Page 26 - College Planning & Management, June 2017

THE HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL
Why Should Your Walls Move Around?
Moveable walls enable lecture halls to divide themselves up into small rooms designed for seminar-sized numbers of students. In these classrooms, the furniture — the desks where students sit — must also move to make the most of the altered space.
A year ago, for example, the DLR Group brought advanced walls to a project at the University of Minnesota Student Center. The project redesigned the entire second floor, which houses sev- eral student cultural centers.
“The reason the university asked for a flexible environmental design is that the numbers of students using the different cultural centers varies significantly over time,” Gaither says. “For instance, when the Asian Student Union began to burst at the seams, we repositioned the walls to accommodate the larger group. At the same time, we reduced the space available to centers attracting fewer students.”
Gaither also notes that hardware firmly anchors the moveable walls when they are set in place. “Students, faculty and visitors cannot move the walls,” he says. “These walls are composed of four- foot-wide by eight-foot-tall panels, and the facilities crew handles the chore of attaching the panels to the floor and the ceiling.
“The facilities people do that work.”
Moving Walls Require Planning
To accommodate students and teachers, rooms require high levels of daylight, good acoustics and an effective heating, ventilat- ing and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. Getting all of this right requires research and thought. How will the room be used? How many people will typically be in the room? What wall configura- tion will best accommodate the room’s users?
“Daylight is important to effective learning today,” Gaither says. “Transparent panels are important to moving daylight through a space. Of course, transparency is also important from the point of view of safety. So when we create meeting spaces and classroom spaces, it is important for users to see into and out of the spaces.”
For instance, notes Gaither, if a student in the student union
begins to act out, it’s important that adults in the area see that student and react.
Then there are the electrical and mechanical systems. “Think about the placement of electrical boxes. When attaching panels to the ceiling, remember the placement of the mechanical system’s components above the ceiling,” Gaither says.
How Much Does It Cost To Move Walls? Does It Really Save Money?
According to Gaither, buying and installing moveable walls carries a premium cost — but there is a payback. “The first time you move moveable walls you pay for them by eliminating the cost you have been paying to move sheetrock walls,” he says. “You don’t just save the cost of materials but you also increase productivity. Unlike sheetrock walls, moveable walls sit on top of the carpet and can be moved in a day.”
There is a potential downside, however, continues Gaither. “If you invest in moveable walls and then don’t move them, you’ve paid more than you should have,” he says. “A new sheetrock wall may be one-third of the cost of a moveable wall.”
The point: make sure you really need and want moveable walls. If such walls are only something you might use, you might not want to buy them.
Educational Benefits for Students
Another benefit of moveable walls, notes Gaither, is that move- able walls can help prepare students for the environment of the modern workplace.
“When we discuss moveable walls with college and university clients, we talk about how young people work,” he says. “They are working to learn, now. Eventually they will work for their livelihood.
“The cubicles themselves are different today. In the past, cu- bicle panels were 60 inches tall, and no one could see anyone else.
“Just as education is becoming more collaborative, so is the workplace. So today, cubicles come in lower panel sizes. Students can see each other over the tops of the cubicles, making it easier to collaborate.
26 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JUNE 2017
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