Igniting Conversations: Business School Design by Gensler
Education is said to happen as a consequence of exchanges between minds, and so, an educational institute is expected to provide impetus and space for these exchanges to occur, for interactions to take place, conversations to be ignited, ideas to circulate, germinate and grow their full potential. This is, perhaps, exactly what was playing on Indian-American Dean and Provost Neeli Bendapudi’s mind when she announced an international design competition for the School of Business she was planning for her Alma Mater, Kansas University - the school for which she had raised an impressive funding in just two years of her term there. No wonder, then, that the high-energy Dean chose as the competition winner the high-octane, dynamic, innovative and, above all, highly interactive design proposal by Gensler, the undisputed American design giant.
Capitol Federal Hall, as the business school building is called, is located on hilly terrain in Lawrence, Kansas. The invitation to converse begins at the façade itself, where the distinctive chocolate brown of massive swathes of weathering steel and bright white concrete boldly frame huge transparencies that beckon inside in open invitation, signature blue splashes charmingly glinting from within.
The central pivot of the scheme lies in the interior, though, with Dean Neeli clearly directing the building to be designed inside – out. The 165,000 square feet of space spread over four floors is entirely oriented to interactions in every inch of its detail. Spurred by Bendapudi’s energetic vision, the Gensler team is said to have plunged into extensive and frenzied research encompassing studies of business incubators, airports, universities, corporations, and even religious institutions to guide the school’s conceptualisation. Approaching the project with maverick ideas akin to those of amateur design students, Gensler formulated this winning proposal as a unique blend of interactive concepts.
The heart of the building is an expansive, brightly lit central atrium, which is the intersection point of the three wings forming a shape like a ‘K’ in plan. The atrium is criss-crossed vertically by the main staircase clad in the same distinctive blue and flanked by balustrades of the same chocolate brown pre-rusted steel. Designed to lure students away from the elevator and tempt them to use it, this staircase seems to spark off the interactive spirit, to compel users to converse and ideate.
The space is overlooked by staggered floors above, having mutually disconnected classes, tutoring stations, conference rooms, lounges and work rooms connecting visually across this atrium through their glass walls and adding to the interactive synergy of the building.
The base of these stairs brings up a panoramic spread of steps mimicking an amphitheatre like arrangement that students and staff can use to sit around and congregate in big and small groups. Special add-ons to the amphitheatre seating are the little portable ‘stair benches’ which can be moved around the steps, designed by the University’s architecture and design school students which again foster a sense of innovative participation.
It is, in fact, little innovative details like these that are the highlight of the design and energisers of the campus. Long corridors become places to linger thanks to the use of art on the walls. Several interactive (visual and tactile) decor tools have been used through each space to create a seamless user experience that promotes communication and fosters entrepreneurship.
For example, a donor wall displaying names on artfully arranged warm wood faceted panels, a slider wall which enables students to create their own artistic communication modules, and a full wall colourful abacus invoking the inextricable business – accountancy relationship are just a few of these interaction sparking décor ideas.
There are some innovative green details as well, like the green roof on the low rise auditorium building which rises from a landscaped berm to front the scheme on the southern corner. The entire block is clad in brown weathering steel and the green roof, planted with red sedum which is the signature planting on all the green roofs of the campus, is referred to as the ‘red green roof’!
The right balance between a minimal, albeit strikingly innovative, colour - material palette at the general level and meticulous, maverick detailing of specifics is what gives the building its unique character. This is, in fact, the factor which distinguishes this campus, helping it interpret the age old format for institutional design based on shared interactive spaces in an entirely refreshing language.
Quoting Louis Pasteur’s statement that ‘Chance favours the prepared mind, Dean Neeli had sought to infuse the campus with flexible shared spaces that would ‘encourage unexpected encounters’ for that is the only way anything, especially business, can be learnt – from multiple experiences.
Gensler’s design for KU Business School building Capitol Federal Hill won the RTF (rethinking The Future) Award in July 2017 in the ‘Institutional (built)’ category.
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