For University of Washington student Erik Alskog, “It’s the students who make campus green.” Busy thinking up new ways to make their school earth friendly, Alskog and his fellow classmates are redefining what it means to be green. They challenge us to imagine bike-powered monorails connecting campus with the surrounding areas where students live; new forms of wind farming that mimic swaying blades grass; and products designed to last a hundred years.

Alskog was one of three winners in our third annual Student Video Contest. We posed the question, “What makes your campus green?,” students everywhere responded, and viewers selected the winners.

Alskog is not alone in thinking of the future; students today see themselves as green innovators working to make their campuses more environmental.

To see some of the other great videos we received, click here.

Recently in the Wall Street Journal, Brian Kane revealed that every design begins the same way: with paper and a pencil. “That is my favorite part of the process—having a good concept come alive on my drawing board!”

To sketching, Kane adds observation. In the case of Swoop, Kane drew on his experience teaching students at the California College of the Arts. He noticed students didn’t sit, as much as they drape themselves across furniture, and they constantly rearranged their furniture for working, meeting, or socializing.

Under Kane’s pencil, a line of modular lounge seating took form. Composed of tables, chairs, and lounges, each piece designed to be arranged, and rearranged. Curved arms encourage relaxation, while discouraging students from setting their soda cans on the upholstery. And deliberately few seams reduce the places for crumbs to collect.

For Kane, “It’s all about comfort and innovation.” Two qualities evident in his designs for Swoop.

Check out Crafting Chairs For How We Sit Now to learn more about Brian Kane’s career designing furniture.

Learning happens everywhere on campus. But what about the corporate campus? Can the design of learning spaces at the university teach the corporation something? Tracy Fouchea of Herman Miller thinks so. She makes the point in a recent article in Chief Learning Officer. One key, she says, is designing in the ability to change a space at will to meet all the different ways learning can happen.

“If you think about corporate learning spaces, some of them may be used only for formal learning or when they’re not being used for formal learning, it’s first come, first served or scheduled opportunities to use the space,” Fouchea said. “If you can make it so that it’s adaptable and multi-use, it can take on many other leads within an organization.”

More proof of the similarities between the design of learning spaces on corporate and educational campuses can be seen in places like the Innovation Park. It’s designed to jump-start early-stage companies. The facility itself is collaborative and flexible so it can respond to the diverse needs of short-term clients. Not unlike the situation for spaces on corporate campuses.

We think good design requires good research. On campus, that means talking—and listening—to everyone, especially students. Our goal is to capture the voice of the students, to understand how and why they use a specific type of space on campus.

To hear their voices, we recently sponsored our second annual student video contest. We asked them to show us their “hubs,” those places where they go to connect, recharge, study, and socialize.

Congratulations to first, second, and third place winners Fiona Green, Keaton Davis, and Jesse Hendrickson. Their videos, along with all the submissions, uncovered some common themes. Hubs can be found anywhere on campus. Wherever the hub, students want the physical surrounding of their hubs to be comfortable. That includes comfortable furniture as well as acoustical comfort. Hubs were physical places in all their examples except for one.

This contest provided an engaging way for us to capture student insights. Their views are sure to help campus leadership and facility planners think about the changing needs of students and how higher education facilities can respond to them.

Learning in higher education is becoming less a practice in memorization and regurgitation, and more an active, collaborative, and social process. As a result, a new way of viewing university and college campuses is emerging.

Driven by technology and social networks, the current generation of learners is creating an academic experience that is different than even a few years ago. “Circles of exchange” begins to explain this trend. Campuses are increasingly becoming large networks made up of individual student networks. As students connect with one another, the flow and diversity of information is strengthened, more ideas are shared, more knowledge is developed, and the potential for innovation increases.

The physical environment has a role in this. A thoughtfully designed learning space can be place for students to gather, collaborate, socialize, and exchange ideas. The creation of these spaces requires a better understanding of how and why people learn, the effect of ever greater sources of information, opportunities to customize learning experiences, and anticipation and accommodation of technological change. When understanding about these elements is brought to the design process, the campus will better support the needs of students.

Photo: Lure/Forest by Beili Liu

Right now, you won’t hear many college students uttering that sentence, but you will soon. That’s one of the conclusions of a panel of experts Herman Miller brought together to talk about the future of academic libraries.

So why do academic libraries have to foster creating—not just seeking—information? Because today’s students are demanding it. They want their experience of the library—indeed every space on campus—to be one of active, collaborative learning.

When learning is active and collaborative—and happens in adaptive spaces—it brings out the creativity in students. They engage at a deep level. And they become creators of information rather than just passive receivers.

Photo courtesy of Duke University

After collecting the books, we delivered two Herman Miller Meridian red bookcases to the volunteer organization School on Wheels. The bookcases arrived full of children’s books ranging from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to Harry Potter.

The books were barely out of the boxes before the kids started chattering in anticipation. They chose their favorite book, flipped through pages, shared stories, and pointed out the funny and bizarre pictures. Then silence filled the room as the stories engulfed them. The eagerness in these young faces was enough to evoke a single word – awesome!

School on Wheels’ volunteers tutor homeless children, give them school supplies and backpacks, help them file necessary paperwork, and even offer each child a dedicated phone number so the child can meet the school board’s requirements for enrollment. The organization is determined to end the cycle of poverty by “shrinking the gap in their education and by providing them with the highest level of education possible.”

Herman Miller collected almost 8,700 books in its national book drive. If you would like to make a book donation, check out Better World Books for more information.

Images courtesy of Juan Luis Garcia

For Herman Miller, this was an opportunity to ask the next generation of designers about the workplace, about collaboration, and about how they envision the two melding in the future.

Brainstorming, discussion, sketching, and critique; round after round, the students worked through their ideas toward a final concept. The atmosphere was awesome. The results were even better, ranging from the intangible “office as a second skin” and “implicit boundaries” to the tangible “mobile work pods.”

The experience left us wishing we could replicate that spark back at the office. We value our partnerships with universities and colleges of all kinds; they provide us a fresh perspective, all while connecting with future innovators. Who better to create the future with?

Well, some students are demanding more of their education and universities are stepping up, providing them an opportunity to work outside the traditional parameters of academia. Innovation centers give interdisciplinary teams of students a chance to tackle a project in which they design, fabricate, and test a prototype that solves a particular problem; sometimes in conjunction with for-profit companies.

No specified number of hours, no professor at a podium, no classroom—just a deadline and a problem to be solved. Which raises a problem: Your average classroom is not the highly flexible, dynamic space that will stimulate, support, and contribute to success of the young innovator. But, what is?

Looking to answer this question, Herman Miller convened a Leadership Roundtable to explore the innovation process and develop characteristics of creative spaces. Comprised of university innovation center leaders, national associations tracking educational innovation, and architects and designers, the group focused on several questions:

• What are the characteristics of an innovator?

• What are the barriers to creativity and innovation on campus?

• What attributes of creative environments that make them unique and supportive of the innovative mind?

The answers to these questions all touched on the type of space needed. Innovation centers require spaces that satisfy both the physical and psychological components of innovation. They have to be an ecosystem in which ideas can grow uniquely with each project.

Pictured: Prasad Boradkar, Director of InnovationSpace (a transdisciplinary laboratory at ASU).

Whether it is the unique space compared to other classrooms on campus, the adaptable furnishings and flexible configurations, or the freedom to use technology unconfined, it has the campus talking.

Photo courtesy of North Central College

Featured in the exhibition is Mobilegs, from Mobi, an innovative mobility device developer in Minneapolis. Mobilegs is a breakthrough in crutch design that makes it easier, safer, and more comfortable to get around. It’s designed by Jeff Weber of Studio Weber + Associates. He also designed Herman Miller’s Embody chairs, Caper chairs, and Envelop desk, which are among the products featured in the Smart House as well.

The exhibition is the “home” of fictional, 65-ish homeowners, Jim and Sarah, who have renovated their 1960s home so that they can continue to enjoy their active lifestyle. Visitors can sit in a power-lifted chair, handle easy-to-use-kitchen utensils, scoot around the kitchen on a wheeled chair to try out lower counters, operate an easy-open window, and observe wall colors and lighting that ameliorate the impact of changing vision. The bath features a walk-in shower and reinforced wall for grab bars.

Through notes between Jim and Sarah and brief videos, visitors will be privy to the challenging decision-making process that the couple went through during the renovation and what they especially appreciate about the design features of their transformed home.

With the “Smart House” exhibit, Herman Miller, Jeff Weber, and everyone else associated with it are helping us not only understand issues of aging, but also feel better about our future. And it’s never too early for that.

Image via: University of Minnesota’s Goldstein Museum of Design

For more than two decades, PKAL has been one of the leading advocates in the U.S. for building and sustaining strong undergraduate programs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The event brought together a mix of architects, interior designers, and scholars who understand that a great learning experience isn’t only about the instructor, course content, or even the subject. An innovative, inspiring environment is paramount and a fundamental element in the overall curriculum.

Students work in groups in a designated place. There are no set hours, but rather a time frame within which a project needs to be completed. The student who gravitates toward this learning experience is moving away from the traditional instruction paradigm toward a more creative, self controlled experience that emphasizes experimentation, encourages learning by doing, and fosters creativity.

Because we believe the physical environment can nurture creativity and serve as a catalyst for innovation, we recently hosted a roundtable with leaders of innovation spaces on college campuses from across the country. During the session we focused on the key characteristics of great innovation spaces, which we defined as spaces that support collaboration, alone/heads-down time, formal and informal instruction, communication, and rest.

Earlier this week during a session at ELI 2011, we shared these characteristics with a group of our fellow Educause members. They added the characteristics of openness, access, and visibility to this list.

A key conclusion from both groups: space and the elements in it really do matter.

We’re hoping to see a variety of entries that are creative, fun, or serious—all from the perspective of students. The results will help promote discussion among higher education professionals about the rapidly changing needs of students and how higher education facilities can respond to those needs.

Plus, the top three entries will receive cash prizes.

Want to learn more? Check out the contest website and you’ll find everything you need to know.

* Students in the province of Quebec are excluded from participation in the contest.

When the Institute decided to redesign its office space, it turned to Herman Miller. The Institute wanted a flexible space that would improve communication and support collaboration. Their new offices don’t have any walls, a move that encourages what Drucker called “sideways communication.” Furniture is on casters, so reconfiguring it is a snap. And the perimeter walls have been painted with Idea Paint, a paint that turns surfaces into marker boards.

The new office space is “the perfect blend of form and function,” writes Institute Director Rick Wartzman in his own piece about the project. Clearly, the Drucker/Herman Miller connection is still a synergistic one.

Want to donate a book? You can make a donation to an organization, such as Better World Books, between now and December 15, 2010.

The majority of the session was spent in small group discussion focusing on this question: What evidence do we have that change and innovation are having the impact we hope for? Given the investments colleges and universities are making in their learning spaces, it’s a question that requires an answer. Collectively the participants established the need for complimentary quantitative and qualitative data with the type of data being highly dependent on the situation.

Two of the people in my discussion group represented schools that have participated in Herman Miller’s Learning Studio Research Pilot program: Butler Community College and Estrella Mountain Community College. The pilot program provides the opportunity for schools to test new learning spaces and evaluate the results before making a significant commitment within an entire building. For both schools, the results of the pilot have been significant, from both a quantitative and qualitative standpoint.

Some top-flight universities, including the University of Notre Dame, have long recognized the latent market potential in the labor of their researchers. They now are proactively creating an environment where that potential can blossom.

Innovation Park at Notre Dame is one place where that alchemy happens. Innovation Park is a businesslike three-story building across the street from university’s campus and within sight of its golden dome. It contains labs, offices, and all the support services to transform a bright idea into a viable business. The building is intended to be bright and open, mobile and versatile.

The Greenhouse, for example, is the first-floor space where people meet, ideas collide, and the most tender businesses take root. “Virtually everything is on wheels,” says Dave Brenner, CEO of Innovation Park.

Taking flexibility to the max, the Greenhouse not only is outfitted with Herman Miller’s most mobile furniture, it also is equipped with a “programmable infrastructure,” which gives the user ultimate control over lights, outlets, data and power, and even the window shades, from a personal computer or a two-button wand. The result is a space with enormous flexibility and the capability to reduce energy costs.

The desk in my dorm room now is stored in the dorm’s basement to make room for a couch and coffee table. And if I’m not studying in my dorm room (sans desk), I’m usually at a nearby coffee shop for the Wi-Fi, caffeine, and comfy seating. It’s a great place for study breaks, which often involve listening to music and catching-up with friends.

I also like to study at the campus library, especially during finals week. Its rooms and desks, however, quickly fill-up during this time frame, with other students quietly cramming for their exams or writing their last research paper for the semester. This isn’t the time for being distracted by Facebook or socializing with roommates.

These locations each serve different student needs, so how should colleges and universities adapt to these needs? Several campuses across the country are creating multi-functional spaces, which is a step in the right direction—as long as they have moveable desks.

Remember your dorm room? Yuck. (Or maybe you can’t remember, but that’s another story.) The opposite of “yuck” is the trend today.

Take the William Jessup University in Rocklin, California, for example. It recently won an American Institute of Architects chapter award for its new student apartment building. Beyond being a great place to reside, the 192-bed, 24-apartment project preserved “the original conversion of the Herman Miller furniture factory, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry.”

So, the place has the look, but does it deliver the good life? You bet. Each apartment has a full kitchen, wireless Internet, cable TV, central air, a two-story parking garage, laundry facilities, and a courtyard big enough for community gatherings and barbeques. “Boola, Boola.”

A collective sigh, then shuffling and scraping of chairs. I survey the results.

“No, Jonah. You can’t sit in a corner and read. Move here. Lynsey, turn around. You guys, arrange yourselves so you can talk to each other.”

This is the drill every time I want my English Comp class to analyze a story or to discuss questions. Why is this so hard?

Simple. It’s bad design.

Designers, educators, and Herman Miller are known to encourage collaboration. In fact, Herman Miller is partnering with several institutions to try on some new approaches to learning spaces and to measure the result.

And yet, while we expound on the power of collective intelligence and the value of teamwork, most classrooms are still furnished with immobile, tank-like tables all lined up in rows. If the design of an environment signals how it should be used, most classrooms signal naptime.

I’m confident that students will, by and large, survive their educational gestation in these bland boxes and emerge when the real world prods them into out-of-the-box thinking, but in the meantime, it sure ought to be easier to create an environment conducive to teamwork in the classroom. Or at least to form a group.

Is a library building even needed? Or, will digital collections make them obsolete? The answer to both questions is yes. Alumni report their most enduring memory of their campus experience is the library reading room, so the building is likely to remain a strong symbol. Yet, as digitization and networks become ubiquitous, the library will be as much virtual as physical.

What work will be like in the library is as much a question as what form the library will take. Will librarians raised on card catalogs and reference desks be able to jump to roaming the library and responding to students’ text messages asking for help? Will a growing need for techies to make things run mean good old customer service gets lost in the transition?

These and other questions are due to be wrestled with in an upcoming report on the roundtable. Reading it should be quite an education.

The purpose of the Act (also known as the “Economic Stimulus Program”) is to create and save jobs, jumpstart our economy, and build the foundation for long-term economic growth. The Act includes measures to modernize the nation’s infrastructure, enhance America’s energy independence, expand educational opportunities, increase access to health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.

For companies, in particular, the 2009 tax year is the time to take advantage of tax relief through 50% bonus depreciation. In addition, the available Section 179 expense deduction may allow almost double the amount of equipment that can be expensed, from $133K to $250K, for the 2009 tax year. Work chairs, office chairs, healthcare systems, boardroom furnishings, waiting area furnishings, accessories, and many other types of equipment may receive the benefit of bonus depreciation.

For federal agencies—and any business interested in cutting energy costs—Herman Miller’s Energy Manager can help reduce energy and save money by turning off lights and electronics when not in use.

Federal health agencies receiving stimulus funds can use our clinical and administrative products to improve the care people receive. Our comprehensive portfolio of modular casework, seating, movable walls, storage, and carts are adaptive solutions that change as processes and facilities require.

And, for educational institutions interested in building, modernizing, and repairing facilities, Herman Miller offers products and applications designed to enrich teaching and learning for students, faculty, administrators, and the community.

Herman Miller is poised to guarantee purchase, delivery, and installation to meet ARRA deadlines for tax benefits if customers act by fall 2009. Find out how we can help.

By Marcia Davis