- Ron Burnett
- Vancouver B.c
- Canada
President and Vice-Chancellor, Emily Carr University of Art and Design
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Can we develop a new architectural model for art and design universities that will reflect new ways of thinking about learning and education
I am involved in the modeling and construction of a new campus for Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. I want to build something that is transparently connected to the social and virtual spaces we now inhabit. I want the campus to represent the best practices in new methods of learning in art and design. This will be an iterative process and I am hoping the TED community will be interested in sharing and suggesting ideas. Can buildings move beyond the conventions of space that we are accustomed to? Can a campus be built that is to learning what Twitter is to conversation? Is this type of metaphor valid and useful? We need discourses that really differentiate between the conventions of learning we have inherited and the news ones we are building.
Dylan BC
Ron Burnett 100+
Don Anderson 20+
I find teachers, staff, students, prospective students and almost all in the campus community appreciate well done floor plans and campus maps.
Currently to me emily carr floor plans look good, more so the south building. :)
I would adding international symbols for restrooms, elevators, and stairs also indicate/label classrooms and departments, and some landmarks to helps viewers figure out where they are on the maps.
And for emergency management look into adding storm-shelters and exit plans, to the web.
Also on the ADA room number signs that go by the door into the rooms; instead of something like 6x6 for offices and 8x8 for classrooms, I would go with something like 6x6 for all and have frames that can go around them. Say an 8x10 with a 6x6 hole in the center.
This would reduce the cost of rooms changing usage, plus you could have different colors and/or shapes for different uses. For example classrooms=blue, departments=gray, men’s room=baby-blue and man shape, etc.
Although the average university does little in way-finding, I personally I find being average boring.
Ron Burnett 100+
Ron Burnett 100+
Ron Burnett 100+
Don Anderson 20+
Ron Burnett 100+
Ian Wojtowicz
Ian Wojtowicz
Take your budget, cut it in half. Take that half and make the largest box you can with the most number of floors and square footage you can afford. Make it ugly, cheap, but to code of course. No decoration. Maximum open spaces. Moveable walls.
The trap of most building projects is to assume that the work is finished once construction stops. So save the other half of the building budget for fifty years of maintenence and revisions to the campus. Divide the funds into small revisions (one chunk per student/staff/faculty per year) and larger revisions (committee or competition process).
Think white cube gallery, inside out.
A simple structure with a boring aesthetic and a large maintenence budget will create a more dynamically evolving institution -- an unfinished campus that students, staff, faculty and the wider community will feel invited to continually transform and retransform.
Iconic architectures produce unhealthy stasis and awe. The challenge of art education is to find ways to enable students make bolder marks.
Design an editable campus.
Don Anderson 20+
As I said before you start with function and then add an artist flare to it. Also I suggested a wraparound porch, and hmm I do believe that would eliminate the need for window glazing. and thus be economical and artist.
On decoration I will say instead of buying decorations, I would seek a way for the architecture to be a display chase and thyme coordinator of student art. Again make function seem like artist design.
P.S. I agree with it being white, but add blue trim to match school logo colors. In fact ceramics tiles with the logo boarding the exterior door frames, above and below the windows and with blue shutters on the windows.
Ian Wojtowicz
Maybe a blackboard would be a better analogy. It invites writing and diagrams and learning. But the most important thing about it is that it's a temporary surface. A blackboard is collaborative and is in constant flux.
Don Anderson 20+
Ian Wojtowicz
Ron Burnett 100+
Don Anderson 20+
Ron Burnett 100+
Ron Burnett 100+
Daryl Roche
Daryl Roche
Ron Burnett 100+
Lejan . 30+
To be honest, I don't quite understand what you wish to create, as I am missing the most important element any University is, or at least should be, about: The students!
By this and in my understanding, it does not matter what a new architectural model 'reflects', because in art and design (and all other fields) it is more important what it actually 'does'! And this to the students, who will learn and work in this new environment.
I mention this, because I once worked at a research institute which moved into a new building, which was designed by a locally 'famous' architect. Despite the fact, that it looked 'Hi Tech' from the outside, the inside was far from being useful for the laboratories, offices and machine shops and what 'the people' really needed.
For art and design students I picture a multitude of environments, ranging from 'neutral' and 'practically' up to 'inspiring', 'relaxing', 'cosy' and 'recreational'. Changing ones own perspective can be very helpful in getting new ideas, so this could be an architectural element to 'play' with, yet carefully and decent enough not to become to dominant and thereby 'disturbing' for the 'creative process'. Personally I prefer a combination of light and shaded areas, framed by warm and natural materials and plants, coming with a touch of 'high tech' glass facade here and there as well as large spacious rooms and plenty of smaller niches for personal retreat or group meetings...
About your Twitter metaphor I have to say, that I didn't like it... :o) Do you really want to limit your students to 140 characters only or do you rather wish for the depth of true and good novels? There is no reason to aim for less just because there is no analogy within the I-Hype. No virtual campus ever is truly 'home'!
Ron Burnett 100+
Don Anderson 20+
Something between Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel porch and the average porch, it could even have two or more floors/levels.
And to complete the suggestion add some details from Emily Carr’s programs to represent what is happening inside, like sustainable designed furniture, ceramics tiles and also some sculptures with some tech built into them.
Ron Burnett 100+
Don Anderson 20+
As a youngster I learn that a good artist needs to learn how to make their mistakes look like they did them on purpose, and like that I believe architecture should make function look as if it was done by creative design.
With that in mind I’m thinking a target/wagon wheel/donut shape, with the function being easy travel between the groups.
Starting with socialization area as the center, then the rings working outward could be food-serveries/entertainment, classes, student-support, parking, housing/facilities management.
With the classrooms being two stories with food-serveries/entertainment and student-support being single story with roofs that serve as balconies to the classroom ring.
So the architecture represents conversation by encouraging it.
Ron Burnett 100+
greg dahlen 20+
Course if the university was two-story, people on the first floor could look up the dresses of women on the second. Sticky wicket.
greg dahlen 20+
Ron Burnett 100+
Ron
Don Anderson 20+
For example;
Don’t use tended window for a classroom that needs true color lighting.
Ask the professors what they want; a computer graphic teacher may want no windows.
I recommend using full spectrum lighting, LED if possible. Full spectrum lighting has health and educational benefits.
Also I recommend this talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_why_architects_need_to_use_their_ears.html
with the part on sound and classrooms being the most noteworthy as to this topic.
I love the look of the current Emily Carr University; it has an old fishing seaport look that is unique and welcoming. After focusing on getting the function than I would try to get nature and as much of the Vancouver nature look into it as possible. I’m thinking grass roofs, a greenhouse attached to the cafeteria and there is a living wall company right there in Vancouver that I would look into for the exterior of the buildings. http://greenovergrey.com
Ron Burnett 100+
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Farokh Shahabi Nezhad 10+