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Project Case Study: Harvard Business School |
It was interesting to watch Professor Light and the other faculty members wander around the room, sitting in different student locations, trying to imagine a finished room filled with students. As they walked around, it slowly became obvious that they were not entirely satisfied. As they described their reactions to the room, it became clear that something about the feel of the room was off. It was not achieving the kind of intimacy that they felt was necessary to successfully facilitate the case study discussions that were the basis of their teaching method. Indeed, they suggested that the room geometry need to change, and in particular, the front of the room needed to be shortened in width. As the audiovisual consultant I was a bit horrified, because that alteration in strategy mandated that the projection screens be reduced in width. My fear was that either the three screens would be reduced to two, or that the three screens might become too small, in an overall effort to reduce the width of the front of the room I left the meeting feeling a bit deflated about how well we could accomplish the reduced front projection screen sizes going forward. I was also a bit confused about the faculty's notion of "intimacy". I did not quite get it. So I spoke with Professor Light, and he arranged for me to sit in a few classes. Subsequently, I met with Light and other faculty members to discuss specifically how they imagined the class dynamics should be modulated. |
We were all quite excited when the construction was nearly completed and the design team and faculty finally got the chance to meet in the mockup. It was the most comprehensive, full scale classroom mockup I've had ever seen. The perimeter of the room was unpainted sheetrock. The blackboards were marked off on the sheetrock. The stepped floor was constructed at the exact dimensions of the proposed floor. Every student desk was placed and sized, fabricated from plywood. Several different chair types which were being considered, were located around the room. The ceiling was unfinished but already a few different lighting fixtures which were being tested, were in place. Each of us in the room evaluated elements of the space from the perspective of our own discipline. For my part, the room looked great. In particular, the projection screens (which were not installed) were sized and located perfectly. Three equal sized screens would furnish good viewing for virtually every student were properly integrated into the room |