Pierce Allston_Campus of the Future Submission

The goal of the project is to blend the boundaries of classrooms, buildings, campuses, schools, and the surrounding community of Ann Arbor. The Campus of the Future is unique for every individual, serving the needs of everyone & anyone.

The campus of the future will more efficient1. Separate buildings are not necessary for a scholarly campus. The Campus of the future, however, will be built on the premise of efficient learning, planning2 and optimizing the layout of the complex network3 of systems. Programs that once existed in isolation, such as department buildings and discipline quads, are now a part of the whole campus programmatically and physically. There is no one who is unable to learn or attend the University of Michigan, integrating the community of Ann Arbor into the campus, as well as serving anyone, and everyone who wishes to be a part of the rich an illustrious heritage just as the buildings, classrooms, and ‘Diags’ are integrated into the complex whole.

The open university aspect allows students to attend from anywhere, allowing them to call in to their classes, and meet with teachers whichever way they’d like. Like the World’s Fair or Olympics, which is the showcase of the cream of the crop, bringing in people from all corners of the earth, the Campus of the Future aims showcase the possibility of knowledge, but for all ages. Laid out in the most efficient and useful manner, focusing on spaces that serve more than just one need, instead of a classroom that can only hold 20 students. The adjacencies of spaces lead to the adjacencies of learning, of discipline, of students. The Campus of the Future will utilize spaces that change as they need to be, going from an exhibition to a classroom4 in seconds. No need to change buildings5 to go from your lecture to discussion groups but rather morphing and meshing the space you have; aiming to be more flexible and efficient. A complex pattern is situated over the campus, allowing the geometries within to merge with each other, the parts float within the whole.

Architecture’s role is the formalizing of these rooms6 of learning, while also leaving room for adaptability and future expansion. Through architectural juxtaposition, students can mold their very own experience as much or as little as they please, integrating the program and spatial layouts with the variety and every changing curriculum. The Campus of the Future allows for adaptability, efficiency and expansion of the University of Michigan to allow participants to explore the world the possibilities that lie ahead, by attracting all disciplines, and utilizing only the most advanced methods of learning to ensure that the next 200 years will be just as memorable than the last.

1 Efficiency: The streamlined process of getting from course to course.

2 Planning: The overarching conception of how spaces go/will go together.

3 Network: Interconnected strings of being, usually connected with like-minded nodes.

4 Classrooms: An overarching space where similar work gets taught/done.

5 Building: A series of classrooms that are directly, or indirectly associated. Buildings are function for an ever-changing user base.

6 Rooms: Spaces that have no defined program that can shift between program type.

Campus of the Future Proposal 

Superimposed onto Current Campus

campudofthefuture_buildings_donnelly_shane

Shane P. Donnelly

April 17, 2016

Design Ecologies

Campus of the Future on the Building Scale

Climate change’s devastating effects will leave no place untouched from its destruction including Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. The campus faces a crisis of adaptability and the university needs to consider creating buildings that can be flexible, able to withstand the coming disasters. The University needs to consider extreme droughts, and an inevitable water crisis. Water seems limitless within Michigan, a state surrounded on three sides by the largest freshwater lakes in the world, and who’s interior is dotted by rivers and smaller lakes. Yet, these seemingly limitless quantities of water will dry up if not treated as finite resource. With rising temperatures and changing climate patterns, the great lakes state may be left without any consumable fresh water, as lakes and rivers begin to dry up and shrink from increased evaporation and a shift in climate patterns from current precipitation levels to that more equivalent to a desert.

Future buildings on campus must be built using certain guidelines to help defend the campus against such disasters. New structures need to save water on site, buildings capturing water lands on their footprints and store it in case of water emergencies. Hardscape surfaces should be softened, parking lots become green lots, and rubber and tar roofs replaced with vegetation. Not only does this retain water on-site, but stored water can be directed towards local reservoirs to replenish them if there is a drought. The added benefit of adding greenery into once hardscaped surfaces and spaces is a decrease in heat island effect, where black tar, asphalt, and rubberized surfaces trap heat making a building act like an oven in that vicinity. With extreme climate change comes extreme weather, where powerful storms will pass through southeast Michigan.

Buildings will need to be resilient to these storms that include strong winds, hail, and torrential rain with flash flooding. As part of the guidelines, buildings will need to be make changes to their designs to cope with disastrous storms. Mechanical systems can no longer be placed underground as they may be subject to flood damage, nor be placed on the roof of buildings as they are exposed to the strong winds that may occur. Thus, these vital life systems should be protected and built deep inside the building to isolate them from damage. Buildings need to be raised to allow flood water to pass underneath them, allowing for minimal damage to property and structure. Windows and transparencies need to withstand storm winds and debris that may hit them, due to the winds. Shields that can be lowered over the windows, or storm-proofed glass must be used to save the interiors of the campuses buildings from any damage or bodily harm. The University of Michigan has thrived for two centuries, producing some of the greatest achievements known in modern times, now the campus needs to protect itself for the next two centuries to keep this tradition of excellence moving forward.   

Architecture & Spectacle — The Future Circular Collider of CERN

Current technological advancements are leaving behind a physical imprint that has the opportunity to carry with it evidence of humanity’s great achievements. The progression of technology is currently increasing exponentially, as seen in the progressive discoveries CERN has made over the past sixty years. There is now an opportunity for the next leaps in human knowledge to be materialized through an architecture that is long lasting.

Stonehenge — Amesbury, Salisbury 3100/2500 BC

Often times we forget to remember how cultures and religions coexist. It is not that we forget to acknowledge the ambitions of different philosophies. But when it comes to plenitude, there emerges a responsibility to share this abundance of knowledge with the world. In order to survive, one must rely upon individual  strength and wit and be able to pool the resources necessary to ensure their livelihood. However, when looking beyond survival towards the prospects of a thriving life one finds that dependency and meaningful collaboration are key factors to abundance and strength. Although many may argue for competitive global markets, but I am solely interested in the conversation regarding global collaboration in order to build a stronger world culture.

Currently, one of these important discussions, regarding the topic of collaboration, emerges at CERN located in Geneva, Switzerland. At CERN there is a common interest always at play, one in which many scientists from different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds are brought alongside each other in hopes to discover something together in a cumulative effort. This ambition is common among the scientist because their sole interest is to reveal the unknown questions of the universe, whether they contradict or vitalize our previous understanding of nature. This movement is not led by romantic ruminations of the possible worlds or dimensions yet to be discovered, rather these scientists are driven by a consistent model of discoveries made over the past sixty years, always projecting upward. To some extent this pragmatic mentality to continue the vast search through the universe makes sense, yet we have reached a necessary paradigm shift, one in which the scientific method can no longer function independent of world pedagogy. At this point in time it is critical to work together, collaborating at a level that projects a universal image of discovery and innovation.

It is clear to those who work at CERN that the work they are doing to is an invaluable contribution to a universal discovery of knowledge. Unfortunately, most of the world continues to look inward at individual interests and how others could any small way disrupt this personal right to happiness and livelihood. The new Future Circular Collider is  currently in its preliminary stages of design, and will continue to be so for several years. This new project is the testing ground for three very important topics: the first is projecting an image of collaboration to the world that generates global interest and support. Second, the new FCC should always feel like a collaboration in search of knowledge for the world. Lastly, there needs to be a new campus, one that is physically dense, so that physical proximity can influence real collaboration.

Speculative design for the new FCC campus

DongfangXie_Abstract_V3

An University for Refugee

The campus will be a high density complex, and its purpose is to solve the most fundamental
issues for survival and education. The functions will include food support, library, housing,
community service, medicine, commercial, classroom and student center. And the education
content will mainly about the language learning, culture communication, and working skill
training. The school encourages local volunteers and other universities all over the world working
together to centralize all the advanced society/education resources to solve the refugee problem.
Also, with the help of the information technology, the university allows students study various
majors through Internet and digital devices.
The housing part is a high density collective habitation which is able to contain 15,000 males and
females in total. The types of apartment will meet the demanding of singles, families, and
disabled people. The whole campus building will touch the ground with commercial space, food
support, and medicine center. In the medicine center, the psychotherapy department will be the
biggest part which will work with volunteers together and provide psychological therapy and
consultation. As a place for socialization, dining hall or restaurant will be a public space services
both students and citizens. To enhance the connection with the city, the campus should be tied
closely with the city transportation network. Student center will establish a cooperation with the
local government so that the most of the immigration problems( like identity ) can be directly
solved. The diverse public spaces are valued, for they play a very important role in bridging the
culture gaps and avoiding the isolation. Due to the multiple religion backgrounds of the students,
the design of all the public spaces and facilities will respect all the different customs as possible
as it could. And Considering the it might be a long term problem, the campus will also provide
the preschool education for the second generation of students.
Except the living issues, another urgent problem is about education. For the most part of the
refugees only have or under primary-school education level, the campus will provide language
class and all kinds of entry-level knowledge training. The positions for teaching and
administration will open to volunteers and proficient people, and it also encourages students
with the quality joining in the faculty and participating in the campus management. No matter
what nationality that students are, or what religion background they have, both men and women
will be treated equally and permitted to use all the resources in the campus. As for the classes, to
make sure the students can fully engage in the city and have a job to support themselves after
they graduate, skill training and career introduction will be the focus of the education. However,
other topics like painting, literature, music, opera, engineering, computing, mathematics, etc,
which are highly proficient and extremely multiple will be more likely to look for collaboration
with other universities in the world through Internet. In these subjects, the virtual/augmented
reality devices and human computer interaction system will be largely used in the teaching
process.

Dongfang Xie
UMID: 39593350
04/10/2017

Huan Ni_ Campus of the Future_v2

Radical Pedagogies

Innovation, instability and Emergence

Huan (Sophie) Ni

Campus of the Future

“In ancient Greece, a paid-agogus or pedagogue was a leader of the young. But for an aspiring ‘radical’ pedagogue, educating involves more than leading, and learning involves more than being led. A radical pedagogy involves stepping away from orthodox practices 9 and revisiting the real – and surreal – fundamentals of what and whom an education is for, and who delivers it”, in the book Radical Pedagogies: Architectural Education and the British Tradition, Daisy Fround & Harriet Harriss suggests there are many trajectories that may continue to achieve the academic, social and practical complexity separating architecture from building.

What architecture was and how will it look like in the future.

[the] ‘…globalised architect must become more than just an artful vision - ary, but also master of the art of the political nudge willing to act in multiple mediums and the simultaneous scales of the chaotic new world disorder’

Architecture education contains teaching, administration and research. Whilst educators are always asking how to make architectural education better, today’s educators and students are facing a more critical problem: ‘better’ does not address the initial challenges. Thus, we need to do not only just accept and compliance the established and existing system. In the book, the author mentions ‘to teach, to live.’ It means architecture schools need to constantly and continuously experiment, practice, adapt, reinvent, critique and contribute. It should celebrate with intellectually restless environments created by schools of architecture to reinvent the discipline.

Learning, studying and teaching are not limited in one’s own major, all majors in one building should be collaborated with others. Campus is a whole, a building is also a whole. If we are certain and crave in how architecture schools teach, we should accept that complete coherence at the outset of any new initiative is no guarantee of intellectual progression. Thus, in Taubman college, architecture, art and sculpture may be merged, intertwined with each other to form a new type of pedagogies. The duration of education means invention, creation of forms and continuous elaboration of the absolutely new. Architecture education is not an exception. Students in the same building should not be separated by majors. They can start to share the same classrooms, to more easily take other major’s classes, to communicate more with students and educators in other majors in Taubman college.

“Rather than waiting for the sky to fall, schools have an opportunity to embrace other forces of transformation”, the building already bring students in architecture, art, sculpture to one place, why spate them from the disciplines.