Brown and White Vol. 135 no. 1

              The Brown and White Vol. 135 No. 1
Friday, September 7, 2018 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
A BLANK CANVAS
Art, architecture and design department moves to Mountaintop
Kate Morrell/B&W Staff
Beginning in Fall 2018, the College of Arts and Sciences’ art, architecture and design department moved to its new home in
Building C on Mountaintop Campus. The transition allowed for students to work in a more open, studio-like environment.
By LUCY ZHOU
Associate News Editor
Yunyun (Winnie) Gu, ’19, an art
and architecture double major,
attended the first session of her
studio class in a conference room,
rather than an actual studio.
The art, architecture and design
department moved to Building C on
Mountaintop Campus for increased
space, technology and innovation at
the beginning of the semester. Gu
said the entire architecture wing
was not set up for the first week of
classes, but she is excited for the
new creative studio spaces.
Professor Nik Nikolov, an asso-ciate
professor of architecture, said
although the transition has been a
long process, students and faculty
are eager to settle in a new location
that is more suitable for the depart-ment.
“The true potential of this move
lies not in the hardware that goes in
the classroom, but in the relation-ship
between the different spaces,”
Nikolov said. “We have this oppor-tunity
… to merge the classroom
with the lab with the shop with the
admin office so we’re having these
huge big spaces in direct proximity
to fabrication spaces, media rooms
and classroom and seminar rooms.”
The department was moved as
part of the university’s Path to
Prominence plan, which includes
updating facilities and admitting
more students. Chandler-Ullmann
Hall, the department’s previous
home, is also under construction.
Anna Chupa, the chair of the
art, architecture and design depart-ment,
said the move to Mountaintop
allows for a smoother workflow for
students because of the proximity
of the new and innovative available
resources.
Chupa said while planning for the
move, department faculty met with
administration, facilities, transpor-tation
consultants and the archi-tects
that designed the space to
approve every detail of the new
facilities.
Both Chupa and Nikolov said they
hope the building and its technolog-ical
installations will allow students
to think more creatively. One class-room,
Nikolov said, is so advanced
that it has seven screens and a
camera that follows the movements
of the professor as he or she speaks.
“When you’re given the opportu-nity
with spaces like that, with all
the high tech computer labs that
we have and the fabrication facili-ties,
our ambitions change as well,”
Nikolov said.
The department remains focused
on its studio culture, which Nikolov
said gives students the opportunity
to view each other’s work and dis-cuss
it openly and publicly.
“For myself, personally, I actually
like the space up there and I know
the department worked really hard
for us to be comfortable in that new
See ART Page 3
Path to Prominence narrows classroom availability
Onyx Turpin/B&W Staff
Path to Prominence renovations
limit classroom spaces available on
campus. The loss of some rooms
created registration concerns.
By MARISSA MCCLOY AND JORDAN
WOLMAN
News Editor and Deputy News Editor
Christian Murphy, ’19, was
shocked when he received an email
earlier this month informing him
that the university was unable to
provide sufficient classroom space
for all students registered and
wait-listed for ME 252: Mechanical
Elements.
“Lehigh has barely started
expanding and they already have
a classroom shortage!” he posted to
Facebook on Aug. 6.
Murphy said in the time since stu-dents
received the email, the depart-ment
added another section of ME
252 and selected a larger room to
host the course. Murphy is now reg-istered
for that class.
Allen Taylor, director of technol-ogy
and campus services in regis-tration
& academic services, said
course registration issues are some-times
solved with larger classrooms.
He said, however, it has become
increasingly challenging for the
university to offer larger classroom
spaces during renovations involved
in the Path to Prominence.
The Path to Prominence expan-sion
plan will include a college of
health and new dormitory space, as
well as a 20 percent increase in the
undergraduate and graduate stu-dent
population.
Todd Watkins, a professor of eco-nomics
and the educational poli-cy
committee chair, said the Path
to Prominence has led to concerns
about registration and academic
spaces.
“There are serious conversations
going on about re-thinking the aca-demic
schedules, like time of day
when classes can start and end so
that they can work better and we
can handle a greater capacity of stu-dents,”
he said.
Taylor said Registration &
Academic Services encourages
departments to spread out course
times to ensure there are enough
See PATH Page 3