Page 3 - College Planning & Management, July/August 2017

Campus Scene IN THE SPOTLIGHT
New STEM Building for University of St. Thomas
THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS (UST) IN HOUSTON, TX, has em- barked upon an ambitious foundation for the education of future leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics with the opening of its new 103,000-square-foot Center for Science and Health Professions building (CSHP).
The CSHP was designed by WHR/EYP architects and will house the departments
of Chemistry and Biology, and the Peavy School of Nursing. The exterior façade is consistent with that of the original Academic Mall designed by Philip Johnson through the use of brick and a covered walkway on the west elevation which features a spiral staircase emblematic of a double helix, connecting all four floors. The interior features a four-story atrium with open walkways, enhancing the openness of the atrium and ad- jacent halls and creating a collegial atmosphere within the central core of the building. Expansive use of glass throughout maximizes daylight into the building, while afford- ing views of downtown Houston, the Medical Center and the Galleria business district.
The CSHP offers state-of-the-art classrooms and discipline-specific teaching and research laboratories. In addition, the CSHP will house faculty offices, conference rooms and a Nursing Success Center.
Ask the Expert
This Month
Learning Spaces
Can Classroom Design
Impact Learning?
IT SEEMS LOGICAL THAT THE SPACES IN WHICH
students learn can have a strong influence on their scholastic performance. However, until recently the evidence was fragmented. Thanks in part to a research paper published in Building and Environment, the impact that the design
of a learning space has on pupils is now better understood. In the journal (a periodical that publishes research papers related to human interaction with the built environment), the authors report that classroom design can have as much as a 25 percent impact on a student’s progress over a school year. The research found that the difference between the best- and the worst-designed classrooms could result in a full year’s worth of academic progress.
The study was conducted in 34 classrooms with over 750 student participants. Many environmental factors were studied. Beyond the expected impacts related to acoustics and air temperature/quality, some of the more intrigu- ing elements included: color within the room, complexity (appropriate level of stimulation without being cluttered), flexibility (ability to support varied learning activities), natural and electrical light quality, and how characteristics of the room allowed students a sense of ownership.
While there is no perfect classroom design, the study suggests that we must think holistically when planning learning spaces. Consider design- ing classrooms which include furniture that is mobile and can easily be reconfigured. Choosing chairs that enable students to interact with each other and with the instructor can improve the opportunity for connections and building social skills. Providing a variety of furniture types can support personal choice and ownership.
In summary, designs which support the in- stitution’s teaching methods, as well as pupils’ comfort, will result in environments that set a student up for success.
Lisa Schmidt, LEED-AP, is the Learning marketing manager at National Office Furniture, a manufac- turer of seating, tables and casegoods for learning environments and more. She can be reached at Lisa.Schmidt@NationalOfficeFurniture.com.
Unity College
Wins NACUFS
Sustainability Award
In recognition of “outstanding leader- ship in the promotion and implementa- tion of environmental sustainability,” Unity College in Unity, ME, has taken home the overall grand prize in the 2017 National Association of College and Uni- versity Food Services (NACUFS) Sustain- ability Awards, a stand-out among larger schools for a recent restructure within the dining and sustainability offices.
Up against finalists Duke University and University of Texas at Austin for the top prize, it was the structural combina-
tion of dining and sustainability teams at Unity that designated the school as
a trailblazer in sustainable dining. The departments were joined together to form a farm-to-cafeteria team under the direction of Unity’s chief sustainability officer, a position created in the 2015-16 school year to inspire staff to generate new strategies for working together across multiple sustainability platforms.
NACUFS Sustainability Awards sup- port the triple bottom line philosophy, a method of evaluating operational perfor- mance by measuring financial success as well as environmental sustainability and
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