As designers it’s often hard to for us to articulate the power of great design to new clients. It’s exciting when the impact of design is recognized and called out by users, as we saw in a recent assessment of Duke University’s Link, the Duke Teaching and Learning Center that opened in the lower level of Perkins Library in August 2008. Designed to encourage collaborative work and project-based learning, the Link answers a bigger question: how do we learn and how can our environments best support this? The Link is the culmination of our extensive planning and partnership with ...[more]

Translating design principles and best practices
Educause Learning Institute (ELI) – 2009 Annual Conference

Shepley president Carole Wedge and Barbara Weaver of Clemson talk about the creation of interactive learning environments.

A prime concern in the renovation of Gallatin Hall was the preservation of existing exterior masonry while ensuring the building’s energy efficiency. The masonry had behaved consistently through the freeze/thaw cycles of the previous 80 years, and we were concerned that complying with modern energy codes and LEED standards could have an adverse effect by moving the location of the dew point. Using energy modeling programs, we were able to determine that with 1” thick spray foam insulation, we could achieve an exterior wall assembly with an R-Value of 6 that didn’t drastically move the dew point from ...[more]

The Meditation Room creates an island of repose, a compelling counterpoint to the powerful medicine practiced at the University of Michigan’s Cardiovascular Center. The design creates a piece of architecture and art that gives form to the desire of the Center’s in-house ministry for a space to nourish the human spirit that would be active, meditative, and non-denominational. Narrow niches in the limestone wall are backlit using fiber-optics to give the impression of filtered daylight. A writing desk nearby holds paper and pencil so that visitors can write down their thoughts, prayers, and notes ...[more]

With its cafe and generous space, the glass-walled Pavilion is a wildly popular destination campus destination. The space evolved to embody a concept we call “safe space”: an environment that fosters comfort, honesty, and trust. The Pavilion sits near Duke’s iconic chapel, a subtle nod to the notion of library as inspirational space. Conversation and collaboration flow unhindered between the Pavilion and Perkins Library. Flexibility of time is integral to safe space, where formal and and informal meetings are neither limited or prolonged. This notion of flexible time takes the well-known “third place” concept a step further by extending and encouraging ...[more]

Architectural materials reinforce the emotional perception of the building in space. An embracing curve of curtainwall, glowing in the heart of the healthcare campus, holds the visitor and public waiting spaces in tight connection to the healing gardens inside and out.

A distinctive brick and punched window composition expresses the rectangular form of the utilitarian spaces behind the curving wall. The building meets the ground plane supported strongly with precast concrete panels with ashlar pattern.

Elise Woodward, AIA, LEED AP

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In the words of one of its officers, Emma Willard epitomizes “Hollywood’s idea of a traditional European campus.” The spectacular Tudor and Gothic campus has been the setting for studio movies, the venue for a fictional contemporary private secondary school and for Oxford at the turn of the last century. In reality, recent use of the campus presents a very different picture. Despite a curricular emphasis on fitness and engagement with nature, students rarely ventured out in bad weather. Based upon a culture of “coat-phobia,” they avoided the cold New York winter by navigating the campus in flip flops through a ...[more]

We’re not sure exactly who made this or how it ended up on YouTube but it’s a great little video that showcases our process, community and the collaborative design of our office.