Design-Thinking Brought to Life at the School of Architecture | Immersive Learning | UM News Special Report | University of Miami

Architecture education is, almost by definition, immersive learning. With a curriculum centered upon the studio, students at the University of Miami School of Architecture are continually engaged in hands-on and practical learning.

“Almost everything we do is immersive because of the emphasis on design-thinking and problem-solving,” said SoA Dean Rodolphe el-Khoury. “Each term, the students must take a studio course, which is really the centerpiece of the curriculum. Students are given a project to work on and we tend to give them real-world problem-solving projects with stakeholders, institutions and communities.”

Architecture has long employed design-thinking, an immersive non-linear process for problem-solving, said el-Khoury, but this method is now being implemented across a variety of fields, from business to the social sciences.

The School of Architecture is bringing this design-thinking to life across its curriculum, providing students with engaging opportunities for creation.

“We are now taking it to the next level by providing infrastructure that facilitates and enhances this kind of immersive experience with the BuildLab, the Thomas P. Murphy Design Studio Building and the RAD Lab,” said el-Khoury.

The B.E. & W.R. Miller BuildLab, designed by Professor Rocco Ceo, provides a home for the design/build program where students execute an architectural project from beginning to end in a safe and properly equipped environment. The groundbreaking ceremony for the BuildLab was held in June 2016 and, though the official dedication ceremony is slated for January 2018, the space is currently open and being used by students. As part of the hands-on learning process, the students are tasked with completing the furnishings and interior and exterior details of the open-air building, which has a 40-foot by 40-foot concrete frame with 17.5-feet-high ceilings.

Students’ designs were typically built out in the open, exposed to the elements, in the SoA courtyard but, with the BuildLab, there is now a dedicated space for students to bring their ideas to life and at full-scale.

“The students not only solve problems on paper, they actually build the solutions,” said el-Khoury, “the BuildLab plunges them into the messy reality of the physical world, an experience that is increasingly missing from the digitized realm of design.”

Key features of the BuildLab:

• A series of containers surround the structure’s perimeter, and these are outfitted to hold building materials and tools, allowing the main space to remain open and useable for construction.
• The building’s walls are composed of louvered panels with inset doors that encourage air circulation and secure the site during off-hours.
• A double-height roll-up door located on one side of the building, with a built-in ramp, is dimensioned to the Florida Department of Transportation’s specifications to accommodate loading projects on a flatbed truck for transportation to the site for assembly.

The Thomas P. Murphy Design Studio Building, designed by Miami’s architecture firm Arquitectonica, is currently under construction but will serve as another venue for students to engage in immersive learning. In addition to dedicated studio space, the building will provide students with digital fabrication facilities and the tools necessary for learning through making.

“The space is designed to optimize co-creation,” said el-Khoury. “It has a large, open space where students can come together in groups and is designed to provoke the kind of interaction that fuels innovation.”

The RAD-UM Lab also offers rapid prototyping equipment, but its focus is really on information technology, computers, smart cities, simulations—and bridging the digital and physical worlds.

“The RAD Lab is a cutting-edge facility that is dedicated to emergent technology, from Augmented Reality to the Internet of Things, and is really where we are ahead of the curve,” said el-Khoury.