Academic Incubators: Garage Innovation Meets Higher Education

This post is the first in Academic Incubators, a series in which Gensler designers will explain what academic incubators are and explore why universities build them, students gravitate to them and private industry funds them.

The MIT – SUTD International Design Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, connects students to its partner institution in Singapore as well as to private industry. Image © Gensler

Google and Facebook are two of the best-known corporations in the world, and the stories of their creation share a common core: both were founded by students while attending universities.

Click to read more ...

The Museum of Tomorrow: 8 Things to Know about Cultural institutions in today’s society

Digital Revolution @ Barbican

Last year Gensler London’s Education and Culture practice area hosted its first roundtable debate on ‘The Future of Museums’. It explored how museums, galleries and cultural intuitions are evolving to develop new ways of attracting and energising visitors. The discussion brought together a diverse range of delegates to stimulate a varied and at some points controversial debate into the challenges cultural institutions face. It also highlighted 8 key themes cultural institutions should embrace in order to thrive in today’s society.

Click to read more ...

Engage: The Future of Museums

Image © Gensler

Museums have the power to excite, educate, and enlighten. How this power should be used — and shared — is very much at issue in our increasingly pluralist society.

Click to read more ...

The On-Campus Experience and Alumni Giving

Image © Gensler

At Gensler, we have spent the past few years researching student life on colleges and universities across the globe. And it has been quite interesting to see the impact the digital native generation has had on design implications for the spaces we create. We have found that technology, as opposed to completed space, is the biggest driver of campus change. This makes sense, considering new campuses must cater to the needs of students who stay online 24/7.

Click to read more ...

A Closer Look at Student Housing

The new College Avenue Commons at Arizona State University. Image © Bill Timmerman

The college campus is in a state of change. Flipped classrooms, rising costs, and other factors are forcing universities to redefine the student experience, and housing lies at the center of this constantly evolving equation.

Click to read more ...