There are plenty of places on campus to study, but fourth-year civil engineering major Lizzet Sanchez chose a small breakout room in the Teaching and Learning Complex last month because of some of the new building’s unique features.
The room has windows looking down into a 426-seat lecture hall, which Sanchez said helps her feel more focused on her work because she can see students in the act of learning. She also said she appreciates how the building has plenty of outlets, whiteboards, and “nooks” for both individual and group study.
Sanchez was responding to questions from Kem Saichaie — who was leading a small tour group in April through the Teaching and Learning Complex, or TLC — about why she’d chosen this room to study. Coincidentally, the student pointed out many of the features of the TLC that Saichaie had referenced during the tour.
‘Thinking about space intentionally’
Saichaie, the director of learning and teaching at the told tour group members that the building is the first new general classroom building in 50 years. “Traditional classrooms are hard to (facilitate interaction in),” he said. “We aim to change the way we teach.”
The $86 million building opened at the start of this quarter.
The TLC currently boasts three floors of classrooms, lecture halls and study spaces. The fourth floor is currently under construction and is expected to be completed this summer. It will include 12,000 square feet of “open offices that will support undergraduate education,” according to a .
“Thinking about space intentionally is what this building was designed on.” — Kem Saichaie, director of learning and teaching,
One of many eye-catching features of the building is the abundance of natural light. The hallways and rooms contain plenty of windows which “allow students to be seen learning,” Saichaie said, which “enforces the social aspect of learning.” There are quarter-domes in the ceiling with lighting that emulates the time of day, and wooden ceiling beams and soft colors that contribute to the Ƶ feel.
Arguably the building’s most interesting features are the modern lecture halls and classrooms, like a lecture hall filled with swivel chairs that can turn around completely and allow for discussion among students. Saichaie explained that the floor’s slope of this 173-person hall is very gradual for “equity (purposes), so that people are at a more eye-to-eye level when talking” rather than some towering over others. This creates a level of comfort and promotes interactions.
Room 1215, a general assignment classroom, is one of the “most innovative rooms on campus,” Saichaie said. While each room in the TLC is equipped with lecture-capture technology and cameras that connect to Zoom, 1215 has multiple small projectors that can show different slides on combination whiteboard/screens.
Additionally, the tables can be rolled into multiple configurations, with the instructor able to be in the middle of the table groups, promoting even more interactivity. And the tables include “huddle-boards,” small whiteboards used by students at their desks to work out problems or do group activities.
Besides the classrooms and the lecture halls, the TLC provides a social hub for students, thanks to its prime location right outside the Silo Unitrans terminal. The concrete stadium stairs outside the southwest side of the building — shaded by solar panels — have tables outside for gatherings. Another popular study spot is the interior stadium stairs on the north side of the building, which have outlets and cushions so students can either relax with friends or get some work done while waiting for their classes to begin.