[ad_1]
After four and a half years of planning and construction and a $97 million budget, the Interactive Learning Pavilion will debut on campus in spring 2023, after a 50-year pause in the construction of new academic buildings.
At the end of the year, the Interactive Learning Pavilion (ILP) won the “American Building of the Year” award Contest Voted by World-Architects, receiving 42% of 5,000 votes.
The four-story building adds 2,000 seats to the campus, increasing capacity by approximately 33 percent. The 95,000-square-foot site, located next to the UC Santa Barbara library and northwest of the Psychology Building, includes five of the largest lecture spaces on campus, 20 “flexible classrooms” and three “project-based” learning classroom”.
In addition, the ILP is the first all-electric building on campus and received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certificate in response to the university’s carbon neutrality initiative.
The building is consistent with UC Santa Barbara’s Long-Term Development Plan (LRDP), which manages traffic and expansion by extending the Library Walk and connecting two major parts of the campus.
Following the award, ILP program stakeholders and the campus community reflected on the building’s planning, construction and campus impact.
An idea for 2018
An early project planning guidance document prepared by the UCSB Capital Development Office in 2018 sought to address the shortage of general homework classrooms. ILP project manager Liana Khammash said teachers also need a modern teaching facility that can “support innovative teaching methods”, including active learning and project-based teaching methods. Khammash tracks budget and progress and ensures efficient design using “quality materials.”
“The purpose of this expansion is to reduce wait lists for students and reduce reliance on evening classes and conference rooms,” Kamash said.
Ultimately, choosing an architect for the project was a “competitive process,” Kammash said. LMN Architects, which previously designed the Anteater Learning Pavilion at UC Irvine, initially proposed an open-air “street” space “organized in two primary forms around a central, east-west outdoor circulation space” to win the new classroom building commission support.
LMN was also selected for its sustainability in green building practices and materials to minimize environmental impact, in line with the LRDP’s goal of addressing environmental issues.
During the ILP construction phase, which began in October 2020, the pandemic created several obstacles, including material delays and shortages. The ILP team had to make adjustments to ensure completion within the two-year construction timeframe.
Another issue is figuring out the logistics of its ambition to host thousands of students an hour.
“I think the challenge during the design was to ensure that the 2,000 students entering and exiting the building during school hours could move in and out of the building naturally and easily and be effectively connected to the rest of the campus,” Khammash said.
Integrating climate and ecology into design
UCSB’s ILP draws inspiration from UCI spaces, using multi-layered curved walls and vertically scaled glass panels to break up large expanse of polished stone on the exterior. According to the university website, the two main units curve inward to create a rising staircase with overlapping internal walkways and two student breakout spaces. The design seeks open circulation and encourages “serendipity between faculty and students,” according to the university website. interactive”.
Jennifer Milliron, principal at LMN Architects, said the building was inspired by local vernacular architecture and nearby seaside cliffs. The sculptural nature of the large exterior terraces and units represents the cliff, while the materials metaphorically “have a similar texture and materiality to the sandstone of the cliff,” Millilon said.
Another aspect the architects wanted to take advantage of was sunlight and the skyline. They conducted multiple sun and shading studies to ensure the outdoor spaces were protected from wind and illuminated.
“It felt like this program could only exist at UC Santa Barbara,” Mililon said.
“It really fits its location and I don’t think we would have designed this anywhere else.”
From the beginning, the university’s goal was to achieve LEED Gold certification. In its scoring, ILP achieved all 18 LEED energy points, including green power points and all three renewable energy production points.
The score includes bike parking and bike paths to the rear of the building, outdoor classroom entrances that reduce total conditioned area and energy use, and “biophilic” daylighting for medium- and large-sized classrooms.
ILP is also less energy intensive, its design is optimized for temperature fluctuations, it is also optimized for energy use during construction, and it diverts more than half of construction waste from landfill.
In its long-term plans, the ILP plans to accommodate photovoltaic panelss, a non-mechanical device that converts sunlight directly into electrical energy on its roof. Previously, the plan was not implemented due to funding constraints.
“Adult Jungle Gym”
After nearly a year of campus community service, students and teachers generally have a positive attitude towards ILP.
Jeremy White, a UCSB professor of architecture who specializes in modern architecture, pointed to two key issues with the building: the corridor between the library and the ILP, and the waiting space on the first and second floors.
There is a half-open corridor with ILP Caused Following community backlash in the past, the United Student Cycling Committee released a statement on May 8 addressing accessibility concerns.
White also pointed out that the waiting areas on the first and second floors do not have enough seating space to accommodate students waiting outside for lectures during peak hours.
“Trying to walk around this building at five o’clock, for example, could become a madhouse because there are about 2,000 people coming out of the lecture hall and then another 2,000 people trying to get in,” Bai said.
He praised the waiting spaces on the third and fourth floors and the larger lecture halls, which seemed “designed with students in mind.”
“I teach there and I can definitely see the attitude of the students. I think they appreciate the spaces,” White said.
Daniel Murillo, a fourth-year film and media studies major, takes film and media studies classes and has regular teaching assistant meetings in the interactive learning room. He said it was “very quiet” outside and “very cold” inside the classroom.
“Nothing to complain about. I like these chairs because you can move around and so on,” Murillo said.
Devon Schlesinger, a third-year biology, psychology and brain sciences double major, took several writing classes in the interactive room and a psychology course in the lecture hall. She liked the way the lecture theater was set up.
“I feel like we’re more spread out than other classes and I have a better perspective on everything,” Schlesinger said. “I think we have the best lecture hall on campus.”
“A lot of the buildings here are very old and dirty, but this building looks cool and I’m looking forward to taking classes in it,” she continued.
Aedan Cataldo, a third-year physics major, said he has several sections in the interactive study room. He said the room was comfortable but the whiteboard was underutilized.
“Honestly, it feels like an adult jungle gym. It’s multi-level. It’s got a really weird shape and there’s a lot of beautiful views from it. So I love it,” Cataldo said.
Khammash said the feedback she’s heard from the broader campus community has been “overwhelmingly positive” and has been satisfying to the ILP team.
Milliron said her favorite aspect of the ILP is that its design expression “responds to and addresses the various unique characteristics of Santa Barbara, the UCSB campus, and the programmatic needs of the building,” making it a building “that is truly in its place. “
“I think its unique reflection of this very special place is one of the things that resonates with so many people,” Mililon said.
In the future, LMN Architects hopes to survey students and faculty to understand what features of the building work and what don’t.
A version of this article appears on page 11. Daily Nexus March 7, 2024 Print Edition Article 5.
[ad_2]
Source link