Comstock's magazine 0620 - June June 2020 | Page 51

olleges and universities
scrambled this spring to
move to online learning after the
coronavirus pandemic shuttered
campuses across the United
States. Prior to the outbreak of
COVID-19, roughly 16 percent
of all students in the U.S. were
enrolled exclusively online,
according to the National Center
for Education Statistics. Now,
nearly all learning at the college
and university level has moved
to digital platforms to promote
social distancing and to protect
students, faculty, administrators
and other employees.
“I believe that universities
will seek to leverage what we’ve
learned from all of this and look at
the design of buildings differently
but only to a certain extent,” says
Kris Barkley, principal at Dreyfuss
+ Blackford, an architecture firm
in Sacramento and San Francisco.
“This will likely result in added
facilities for online learning,
but there will still be a need for
personal interaction, with an eye
toward greater resiliency. Architects
and designers can effectively
bridge the gaps and create spaces
that transcend the necessary.”
Here we share six Capital
Region higher-education projects,
completed in the last decade, that
offer inspired and intentional
learning spaces.
The Ann E. Pitzer Center at UC
Davis, a 17,500-square-foot
performing arts facility, includes
a 399-seat recital hall.
PHOTO BY WES DAVIS
Laurie Lauletta-Boshart has
written for Dwell, ESPN, The Wall
Street Journal, Sports Illustrated
and others. Online at
wordplaycommunications.com
and on Twitter @laurieboshart.
June 2020 | comstocksmag.com 51