's actually a value added to control systems. Rather than having people constantly running back and forth with media carts, they can now concentrate on a higher value of work.' And Schweibinz says proudly, 'We've gone from fewer than 30 smart classrooms to more than fi ve times that number without increasing staff . We can monitor all the classrooms on all our campuses from one location. I can access a projector in a room 25 miles away. Plus, we can pull statistics from each location to see how many times a projector was turned on and off.' "