Thinking Ahead: Re-Imagining Higher Education through Active Learning and Adaptive Space

Abstract

An analytical re-imagining of the higher educational model through architecture has the ability to redefine the fundamentals of collegiate study. Traditional higher education pedagogies impede on meaningful education and have become laden with outdated infrastructure. Changing the way we think about education is vital to creating better students. This thesis attempts to design a new higher educational facility to improve upon academic efficiency among students. The result of this process applies descriptive and evaluative research into an active-learning-based classroom for the city of Williston. Collecting and organizing big data sets, provides a clearer understanding of successful design strategies. These strategies are then applied in a sequence which aids the iterative design process. Using a design methodology, spatial organization identifies relationships between the various academic zones found throughout building organization. Correlations between the mesosystems and microsystems that separate and define academic, social, and collaborative spaces can be generalized through a through an iterative design process. Design becomes a powerful tool with the ability to recognize the importance of the interconnecting spaces that synthesize various areas of the building. Previous research becomes condensed in design and must be reformatted in a cohesive fashion so that new ideas can be discovered during the process. Educational requirements of the active pedagogy are therefore translated into physical concepts which then become the basis for a new line of investigative design. In this effort, this project hopes to maker a stronger connection to students and give them a better education than previously envisioned. Educationists our future is imperative to preserving it.