Institutions of higher education are under more pressure than ever to demonstrate to students, their parents, and benefactors that a college diploma is worth more than the sheepskin it’s printed on.
To that end, a growing number of colleges and universities are aligning with the research, science, and business sectors that have more input into these schools’ programming, curricula, and even their built environments.
Case in point: In Ohio, Bowling Green State University’s recently opened Robert W. and Patricia A. Maurer Center, the new home for the school’s Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business. This 50,000-sf building represents a new era for the college, an incubator for study and collaboration that resembles a modern workplace, with the goal of preparing students for real-world careers.
The 50,000-sf Maurer Center is designed to mimic a real-world work environment.
Bowling Green was a leader in this academic-business nexus even before Maurer Center was constructed, as more than 70% of its students have jobs by the time they graduate, says Jessica Figenholtz, AIA, LEED, Associate Principal and Higher Ed Lead with Perkins and Will, the design architect on this project. BD+C interviewed Figenholtz with P&W’s design principals Bryan Schabel and Joseph Connell.
The project’s Building Team included The Collaborative (AOR, construction administration, landscape), Mosser Construction (GC), Schaefer (SE), Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (building envelope) ESA Engineers (CE), and JDRM Engineering (ME engineer, technology).
A VARIETY OF STUDY ENVIRONS
The building's classrooms and faculty offices are encased in glass for greater light and transparency.
The business school, which is currently in hybrid learning mode, had its ribbon cutting last September. It includes more than two dozen ways for students to work and study. There are meeting areas of different sizes and on different floors throughout the facility. The design team created a flexible kit of parts that can change as business needs change. Connell points out that the building’s first floor includes two maker spaces, one of which can expand to 2,200 sf, where students can pitch ideas to companies and investors within a combination lounge-conference room setting.
Classrooms with moveable walls and modular furniture allow students to work together easier. There are wall-less cut-out areas on each floor. Classrooms and faculty offices are enclosed by glass walls for greater accessibility and transparency. “The building is designed to create collisions and interactions,” says Schabel.
The biggest change was getting faculty out of their offices, “which required a change in mindset about thinking of offices as castles and places to hide,” says Connell. Figeholtz adds that College of Business Dean Raymond Braun, an attorney, “wanted to shake things up; he wanted the building to reflect the workplace.”
CENTER’S ATRIUM IS A MEETING HUB
A three-story light-filled atrium includes two maker spaces where students can pitch ideas to investors. One of the atrium's walls is a preservation of adjacent Hanna Hall (below) that contrasts the business school's past and future.
Among the prominent design features in the Maurer Center is its light-filled atrium, a hub that encourages a range of student interactions with peers, faculty and employers in stadium seating and terraced small-group meeting areas. The glazed north façade allows natural light to pour into the atrium.
On one side of the three-story atrium is the existing brick wall of Hanna Hall, an adjacent building that has been completely renovated. Connell says the wall was left standing as a “nod” to the school’ history and as a contrast to the Maurer Center.
The Center also features branding and imagery that tells Bowling Green’s story and its prospective future. “This storytelling is an important part of the recruitment experience,” says Connell. Central to the brand visuals is the business school’s focus on data analytics. A dynamic digital ticker embedded in the main stairway enclosure features the business school’s social media feeds and the latest business news.
This is a 24/7 building (first-floor Starbucks included, of course) that Figenholtz says students now perceive as “a place to be seen, day or night.”
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Cooper Union academic building designed to reach LEED Platinum
Morphosis Architects and Gruzen Samton are collaborating on an ultra-green academic building for New York’s Cooper Union that is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The program for the nine-story facility mixes state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms, a multipurpose auditorium, and a range of public and social spaces.
| Aug 11, 2010
Utah research facility reflects Native American architecture
A $130 million research facility is being built at University of Utah's Salt Lake City campus. The James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building—a USTAR Innovation Center—is being designed by the Atlanta office of Lord Aeck & Sargent, in association with Salt-Lake City-based Architectural Nexus.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction begins on Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame
Heavy construction and foundation work has started on the new Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame and Regional History Museum in Natchitoches, La. Designed by Trahan Architects, Baton Rouge, the $12 million, 28,000-sf museum will be clad in sinker cypress planks as a nod to the region’s rich timber legacy and to help control light, views, and ventilation throughout the facility.
| Aug 11, 2010
Modest recession for education construction
Construction spending for education expanded modestly but steadily through March, while at the same time growth for other institutional construction had stalled earlier in 2009. Education spending is now at or near the peak for this building cycle. The value of education starts is off 9% year-to-date compared to 2008.
| Aug 11, 2010
Perkins Eastman awarded Indian School of Business campus
The New York office of Perkins Eastman has been commissioned by the Indian School of Business for a 70-acre, 1.5 million-sf new business school campus as part of a 300-acre “Knowledge City” in Chandigarh, Mohali, India. The sustainable campus will accommodate four centers of excellence: healthcare management, public policy, manufacturing/operations, and physical infrastructure manag...
| Aug 11, 2010
Opening night close for Kent State performing arts center
The curtain opens on the Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center at Kent State University in early 2010, giving the New Philadelphia, Ohio, school a 1,100-seat multipurpose theater. The team of Legat & Kingscott of Columbus, Ohio, and Schorr Architects of Dublin, Ohio, designed the 50,000-sf facility with a curving metal and glass façade to create a sense of movement and activity.
| Aug 11, 2010
Residence hall designed specifically for freshman
Hardin Construction Company's Austin, Texas, office is serving as GC for the $50 million freshman housing complex at the University of Houston. Designed by HADP Architecture, Austin, the seven-story, 300,000-sf facility will be located on the university's central campus and have 1,172 beds, residential advisor offices, a social lounge, a computer lab, multipurpose rooms, a fitness center, and a...
| Aug 11, 2010
University of Florida's traditionally modern graduate building
The University of Florida's Hough Hall Graduate Studies Building was designed by Rowe Architects, Tampa, and Sasaki Associates, Boston, to blend with the school's traditional collegiate gothic architecture outside, but reflect a 21st-century education facility inside. Tallahassee-based Ajax Building Corporation is constructing the $19 million facility, which will have traditional exterior detai...
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction under way on LEED Platinum DOE energy lab
Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction has topped out the $64 million Research Support Facilities, located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Golden, Colo. Designed by RNL and Stantec to achieve LEED Platinum certification and net zero energy performance, the 218,000-sf facility will feature natural ventilation through operable ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Southwest Fisheries Science Center replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement last month with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
