A bit late, but worth sharing; the end of March 2013 brought Stantec Architects, and one of their current clients, Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH), to the Waterloo School of Architecture for a full-day design charrette with a number of undergraduate students. The focus lay in developing key public spaces and in enhancing the patient, staff, and visitor experience to the renovation and addition of the existing hospital building in Cambridge.
Following a brief presentation by Stantec and members of CMH, the participating 1B and 3A students broke into groups for the afternoon with the intent of creating design proposals for spaces including the lobby (reception and donor wall), multi-faith room, courtyards, and patient rooms. The results, produced within a couple of hours, presented fresh and thought-provoking ideas, inciting discussion and overall meeting with a great response from the client and architectural team. The session concluded with dinner and drinks.
Sessions such as these have thus far been rather rare at the School of Architecture, and are often met with a great deal of skepticism. However, they offer great opportunities for networking, practical application of design, and a means of interaction and engagement with the larger community. What evolved during this particular design charrette was truly an exchange of ideas, knowledge, and design skills between students, practicing architects, and the communities for whom we build – and increasing the frequency of such events can, and should be, a realistic goal in the future.
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