Creating a flexible space capable of supporting a variety of educational scenarios.

The renovation of Room 109 in Harvard Design School's Gund Hall will transform this room into an environment that provides an infrastructure for various modes of digital and physical presentation.

The Media Space at the Harvard Design School will provide an opportunity to explore the educational benefits of seamlessly integrating a variety of hardware and software tools into the learning environment. Education at the Design School takes place largely through a variety of learning models that emphasize the importance of casual exchanges with faculty in addition to formal classroom learning, so the technology we implement must consider both instruction in the classroom and collaboration outside class time. Students utilize the full breadth of available software tools in creating their digital work, so there is a great demand for display devices that allow 2D and 3D digital work to be presented interactively alongside traditional drawings and models.

To this end, it is also essential that students and faculty use the multiple modes of learning at will: rather than supporting one learning model the integrated technology classroom should be the most flexible space within the Design School, supporting multiple approaches to design education (lecture, seminar, workshop, meeting, studio, critique, collaboration, executive education). In addition, the classroom will provide the opportunity to design an optimal environment for instruction, presentation and collaborative work.