Gould Hall Renovations Nearly Complete

The University of Oklahoma’s architecture building was featured in a prominent architecture magazine earlier this month as renovations die down on Gould Hall.

Professor Christina Hoehn has taken students and others
on tours of Gould Hall throughout the development
of its construction.
Photo By: Ana Victoria Lastra

            As students from all five divisions prepare to be housed in the same building for the first time, Architect: The Magazine of the American Institute of Architects featured the University of Oklahoma’s new classroom prototype.

            Assistant Professor Christina Hoehn said that the technology being used in the renovated building sets the architecture college apart from others in the nation.           

            “We have one called the LearnLab that we prototyped from Steelcase who does commercial conference rooms like this,” Hoehn said,  “When they started branching into education, they did journalism schools and some business schools, but they had never done a school of design before.”

            Design students are often found in classrooms and studios for long periods of time, so the innovative technology accommodates students. The ceilings in the studio rooms hold cameras, which allow their work to project on monitors in popular areas.

            “We had to have something that was interactive that they could go from the drawing board to the technology and back,” Hoehn said.

            Along with an update in technology, the hall itself has had updates that will create a more student friendly environment centered on the students.  The new spaces were renovated to show the outside what goes on within the architecture school.

Gould Hall features gallery space that can be viewed while walking through
the arched walkway, allowing for others to see what students have been
working on.
Photo By: Ana Victoria Lastra

            “We had a gallery here before, but it was like a fish tank,” Hoehn said, “It was small, one level, glassed in and people really couldn’t see what we were doing. People were always like, what are the college of architecture people doing?”

            The new gallery features moveable doors that allow for students to tack projects on to and move around to either open the space up or set up an exhibition room.  The arcade walkway runs through the center of the gallery and lets passersby to look in on projects.

            “President Boren loves to have a college living room space for his students. Students can have study areas, really nice seating areas to sit down and study, collaborate and talk with each other,” Hoehn said.

            Both President Boren and the First Lady have been involved in the construction process of Gould Hall.  Much of what was decided was student focused and that honored the history of architecture on campus.

            “He’s a fan of the former and the great architect Bruce Goff. Bruce Goff has a great history and heritage here on campus so even framing some of his original renderings and stuff to put in the architecture college, creating a meaningful space for the students, and so the people who walk in there they can say, oh this is an architecture facility,” Press Secretary and Special Assistant to the President, Chris Shilling said.

            Though Gould Hall features new additions, much of the structure remains the same. The hall was built during the Great Depression and originally it was the Geosciences building up until 1990 when the College of Architecture moved in.

            “As a student, I remember, some people even liked the building because you could do whatever you wanted to it. It was kind of a creative palette, but everyone is obviously really excited for the new renovation…it’s going to add a lot to the program I think,” Shilling said.

            Upon its completion, Gould Hall will have 108,000 gross square feet of space, which is due partly because the renovations. The building will be moved into over the summer and be fully operable by the fall semester.