“Space does affect learning,” Jim Edwards flatly states. He’s an engineer who designed the academic space. In the modern context of collaborative learning, the implications of space design are important and relevant to the work being done in the building. Edwards also believes that space can change the way people teach.

From an engineering point of view, the building will feature exposed beams and structures so that students can examine and understand how and why the building was put together the way it was. It’s just one way to foster academic connections outside the classroom. And classrooms, Edwards notes, will be places that encourage students to be flexible, to explore topics and then create something, much the same way dance, theater or art studios function, thereby affecting the way classes are taught.

The 12 research and six integrated labs are the heart and soul of the building and Brose and OU-COM researcher Jack Blazyk, Ph.D., associate dean for research, worked closely with architect Jim Butz to design that area. To move research out of its traditionally solitary space and into a more open environment, the labs’ large windows will allow students, or whoever happens to walk by, to see what researchers are working on, which in turn, may stimulate an interest in research and create further collaboration.

Butz notes that creating a collaborative community is what drove the design, “We’re going to change the way educators think about teaching and learning and how students view themselves,” he says. “The building needs to be flexible enough to allow people to choose the spaces that are right for their projects and to look at the overall mission of how research benefits the learning process.”

Brose also is enthusiastic about the collaborative nature of the building, “It’s one of the things I’m most excited about,” he says. “This building will really move our colleges together to further support our research mission.”

A partnership between engineering and medicine makes sense—blood flow and fluid mechanics work on the same principle. Working in close proximity, engineers and medical researchers will be able to meet and talk about their individual projects, which may inspire new projects, particularly in the field of bioengineering, a popular field of research that has radically changed in the past few years, and for which the two colleges have created a joint faculty position.

“It’s been my experience that great collaborations don’t come about from formal meetings. They’re impromptu,” Brose says. “They come from people standing in a hallway and talking, going together to a conference, or just bumping into each other. More ideas will come from meeting someone in the café than from formal meeting rooms.”

“This is a very innovative project,” Butz says. “Dean Brose has great long-range vision and Jack Blazyk provided a valuable research perspective. It was a positive collaboration on how to merge research, education and community and how to create the best facility to foster that.”

Integrated research facilities like this are rare, and when all is said and done, this facility will be one of a few in the country where this kind of collaboration is taking place on a daily basis. And based on the latest research, which demonstrates that the design of educational space can influence goals, it’s clear that the design of the building will contribute to these dynamic partnerships.

“People will find this building to be such a great environment,” Butz continues. “Everyone will want to be in it, and that demand will drive future research methods and expansion.”

It’s anybody’s guess what those future methods will be, but as Blazyk points out, the path to their discovery will be exciting.

by Susan Green