The Chico State Natural Sciences Building has been honored with the Education Facility Excellence in Design Award for 2024!

Some great design award news!

I am delighted to announce that the Chico State Natural Science Building project has been honored with the Education Facility Excellence in Design Award for 2024 at The AIA 2024 Conference! This achievement is a testament to the collective efforts of our SmithGroup team, along with our esteemed consultant design partners, DPR Construction, and the invaluable contributions of stakeholders and students at Chico State.

At its essence, the design solution represents a harmonious intersection -a campus crossroads- where community and discovery converge, and where curriculum intertwines with the stewardship of our environment.

To learn more: https://lnkd.in/e5_K6P8u.

The SF AmeniPODs project is the winner of the Small Project Excellence in Design Award for 2024!

Some more great design award news!

I am thrilled to share that our team’s design and innovation have been recognized at The AIA Conference as the winner of the Small Project Excellence in Design Award for 2024! This achievement is a testament to the collaborative effort, creativity and passion that went into the reimagining of a fundamental aspect of public infrastructure. With the support of JCDecaux and San Francisco Public Works, our SmithGroup team utilized sculptural simplicity as a guide for design and engineering decisions.

Equitable access to basic needs with dignity is a human right, not just an amenity. This project represents a small, yet meaningful step in supporting that understanding. Design has the power to reinforce this vision and message.

To learn more: https://lnkd.in/efcE8FAc

ONCE UPON A PROJECT: Revitalizing San Francisco One Toilet Kiosk at a Time

San Francisco AmeniPOD kiosk design featured in NY Times article:

Great to see a client so excited for project completion! A teaching game changer for UC Davis

UC Davis Teaching and Learning Complex: Signature Beam in a Signature Building

https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/signature-beam-signature-building

‘Teaching center of the future’

Matthew Traxler, associate vice provost for academic planning in Undergraduate Education, and a professor of psychology, said of the TLC planning process: “There was a lot of input from faculty, from students, from CEE [Center for Educational Effectiveness], that said we have an opportunity here to create the teaching center of the future for UC Davis.”

Traxler joins Marco Molinaro from Undergraduate Education in a video (at the top of this page) celebrating the end of steel construction.

Molinaro

Molinaro, assistant vice provost who leads the Center for Educational Effectiveness, said: “For me, the Teaching and Learning Complex is really a new start, a new opportunity to get going with UC Davis and active learning, but also create something new and innovative where the building actually can give us feedback about the learning process that’s going on in the building, and we can collect data.”

The feedback will come by way of a teaching and learning lab with seating for 80, or which can be divided into two 40-seat classrooms. The lab will be outfitted with cameras and microphones, for recordings that can be analyzed later for instructional improvement efforts — and wiring will be installed so the system could one day be expanded to other classrooms in the TLC. Video will be blurred to maintain student privacy.

Interesting solution- just don't forget to activate the privacy function...

Tokyo's latest attraction: Transparent public toilets

One of Tokyo's most popular neighborhoods has recently added some unusual new attractions: transparent public toilets. Designed by Shigeru Ban Architects, the two new sets of see-through restrooms have been installed in two Shibuya parks.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2020/08/16/why-tokyos-new-transparent-public-restrooms-are-a-stroke-of-genius/#2a885060211e