Western Michigan University - Dunbar Hall

Modernizing an Academic Building

Dunbar Hall, a cornerstone for WMU’s Arts & Sciences programs, was an aging building that, with a small but mighty addition, has been transformed into a vibrant hub designed with flexibility and change in mind. Through a collaborative design process, students, faculty and staff envisioned new possibilities, leading to reimagined classrooms, workspaces and pedagogical models, and promoting accessibility, diversity and inclusion throughout. The overhaul of the nearly 50-year-old, 78,000-squarefoot building includes completely reconfigured classroom layouts to bring teaching and learning spaces up to the latest standards.

This project began as a study to evaluate what potential options were available to not only modernize the old building, but also look at creating teaching and learning environments that begin to converge various programs under one roof to enable inter-professional synergies and student success. Dunbar Hall is home to many of the academic units that make up the College of Arts and Sciences and hosts space for the College of Fine Arts. The College of Arts and Sciences looked to house general academic classrooms, student success space as well as dance studio and support space. An addition to the 1970’s building takes its geometric cues from its Brutalist host.  The addition consists of transparent, bird friendly glazing, and provides accessible entrances at each end of the building.  A new elevator and open stairs invite exploration of the various programs, services, and student-centric shared learning spaces within it. In the spaces between the floors and open stairs are pockets for collaboration and informal learning, all with views of the southern tree line and newly developing south campus, Hilltop Village. The addition inverted the existing double-loaded corridor and provides entry points for key programmatic elements accessed from the light-filled addition.

ENGAGEMENT & CO-CREATION

Throughout the collaborative design process, HGA collected feedback through several rounds of engagement, such as town halls, to ensure students’ concerns, requests and overall input were included. In addition to the feedback loops and town halls, HGA met with WMU’s Disability Services for Students to hear their ideas and interests. Input from all sessions was incorporated into the building, such as the use of different colors on each floor and wayfinding that aids those with low vision in quickly understanding where they are. Large numbers were printed on the walls, allowing exterior approaches to the doors to be easily findable and accessible. A visible and grounding elevator tower, with superscaled floor level graphics orients building users from various building entry points.

EMPOWERING USERS, REDEFINING LEARNING

HGA, as the lead design and planning architect, focused on user needs. The design prioritizes:

• Flexible Learning Environments: Reconfigured classrooms with team-based learning layouts and a mix of large lecture spaces, smaller group study areas and dedicated spaces for asynchronous learning.
• Advanced Technology Integration: Seamlessly integrated technology to enhance the curriculum and foster a dynamic learning experience.
• Student Success Hub: A dedicated space for academic support services to empower students to thrive.
• Improved Accessibility: A new addition with ADA compliant features and enhanced vertical circulation creates a more connected and accessible space for all.