Ellerbe Becket has leveraged its experience in higher education with superb results. The Carlson School building is considered the next generation in the use of technology integrated into higher education learning – one that smartly addresses the needs of world-class business education.
The Carlson School is a environment that reinforces today’s higher education movement toward skill-based learning. Horseshoe-shaped classrooms and break-out rooms are designed for participation and team experiences. The school’s curriculum relies on computer time to build knowledge outside of class, and the building’s 1,000 data ports complement this goal.
A building committee of faculty and technology staff helped shape the classroom design and integration of technology. Electronic podiums are complete with networked computer, media control systems and ceiling-mounted LCD projectors. Small but important decisions included splitting the horseshoe-shaped desk rows so that professors could roam easily among students.
Ship-shaped Building Gives Unity, Movement
The Carlson School building has a streamlined, horizontal emphasis, one that conjures a massive but humanely proportioned ship from within. One feels a sense of motion to the building – complete with a dynamic, less institutional atmosphere. "The architectural reference is more than making a futuristic allusion," said Richard Varda, design principal, "but one that also implies the harmony and unity of being together, passengers with a common destination."
Two of the highest design priorities were to develop a community where social and academic activities would go hand-in-hand, and to create an identity for the school. Interaction between students, faculty and the business community had to flourish. “The Carlson School has one of the largest and most active social spaces of any business school in the nation,” said Varda. “Overall, [it] is more dramatically forward-thinking than any major business school … embracing the corporate world rather than the traditions of academia.”
The building’s sleek, curved glass curtainwall with metal fins is modern and underscores the sense of movement. Said Varda, “The building’s curves take away the sometimes hard-edged aggressive qualities found in architecture. Extensive use of wood, stone and brick add a necessary warmth.”
The Carlson School is rich in shapes that bend, open up and float, all the way to the roof of the atrium. The facility’s centerpiece, designed by renowned Portland, Ore., sculptor Ed Carpenter, is a 13-foot (3.9 m) metal and glass sculpture. The suspended luminous sphere symbolizes the school’s global connections, collaborative spirit and suggests continuous change.
Built by Knutson Construction, the Carlson School has 33 classrooms with 35 adjacent meeting rooms to facilitate student team projects. Classroom technology includes digital audiovisual information, in-class simulations and distance learning. A 250-seat auditorium is equipped for teleconferencing. There are four computer labs, two faculty research labs, six doctoral student labs, video labs and an office of technology. Executive development facilities oversee the academic environment of university’s West Bank, while the rest of the school orients to the atrium and views of downtown Minneapolis.
The 162 faculty and visiting faculty offices are clustered to mix academic disciplines, reinforcing the school’s cross-functional approach to education. Doctoral students share 60 mezzanine-level offices. The Curtis L. Carlson Boardroom overlooks downtown Minneapolis and is used by school advisory councils and businesses.
The Carlson School of Management is currently the United States’ 12th-ranked public business institution, and offers the 10th-ranked evening MBA program of the more than 400 accredited business programs nationwide, according to US News & World Report. The school’s MIS program has ranked consistently just behind MIT, and is the fourth-ranked “Techno MBA” program according to Computer World.
