David Broz 
The University of Kansas School of Business. Image: Garrett Rowland.
It seems that the most recent buildings to pop up on college campuses are trying to do more than just support academics. They are acting as hubs for all sorts of on-campus activities.
The exterior of the San Jacinto College Lee Davis Library. Image © Gensler
Will books go the way of papyrus scrolls—relics of another age kept in glass boxes? That’s a question weighing heavily on the minds of many as our world becomes progressively digitized. Even the most devoted bookworms are wondering if their objects of affection can survive the era of Kindles, eBooks and BuzzFeed listicles.
Mark Kelly, vice president of student affairs at Columbia College Chicago, helps lead a discussion about how on-campus collaboration can better prepare art students for work in an increasingly design-ful economy.Image © Gensler
One of the more rewarding aspects of leading the education and culture practice area out of Gensler’s Chicago office is the opportunity to engage clients in conversations that extend beyond project work. One of our clients here in Chicago, the School of the Art Institute (SAIC), invited us to lead a session for the 2014 Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) conference hosted at the institution. Entitled Make No Little Plans: Building the Resilient Campus, the conference brought together leaders from art schools around the country to ideate around how the campus experience could better equip art students for the professional world and catapult them towards successful careers as a collective creative community.
The reflecting pool at the Clark. Photo © Gensler, Chris Leonard Photographer
When visitors arrive at The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (the Clark) in Williamstown, Mass., they are greeted by a wonderful sense of calm. Tadao Ando, design architect for the project, recently stated “This is a great place to contemplate what it means to be alive.” Whenever I’m immersed in this environment, I feel a deep connection to art, architecture and nature. Being at the Clark creates a heightened awareness of each; the beauty is in the overwhelming feeling itself. It is pure joy.
Good branding brings the built environment to life. Image © Gensler
When most colleges and universities consider their brands, they rarely venture beyond the design and implementation of a logo. Time and time again we have seen this “logo” inconsistently used on brochures and buildings without further thought into the potential power of branding.
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