An Industry in Demand

Designing transportation learning spaces

Transportation learning spaces that are clean, high-tech, hands-on, sustainable and replete with opportunities for collaboration bring academic programming to life.

An automotive lab in an academic setting is more laboratory than workshop. Today’s high-tech laboratories are clean, organized and well-lit environments that optimize the use of natural light and offer appropriate storage for tools, parts and equipment. Safety is an important consideration; providing ample maneuvering clearances, well-marked and obvious pathways for carts, mobile lifts and vehicle traffic, and readily available and adequate storage keep a space neat and limit accidents. The laboratories at Southern Illinois, St. Louis Community College and Olive Harvey all have high ceilings, windows around the perimeter, a bright and clean color palette, and multiple connections to adjacent learning spaces.

Although hands-on learning is evident in every room, one of the design considerations that makes these facilities effective is the use of transparency. The Transportation Education Center building at St. Louis Community College has a multistory link that brings natural light to the lower level. Alongside the link are informal student gathering areas with views through dedicated, hands-on classrooms into the larger automotive labs beyond.

Visual connections from one space to another and to their surrounding environments create dynamic learning environments. Prospective students can see learning on display and connections between specialized labs, classroom spaces, study areas and places for respite. These visual links can reinforce educational connections, improve safety and support community building.

Designed for Change

Because the technologies that power vehicles are changing at a rapid clip, these educational spaces must be equally adaptable and future-ready. Technologies like augmented reality or virtual reality, new electric vehicle platforms and battery types, advancements in autonomous driving, and other innovations are all likely to affect learning in the coming years. Offering a flexible layout with access to adequate power and data infrastructure can support adaptability as needs change.

Automotive training also may be enhanced by supporting a variety of multimodal learning styles and educational technologies. Many of these facilities make use of a “flipped” classroom where students perform problem-solving tasks in class and absorb lecture information at their own pace outside the classroom. The new laboratories at St. Louis Community College use a combination of cameras and monitors to support a variety of learning platforms. Similarly, Southern Illinois supports hybrid and remote learning by incorporating flexible broadcasting suite technologies that embrace a variety of media solutions.

Resilient and Sustainable

Just as the automotive industry moves toward more efficient vehicles and embraces technologies that limit the use of fossil fuels, these corresponding educational spaces also are excellent platforms for a variety of sustainable design considerations and technologies. Those include access to natural light and views, improved thermal envelopes, energy recovery, and other sustainable heating and cooling options. The design for Olive Harvey incorporates a planted “green screen” that reduces solar heat gain and a rooftop transpired solar collector that's part of the building’s HVAC system. The solar collector is a low-tech, black surface that heats quickly in the sun and uses that heat to warm the fresh air that will replace exhaust during Chicago winters. New generations of students continue to seek cleaner, healthier environments, and automotive technology projects can meet that demand.

Fostering Campus Community

Every building that supports education should be designed to promote collaboration and a sense of belonging among students. Some automotive programs have students work in the community as part of their program curriculum, making it challenging to invest time on campus. Design plays a critical role in shaping the learning culture of a training program and influences a student’s feeling of belonging. Going beyond learning support, a facility designed with community in mind can stimulate student interest, support faculty and student engagement, and foster industry and academic collaboration.

Wellness rooms, informal collaboration areas, breakout spaces and student lounges with access to vending or a café support student connections and encourage a healthy, collegial culture. St. Louis Community College, Olive Harvey College and Southern Illinois University each have ways of moving engines and vehicles out of lab and classroom spaces into and alongside larger student gathering areas so the spaces can accommodate large events. Direct access to vehicles and equipment and views into surrounding classroom and lab spaces enable such events to remain connected to student work and celebrate the learning taking place.

Well-designed automotive technology buildings provide many opportunities to support a college’s educational mission, recruit students to a high-tech field with excellent career potential, celebrate sustainable design, enhance feelings of belonging among students, and put learning on display.