When Architecture Is Education: GBC Waterfront Campus

I am ready to start week 3 at one college where I am teaching this semester and week 2 at another. This has been a semester unlike others in that I had a last minute schedule change which means that on Thursdays I am now a bit pressed for time in terms of getting from one classroom to another.

This stressful transition time had me thinking about how scheduling affects pedagogical practice just as much as say the architectural structure of the classroom space (a subject that I am very passionate about and have written about here on many occasions). My Thursdays have me thinking about how this classroom “feel” changes from my afternoon class to my evening class. Not only that but a visit to another campus of one of the colleges that I teach for this week for an ed tech workshop really brought home the concept that classroom and institutional architecture* and layout is one of the foundational aspects of education and pedagogy.

This is an example of what my Thursday afternoon classroom looks like. Exposed beams with an architecture that plays with the concept of “this is the front of the class” by having the projector be at one end of the room and a white board on the other.

The flow is a bit odd in that if students decide to deposit their bags in the spaces where one would walk from the projector to the white board instead of under the desks you can find yourself stepping over things- but that is a minimal inconvenience for the way that the space if conducive to group work and discussion.  I have the opportunity to teach design students in this space, a space that exudes the thought process in pedagogical design so this is a bit of a meta-coup for me which I intend to use throughout the term.

My Thursday evening class is not like this at all but is also a very nice space in that it has windows! Windows! I am sorry I am shouting it is so rare that I get a classroom with windows on that campus. I know that it's dark when I teach so who really cares about windows because all opportunity for light is already gone but from a “feeling” and space point of view it makes all the difference. I have spoken about this feeling in post-secondary spaces before, notably here if you are interested, and I firmly believe that feeling does reflect the pedagogy and desire to engage with ideas in any one space.

This was reinforced yesterday when I visited GBC Waterfront for the first time having taught at the other main campuses before. Wow! What a building. It is everything you see on mock-ups of revisiting learning spaces and more.

 

My focus here is not so much on the classroom spaces, which look like this above, and again play with “which is the front of classroom” paradigms with a smart board on one end and the projector on the other. Rather my focus will be the actual campus itself  as a marvel of accommodating different ways to interact, engage, and simply socialize in a post-secondary setting.

Staircases in the building have been turned into spaces to sit, read, and do work if you wish. Look there are even plugs for your electronic devices here, not to mention the view of the lakeshore (which I will return to in a second). 

Not just regular seating but comfy seating as well. Couches, chairs and tables to do group work as the students are doing here. Also bean bag chairs for those who had an 8am class but have to be on campus until 6pm for their Communications course (sorry students- but it’s totally worth it, no?! :) ).

Technology is used in different ways on campus, as sign posts which simultaneously play captioned video of students working in their field, demonstrating what their educational experience is like at the college both in class and in co-op and placement.

This campus feeling is important not just for the students but also for the professors as well. Below is the view from the employee lunch room and work space on the 7^th floor. I mean, this coupled with the comfortable chairs provided, is a rather conducive space to work and more importantly think big, critical thoughts. So rarely do you find thought process in pedagogical architecture that thinks about what professors do when they are on campus and what sorts of spaces they would like/require to do this work. 

  

Students can even go the small rink next to campus and play some shinny over their breaks from class. And wouldn’t a view of the city from the front of the campus inspire you- knowing that you are playing a part in the educational and experiential growth of the city.

I felt rather inspired being on this campus. Even on a cold day where you can’t embrace the lakeshore at its fullest, the space inside campus was as pedagogically stimulating as the space outside. This campus challenges you to use a post-secondary educational environment in different ways- and most importantly in the ways you want to use them. Nothing is dictated here. There are no fronts and backs-just a whole bunch of sides and that is when architecture is truly education.

*I am talking bricks and mortar in this instance and not necessarily personnel hierarchy which is definitely an aspect as well but not one I will cover here