Center for Economic Business and Workforce Development / Office of Economic Development

2002 Spring: ARCH Studio 5605/Service Learning

Project Manager/Principal Investigator:

Students:

Summer 2002-2003: CDL Funded Research($25,000)

Research assistants:

Client:

Project Description:

Working in collaboration with the Texas Tech Office of Economic Development the CDL developed a design solution for a 75,000 sq. ft. building on the TTU campus to serve as the focal point of Texas Tech University's regional business and economic development programs.

The purpose of this new facility is to integrate regional workforce development with University programs, and to promote commercialization of University research and technologies. Key issues identified in the programming process and addressed in the design are the use of architectural technology to support sustainable building and growth practices, and facility planning to promote intellectual partnerships through multiple patterns of user interaction organized around common spaces for collaborative engagement.

The project was first introduced as a student assignment in Arch 5605, spring semester 2002. The students interviewed several user groups to identify specific spatial needs and configurations completing a facility design for further client review and study. Based on this initial design the project has been refined and modeled in computer media in subsequent semesters as a funded CDL research/design project.

Research focus was the advancement of design problem solving in a virtual environment integrating multiple digital media formats. The results of this research are demonstrated in a seven minute movie presentation of the final design using voice, music, animated computer video, and still graphics.