The Empty Room
Yesterday afternoon, just as several projects were coming to a head, DL1 received a phone call from a nice person at Brigham Young University who asked if we would provide images of the physical features of DL1, for a presentation about ideal learning spaces. No problem! Except that I must have dashed down her email address incorrectly and I couldn’t track her phone number. Geez.
For the folks at BYU and others looking into flexible room design, here’s a current snapshot of our space, without all the people.
The iMacs are locked onto small wheeled tables, fitted with outlets powered from the ceiling grid. The tables are generally clustered, but their configurations shift throughout the day. There are never enough outlets when teams gather around the iMacs with laptops and extra monitors and other devices. We’ve grown used to cable mayhem.
The presentation area can include or exclude students at the computers. Critiques and discussions take place around the oval tables, or the tables can be wheeled off leaving chairs or zabutons and beanbags in the middle of the room. The projector will be permanently mounted this term. The projected image fills the screen. Notice there are fewer light fixtures closer to the screen. With the flourescent lights (atop the grid) off, the presentation area is a little darker than the rest of the room.
The hangout area holds 8 to 10 people. Students exhibit projects on the video display or on the shelves. There’s a long vga cable to connect laptops to the display for live viewing. Cleaning supplies are front and center, so everyone knows where to find them.
In the “noisy” area, two heavy desks support two heavy-duty Mac towers which run multiple operating systems used for a multiplicity of devices. Cintiqs, 3D printers, Arduinos, Kinects, Epocs… You get the picture: it’s noisy in many ways. Most of the devices are self-contained enough to easily roll or carry in and out of the area as projects shift throughout the day.
The “dirty work” area is never really this tidy. Up to 4 people can work together around the soldering bench, and up to 6 can work around the old drafting table. Projects in progress are stored on wire shelving, also on wheels so that this work area can be doubled if necessary.