Architecture Students Raise Concerns On Gould Hall

           As movers begin to move new studio technology into the College of Architecture’s Gould Hall, students are apprehensive on the transition from the Main street site to the new building.

            Late nights in studios, working on projects is a major part of architecture student’s learning experience.  Many students work for several hours a day in order to complete model projects for their classes on top of class work for courses outside of the College of Architecture. A concern that the students have on the configuration of the new building is that it separates the students making it difficult for collaboration of ideas.

            Second year architecture student Ryan Williams views the layout of the building as a failure because of a disconnection between studios and students.

            “The floor plans are like, they’re separated, you know here it’s a giant tank of students and we all kind of shout across the room or walk over and see what’s going on,” Williams said, “If you want to go talk to someone in second year or first year or whatever, you’ve got to go half way around the world just to see them, versus just walking across the hall or something.”

            Dustin Blalock, a fellow second year architecture student, is concerned that the different atmosphere will change how students work together and in their studio environments.

            “Here [Arc-on-Main], we can pin up on the walls--there is a different atmosphere here than there is going to be there--I feel like, you know they are going to be very, very stickler about certain things,” Blalock said,  “It’s just so many bad decisions that were made at the school, they are going to have carpet tiles, so like here you can spill something you can clean something up pretty easily, but carpet tiles it’s not the case.”

            The Arc-on-Main site provides students with integrated studio culture and a link into the community according to second year architecture student Klaas Reimann-Philipp.

            “What’s nice about this building [Arc-on-Main], is that it is kind of more integrated into the community you know with Norman, whereas like when we move back on campus it’s kind of like, OU is kind of like an island,” Reimann-Philipp said, “Here architecture deals so much with people in general you are kind of in the community so you see different things.”
            Assistant Professor Christina Hoehn believes that classes and environment will continue to facilitate collaborative learning.
       "The building is only a footprint of space," Hoehn said, "Collaboration is not determined by the walls around people, [but] it is determined by the goals of the student work and how the professors teach."
      Despite sharing some concerns on how things will change once back on campus, architecture students are excited to be housed in a new building with new technology, according to Blalock.

            The majority of second year students have never been taught in the building, so the move back into Gould Hall this summer will be an important one for them.