Educational Architecture
Flexible Classroom + Custom Furniture
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Client: University of Michigan Size:
1,800 SF
Moving Friends is a collection of cute + custom furniture-creatures on wheels designed to support an adaptable, flexible and fun learning environment for the University of Michigan Urban Tech Lab. Where the traditional architecture studio layouts lean towards individualized desks, the Urban Tech program required a new type of collaborative classroom for their specific format of flexible, hands-on learning that is structured around teamwork of different scales. The new studio needed to function as two classrooms during the day, a larger event space during special occasions and a library-homebase for students during the rest of the week.
At the heart of the studio, a super-sized lounge divides the space into three zones: a living room and two classrooms, bookended in plan. The living room creates a space for students to unwind, while providing a sound buffer between the two classrooms when they’re both in action. Moving Friends, a system of furniture creatures on wheels, dwell in the space to support the different working styles and scales of modality throughout a given day and week. Always on the move, the furniture is designed from the same set of parts — hot pink T-Slot rails and components, oversized orange wheels, flexible power cords and cork surfaces — to create a series of spaces and surfaces to sit, work and collaborate on.
During the day, the Moving Friends allows adaptation: the classroom can *flex* between smaller group meetings, and tables can be brought together to form a large classroom-theater for lectures, reviews and other events. At night, students can spread out — moving tables and chairs around - to collaborate with their colleagues, find some individual respite and hangout in their new homebase.