Students design classroom

For 18 students, room 368 in Hopkins Hall is not only a classroom, but a tangible product of their minds.

Over a 13 week period beginning in winter quarter '05, junior interior design students -14 women and 4 men - worked together to rebuild the graduate student studio for its grand opened on April 21, 2005. 

The students designed and completed all aspects of construction from demolition to final details, said Jeff Haase, an interior design assistant professor. Research was conducted to give the room as much open communication as possible, he said

Haase said a total grant of $7,000 was given by the College of the Arts as well as Fergus Gilmore Education to complete the project. An extra $5,000 was given by the College of Arts for final completions that are still in progress such as extra workspace and cushions for chairs.

The 18 students from two interior design classes - Creative Interior Detail and 461.01 junior studio - were put into teams of five and each team was given a specific area they had to concentrate on, such as storage or display areas. Although each group had their own particular focus, they worked together to come up with the final design of the room. Construction of the room was also done as a cohesive group.

The final product is an open space where graduate students can communicate openly but still have alone time to focus, Haase said. 

In the center of the room is a staircase that almost seems to float where students sitting on the first few steps are at eye level with presenters. Haase said this was created to facilitate greater communication between the two. Going to the top of the staircase gives the student a greater feeling of seclusion to aid in focus, he said.

Many of the surfaces in the room are similar to whiteboard surfaces such as plexiglass and metal so students can draw out ideas with dry erase markers and wipe them away for easy changes. Other surfaces were made so drawings can be displayed.

The windows in the room also have surfaces where student can hang work that slide across a track making the room dark during presentations and providing a surface for presentations to be displayed. When slid one behind the other, the windows are left open so students can look out on campus.

"(I created the project) so students could learn what happens when their design on paper becomes real," Haase said.

Laura Dean, a junior in interior design who participated in the project, said she wishes more classes were hands on because that would make students more marketable to companies when they graduate. 

"We are the ones that will be creating drawings that tell builders and contractors 'how to' build things, yet most of us have barely built anything ourselves," Dean said. "What sense does that make?"

The computer area is blocked off by grids that hang from the ceiling to the top of the desks. The grids effectivley block the faces of students in the common area of the room. Their bodies are still visible to the students in the computer area. The lack of eye contact allows students to have greater focus while still having knowledge of what is going on around them, Haase said.

Many of the rooms elements stemmed from intensive research and a need for functionality, Haase said.

"(The students) learned to play well with others and be part of a collaborative design," Haase said. "There was money involved and my ass was on the line and I wasn't going to let them forget their friends or let themselves sink."

"Everyone now knows how to work with each other as a team, and we are able to resolve problems despite our differing opinions and personalities," said Lynn Rau, a junior in interior design.

Dean said that it was almost painful to work as a committee, but it was beneficial because that is how it works in the real world.

And like any real world construction project, there were roadblocks along the way.

Progress seemed to go quickly in the first couple weeks, but as they got into the middle part of the project it seemed as if there was no visible advancement until the last few days of development, Haase said.

"You can't figure out why you labored so hard when everything seemed to happen in the last 48 hours," Haase said.

He said that the hardest part of the project was dealing with repetitive mistakes.

"As long as it doesn't cost us too much money, if I see a group of students that are going toward failure or a project is not going to turn out right, I usually kind of stand back and let them do it, I kind of get a chuckle out of it personally," Haase said. 

"Trial and error was the name of the game because everything was so custom built," Dean said.

"It is something very physical when it's done ... this is something they can grab and sort of muscle around with," Haase said.

Rau said the best part of the project was that the final product was something that was tangible.

This project gives the students involved something to be proud of.

"I'm most proud of what went into the project ... our hard work, everything we learned," Rau said.

For Haase the project was enjoyable every step of the way, especially when construction created a big mess.

"I would go home on nights like that and just go 'oh yeah, this is hot'," Haase said.