In the spirit of the new year, we are revisiting the origins of projects to explore the ideas and concepts that have shaped the buildings as they exist today.
At the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, a strong commitment to fostering learning influenced both the building`s internal layout and its role in the surrounding urban environment. Early in the design process, the team sought to transform the building`s perimeter—traditionally used for faculty offices—into spaces for students. They next chose to distribute classrooms throughout the building so that the entire building facilitated faculty-student interaction. An idea of stacked hat boxes served as an the conceptual parti. The boxes were shifted and composed to support and balance each other, while also creating inviting and surprising spaces in between.