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The Environmental Design (ENVD) building is an eerily quiet place in the summer. With barren studios, empty hallways, and dormant 3D printers, the student and faculty spaces in the building often resemble a ghost town. Unlike a ghost town, however, the old worktables and rickety studio stools haven’t been left behind to gather dust and rust. Rather, this ghost town underwent a redesign. 

Over the summer, a hard-working group of faculty, staff and students spent months updating studio spaces in both the basement and eastern wing of the third floor. After collaborating on studio update projects last summer, Marcel de Lange, teaching professor, and Jared Arp, teaching assistant professor, hoped to continue the momentum this year by tackling adjacent studio spaces in dire need of updates.  

“Why in the 21st century are incoming students sitting on a barstool on some kind of drafting desk that doesn’t even hold your computer?” de Lange questioned. “Why not mimic a little bit more the way that most design agencies work?” 

Updating student spaces to mimic professional offices, however, isn’t exactly the most affordable endeavor. According to de Lange, a new worktable alone would cost the program $2,000 each. And with fall 2023 marking the largest incoming class for ENVD, there is a demand to expand the number of students per studio, which means more tables. “There’s a budget available but it’s not enough to do that. We decided we could do it in-house,” de Lange said. 

Staff and student workers at the Center for Innovation & Creativity (CINC) began the in-house project by collectively constructing 40 custom-made tables matched with repurposed and ergonomic office chairs. With a laser-cut steel frame, wooden tops and legs cut by a CNC machine and built-in power outlets (one for each student), the tables are designed to be sturdy, long-lasting, portable and ADA accessible. They’ll also encourage collaboration.  

“The old space didn't really foster creativity or teamwork,” Arp noted. “You had your own desk, your own island. This way students will be working at tables with others.”  

True to ENVD’s values, the team carried out the project with environmental sustainability in mind. Recycling and reusing pieces of the old furniture was key to the project. Old table legs were converted into light fixtures, wooden pieces from the old drafting desks were added to the new tables, shelving systems with added cubbies were constructed from outdated shelving materials and CINC scraps. “Those sorts of things have been worked into the project,” Jared noted. “One for budget purposes and two because it’s the right thing to do so we don’t waste this material. The types of materials that were chosen are low environmental impact, high longevity and strength.”  

By updating the studio spaces to mimic design agencies while using a sustainable approach, incoming and current students will be better prepared to work in a professional setting after graduation. Apparently, even ghost towns need their building updates.