Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/59979
Georgia Tech's College of Management is located in the heart of midtown Atlanta as part of the university's goal of reaching out to the community. NEW HOME may impress stakeholders. But students and faculty love them because they feel like home. signature buildings where the architecture superseded the functional side," says Joseph G. Tattoni, a principal with Ikon.5 Architects in Princeton,New Jersey. Today's buildings must combine space for excellent education with space that is attractive to local businesses and corporate recruiters—every- thing from convenient parking to high-tech business centers to well-appointed interview rooms. The school's overall look should match its core essence, believes Jeff Ziebarth, a principal with the architectural firm Perkins + Will. Working out of the firm's Minneapolis loca- tion, he specializes in higher education. "We talk about the ethical responsiveness of the architecture to support the pro- gramof the school," he says. "If strong corporate ties are part of a school's mission, the building should represent that. If the school doesn't want to focus on corporate ties, the build- ing shouldn't look corporate and slick." In some cases, a business school dean might want a build- ing with its own distinctive style and identity; in other cases, the parent university might press for a new building that matches the overall look of the campus architecture. "During the past decade, Harvard Business School has chosen to re- adopt the red brick Georgian architecture of its 1920s cam- pus and of Mother Harvard across the river," says Graham Wyatt, a partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, New York City. "On the other hand, Frank Gehry's Peter B. Lewis Building at Case Western stands in contrast to the surround- ing campus." To determine which specific design features are important for a particular building, school administrators should hold a "charrette" with all constituents, from service workers to stu- dents to business partners, advises Scott Christner, assistant to the dean at Illinois State University's College of Business in Normal. Christner also serves as the school's facilities and technology planner. "In our case, the president of the univer- sity wanted a building that would fit in with the rest of the quad. The faculty all wanted windows. Students wantedmore meeting space outside of class.We all wanted a building with a corporate high-tech feel." He continues, "We ended up with a building built around a central courtyard, so faculty either had a window on the 31 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005