BU Research Blog

A friend forwarded a couple of links to me recently about the relationship of science and art and particularly the dynamic that exists between them.  The pieces, one inspired by the other, set a number of thoughts running.  The first was the importance for many scientists/researchers of the scribbled conceptual diagram – in fact I have note books full of them.  Cartoons of reality that help researchers articulate arguments, scope concepts and summarise complex ideas.  In this sense art is a route to clarity of thought which is essential for good science writing, or at least in my humble opinion.  I can hear you questioning whether such cartoons are actual art – scribbled on the back of meeting agendas, squeezed into the margins of note books, on the back of drafts of papers – but I would argue that they are and their elegance in conveying ideas and thoughts process is as real and striking as any painting.

The pieces also made me think about how in the last 18 months I myself have embraced art as a painter.  Until recently I had never painted before in my life but took it up after turning out a half decent picture while painting one day with my boys.  Self-taught through the use of you-tube video clips, websites and a lot of trial and error I have advanced rapidly and exhibited a couple of my pictures last summer for the first time and have got to the stage where I am now brave enough to hang them on my office wall.  It provides me with what a colleague recently described as ‘flow’ relaxation and an hours painting of an evening has done wonders at placing life in better focus.  In fact I would go as far as to say ‘a painting a week keeps the doctor away!’  My art is inspired by my love of landscapes – mountains, hills, ice, snow, the artic and mountaineering in general – the same things which inspires my science and for me the linkage is clear and my art is simply an extension of my love of imagination, ideas and innovation the life blood of good research.  I would be interested to hear what you make of the blog posts in the two links below as well.

http://geology.about.com/b/2012/11/23/geologists-should-expose-themselves-to-art.htm

http://blogs.plos.org/attheinterface/2012/11/22/why-scientists-should-care-about-art/

It is a while since I last posted mainly due to travel, a short trip to South Africa and then a week in Colombia promoting BU’s research and international agenda.  While to some the travel may seem interesting the schedule of meetings and travel logistics has been punishing.  But the reason for writing is not to excuse my lack of diligence with posting on the blog, but more to tell of an amazing building on the EAFIT campus in the city of Medellin.

Outside of the design engineering building at EAFIT

The exterior of this building is far from inspiring three floors of conventional offices sitting above five floors behind an open grill of vertical concrete pillars.  But the content of the five stories are inspired!  They consist of deck of concrete floors and mezzanines open in part to the outside expect for a green wall of vines and creepers between the concrete pillars!  The specification is basic, unlike the over specified buildings one finds at UK HEI’s, but beautifully elegant in design and function.  The floors house part of the Design Engineering School and embody the concept of Fusion, co-creation and put our plush living learning zones to shame!

Living and learning

Staff and students designed the building’s layout and did so around the concept of design function.  On the top floor, of the stack of five, there is a bare concrete level enclosed with glass, with staff offices (glass cubicles) and work stations for staff and students around and lecture theatres to the side.  All structures are modular with low movable white-wipe or glass partitions giving maximum flexibility and preventing expensive refit costs every time something changes.  This is where students co-create their design concepts with staff in a free and interactive environment with few formal barriers or obvious hierarchy.  This floor is also a true learning, living zone with X-Box play stations, TV’s, comfy sofas and refreshments to hand allowing students to rest and play between bouts of work and study.  The aim is to retain students on site and in the design environment.  In fact the provision of table tennis and pool tables, TV’s in most communal spaces was a feature of many of the Colombian Universities we visited, blending living and learning in one space.

Green Walls!

Co-creation in action

The floor or deck below is again enclosed by glass and is full of work stations and higher specification computers turning the designs from the floor above into realistic concepts.  The floor below contains materials testing laboratory and an amazing wall of sample materials – in fact a library of materials samples that students can examine and touch each with a web link to further information.  The floor below is full of robotics and electronics turning designs in to moving objects; students, academic staff, demonstrators and technicians use these spaces freely and together.  Below that on the ground floor is a floor of heavy machinery similar to that found in Tolpuddle House but laid out on one factory floor with staff offices – more flexible glass partitions – on a mezzanine floor above the shop floor.  The ground floor had no walls and is open to the outside, except for a growing wall of climbers; possible because of the climate and creating an elegant integration of indoor and outdoor space.

Material Wall at EAFIT

All the floors connect easily with one another and while the building specification is basic it is in keeping with the design environment and almost certainly much cheaper than the over specified HE buildings which are the norm in the UK.  For me however the inspiring bit is the co-habitation of a space by staff and students committed to the co-creation of innovative design and to the creation of new products at the core of the student experience.  An inspirational building demonstrating and living the principles we aspire to in BU2018 in the form of co-creation in a common and shared learning community within a functional, rather than flash space, with student’s at the core – the epitome of Fusion!

I was also extremely impressed by the Research Centre at Universidad de Antioquia.  A 50,000 metre square building housing all the Universities’ top research groups; only those highly rated in something akin to the REF are provided with space in this cross-disciplinary centre.  The space was completely modular with research groups inhabiting either one or two modules depending on their size.  Most of it was wet labs with postgraduate and staff offices in each module, although some modules contained just offices.  The beauty of a modular structure is that it allows groups to move without expensive refits and provides an equity of space for all groups.  While the modules are in themselves quite claustrophobic on each corner of the building where communal spaces – kitchens and meeting rooms used by all the research groups encouraging inter-disciplinary interaction and collaboration.  Again an inspiring use of space to encourage innovation and collaboration between research groups, built around an efficient and equitable use of space.  It set me thinking about what BU could do around the cross-disciplinary research themes and our need for more space for Postgraduate Research students.  It is worth noting that staff had offices and labs in the Research Centre, but were still grounded in their home Schools and Departments reflecting the fact that all researchers still had to teach and live the research-education duality.  It just struck me that such buildings were inspired ways of breaking down the cellular structure which sometimes inhibits our drive at BU toward collaborative and inter-disciplinary research.

Both these building are inspiring examples of how architecture can support and encourage inter-disciplinary research and in my view at least provides potential role models for BU future estate.