Aaron B. Schwarz
EXPERTISE
building. Several urban campuses are designed with student residential towers on top of classroom podiums. In such a space, floors closest to the ground are reserved for high traffic, public functions. Mixed-use facilities is an idea worth considering in both urban high-rise campuses, as well as on lower density rural campuses. The common notion that campuses need to be “zoned” into specific use precincts, should be challenged. One of United State’s first and most heralded campuses, University of Virginia, was initially designed with mix-use buildings by President Thomas Jefferson, its planner.
Designing Properly Clearly planning the functions and spaces where they would be carried out in a high-rise is an advantageous way to decrease the amount of mechanised vertical infrastructure required. Locate the most public, highest occupancy spaces on the lowest floors. And the most private, lower occupancy spaces on the upper floors. Limiting most of the general classroom spaces to the ground floor, plus two to three floors, allows stairs to be the primary mode for moving the largest number of people in the building, thereby taking the load off from the elevators. Placing the faculty office suites in the higher floors of the building makes those floors less populated, with lower elevator demands. Mid-occupancy functions to be located on the middle floors can include libraries or learning centres, laboratories, and more subject-specific teaching (not general classroom) spaces. The ground floor (or, take the floors on hilly venues) should be considered for those functions that need street access, as well as those that require high occupancy. In our cities, we should reserve these areas for functions that can also be used by the public, such as retail or food services that are basically for the general public. This is an important urban gesture, as well as a source of revenue for the institution. It is critical that the design of urban campuses address the notion of the city’s pedestrian life and the interface between the city and institution. Placing the functions in a building based on its
HIGH-RISE BASICS: Locate the most public, highest occupancy spaces on the lowest floors. And the most private, lower occupancy spaces on the upper floors
occupancy demands may or may not coincide with the institution’s pedagogy. For example, placing faculty offices at the top of the building separate from classroom spaces and in the “ivory tower” may be the antithesis of an institution’s culture. Stacking the mixed-use building in this manner also has structural challenges. The large general classroom spaces should be column-free. Placing them in the lower floors requires longer structural spans to support the weight of the many floors above. Other spaces may also need ground-floor street access. For example, some engineering laboratories may need truck access for moving equipment and material. Due to these reasons (and several others), it is often not possible to restrict high-occupancy spaces to the lower levels, which can be served by stairs. Therefore, elevators or escalators need to be deployed to move large quantities of people through the building at the same time. It is recommended that a vertical transportation consultant be involved to calculate the capacity and speed requirements, in order to size and design the appropriate number of elevators or escalators. Escalators are much faster at moving people through few floors of a building without “wait times”. They are also a bit more user-friendly and less claustrophobic. February 2011 EDUTECH
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