Spaces for Project Based Learning

  • 2015
  • 2 Person Team

Using a human-centered design process to redesign and prototype a classroom and lab space at Olin College of Engineering to better support, inform and represent the culture of the project-based engineering course held within that space. The end result of the summer long process was a newly configured space, with two custom designed and built furniture pieces to support the space.

Before

The classroom space started as what could be characterized as an engineering school junkyard. The goal was to clean up the space, and to design it to better support the learning and project outcomes of the course.

Junk materials scattered ontop of a desk and sitting on the floor

Design Process

Connecting needs and attitudes of the space with potential solutions, actions, and properties of the space.

Poster covered with sticky notes mapping needs to solutions
Poster covered with sticky notes mapping attitudes to actions to properties
Sketches of furniture and room layouts on butcher paper and tacked to the wall

Prototyping

Prototyping promising ideas at scale to quickly test and evaluate concepts.

Annotated images of furniture prototypes tacked to the wall
Cardboard prototype of shelves located underneath a table
Prototype of a large table with tools scattered ontop of it

Evaluating Prototypes

We used a weighted table, with criteria defined by the values defined at the beginning of the design project to evaluate the prototypes.

Weighted chart comparing different solutions against each other

Production and Build

Using a CNC router to build out custom furniture designed identified through the design process.

A person using a CNC router in the middle of a classroom

After

Images of the space in use, and of the furniture piece I designed and built.

Wooden shelves built underneath a table.
A large wooden center table, surrounded by smaller tables surround by students.