Contract Magazine - July 2020 - 26

FEATURE

Education

Urban Design
Shannon Noon, Associate IIDA
Associate, Senior Interior Designer
EwingCole
Philadelphia

"The design profession has been called upon to quickly evaluate campus
spaces and objectively establish temporary methods to encourage the successes
of student life while providing the support necessary to learn and socialize at
a distance. Interestingly, we view these exercises as an opportunity to identify
the best attributes of these spaces to carry forward as we design places for future
learners. We're taking the time to collect, implement, and practice fresh ideas
as we move into our next normal. The choices facing campus administrations
and educators are challenging and complex. Our role is to identify design solutions
that facilitate their need to make informed decisions and help them provide
the safest possible environment for their students, faculty, and staff once they've
settled on a particular strategy. To do this, we're actively reexamining standard
education spaces like multipurpose rooms, lecture halls, and health centers,
and coming up with ways to utilize them in new or modified ways for the
immediate future while facing a pandemic. Looking forward, we continually stay
focused on ways to create inspirational places for the success and growth
of a campus community. We're truly testing the notion of flexible space."

Classic
Vitra: Dancing Wall
"Vitra's Dancing Wall is a fresh take on modular
partitions; it brings more flexibility to environments that would benefit from products that
could be reconfigured with ease. With options
that include removable, writable, and tackable
surfaces, power and TV monitor capabilities,
bookshelves, plant walls, and even a hanging rail,
this is a product that can support any learning
environment."
vitra.com

26

New need
Steelcase: Thread Power Solution
"Many existing facilities that only offer perimeter
outlets struggle to meet increasing power
requirements and fully support flexible learning.
Thread is a solution for those environments
without the need to core-drill or trench existing
spaces. The ultra-thin power track can be easily
installed under carpet tiles, and the freestanding
Power Hub brings outlets to wherever students
are working."
steelcase.com

Roderick Wyllie, ASLA
Partner/Co-founder
Surfacedesign
San Francisco

"Social distancing adds new variables to the historical pattern of how people
navigate their surroundings, particularly in dense urban areas. We're looking
at ways to change narrow sidewalks that sandwich pedestrians between buildings
and traffic into more expansive public rights-of-way so pedestrians can avoid
the 'sidewalk dance' that occurs when people pass each other. Repurposing traffic
lanes is one option. Particularly in times of stress, people seek refuge in the
landscape. We are seeing a burgeoning collective recognition of the transformative
potential of gardens and open space to be better integrated into the urban fabric.
In addition, we're seeing the practices of collaboration in the workplace begin
to shift: The need to have spaces to meet and work outside safely is emerging
as a counterpoint to digital collaboration. Looking at a robust framework
of materials and spaces that can be used for a variety of flexible purpose is key
to reinforcing sense-of-place while designing for change. Integrating seasonal
horticultural expressions into those spaces will ensure that places where people
gather celebrate the potential of being outdoors, rather than trying to merely
replicate the functionality of interior spaces. As office work transitions to remote
and outdoor work, we are looking to architectural thinkers who we may have
collectively neglected because we had the luxury of unencumbered use of interior
spaces. One such theorist whose work we are looking to for inspiration is the late
architect Yona Friedman and his manifesto on mobile architecture."

Classic

New need

Escofet: Redes Permeable Pavers
Arborica: Custom Wood Furnishings
"We love the beautiful design and functionality
"With new products that use natural materials
of Escofet's Redes permeable pavers, designed
such as wood, we can leverage the natural antiby Alfredo Arribas. They can be used to stabilize
bacterial properties of the material to create safe
slopes as well as to increase water infiltration and places for people to engage. We are inspired by
permeability."
the work of artist Evan Shively at Arborica, who
escofet.com
creates custom wood furnishings and sculptures."
arborica.com

contractdesign.com

JULY 2020
http://www.escofet.com http://www.arborica.com http://www.vitra.com http://www.steelcase.com http://www.contractdesign.com
Contract Magazine - July 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract Magazine - July 2020
