The physical space in Harrison Hall, home to DePauw University’s new School of Business and Management, will be an open and attractive space with flexible classrooms that accommodate a variety of learning and teaching styles.
“When you think about space, you want to put people first, and understand the needs of faculty, students — and not just the faculty who are teaching the courses listed in it,” said Dave Burke, vice president for academic affairs. The School of Business and Management, however, has faculty who teach in Harrison Hall or plan to teach in some of the newly renovated spaces—certainly very important.
Representatives from Studio Ma, the Phoenix-based independent people-centered firm that is designing the space, were in Greencastle in late August to hear from university leaders, faculty and students about how to accommodate modern learning and make the space work. Reception of invited guests from campus and depot.
“It takes a lot of careful listening, a lot of questioning and a lot of interaction to really understand what people want to see in a space,” says Christiana Moss, Principal of Studio Ma.
Her company wants to put “all the ideas and goals of the business and leadership school” in Harrison Hall, she said. “We really focused on the idea of what the space could do,” he says, to convey the new school’s emphasis on business leadership and ethics.
Moss and two colleagues heard from the 13 students who attended the hour-long session, who emphasized the importance of personal study space and their desire to create a warm, rather than industrial, tone.
The school shares space in Harrison Hall with the academic departments in the 1938 three-story red brick building. The university leadership team has decided on flexible classrooms that can be used for any academic department. It can be set up for lectures, small group collaboration, or any other learning style. Classrooms are equipped with wireless technology and 12 Bloomberg terminals, giving students access to research tools and facilitating collaboration.
The common space will be a campus for all, not just the students of the Business and Management School. An atrium with an extended roof will highlight the connections between the disciplines at Harrison and bring light into the building.
The business and leadership school, which will launch next fall, is part of the Bold & Gold 2027 strategic plan announced in March. It will be one of only four business schools in the country and the only one in the Midwest to rank among the top 50 liberal arts colleges.
Partial demolition of Harrison Hall is scheduled to begin in December and construction is scheduled to begin in January.
The location of the School of Business and Management at Harrison and related architectural decisions were intentional, Berke said, so that students did not feel isolated from the campus or more advanced than students in other disciplines. After examining experiences at other institutions, DePauw wants to keep business and management students connected to their school rather than the university.
University leaders also wanted the architecture to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of DePauw. “One of the academic renewal principles of the strategic plan is to center and strengthen the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,” Burke said. “And that means what’s happening in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will have an impact on shaping the School of Business and Leadership as well as the School of Innovation. … Neither of these two new schools will operate in silos.”
They’re very integrated with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and that means we have to think holistically when developing slots.
See more about the school’s design in this video.
