Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Richard Branham has his hands full this semester. On top of teaching classes at both the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, Branham will be helping plan what will become the world’s most sustainable building in the world’s most sustainable city.
Professor of Industrial Design Richard Branham was contracted by the new completely self-sustaining eco-city Masdar City to develop ways to help visitors navigate the structurally innovative headquarters building.
He said would be unlike anything anyone’s ever seen.
“This building breathes,” Branham said. “It’s like a living organism.”
The complex, called Masdar Headquarters, will be located in the future eco-city of Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It will be the world’s first energy positive building, producing more energy than it consumes.
Branham, professor of industrial design, will be working with his Chicago-based design firm, Forcade Associates, to develop a way-finding system that helps people navigate the innovative design and structure of the building.
George Ressler, St. Louis, senior, said he was impressed when he learned of Branham’s latest project during his class last semester.
“This is really ground-breaking stuff,” Ressler said. “It’s cool that he is actually out there doing the things he teaches.”
Branham’s firm competed with dozens of firms around the world last year to win the bid to develop way-finding for the Masdar Headquarters. He said the reason it was important to research and develop ways to help people navigate the eight-story, 1.4 million-square-foot building was because of its unique, never-before-seen structure. The design of the building was complex, centered around large wind towers that provided ventilation. Branham said his firm was using blueprints to visualize what it would be like for someone to walk around the building. Way-finding techniques he would use included the placement and design of interactive signs, colors and landmark objects throughout the complex.
“People need landmarks and paths to mentally construct their environments,” Branham said. “We find ways for people to easily find their way around in complex and ever-changing environments.”
Branham said his eight-person firm, which was made up of former students, applied the lessons taught in his design classes. He said his work focused on applying academic theories of environmental cognition to determine how people interact with places and things. He said his real-world projects like Masdar took the place of a laboratory for research.
“The real world is my lab,” Branham said. “I bring it to the classroom as much as possible.”
Ashley Siebert, Merriam, senior, who took Branham’s class, said he took a unique psychological approach toward industrial design. She said Branham stressed the importance of considering how people interacted with a product’s design.
“A big part of industrial design is interface design,” Siebert said. “You have to think about how people will navigate the things you create.”
Branham and his firm will be working with the Masdar Headquarters for several years. The city’s Web site said it expected the building to be fully functioning by 2016. The roof will be constructed first and will be covered by solar panels which will help power the construction and future operation of the building. Once completed, the building will feature retail outlets, a hospital, food courts, offices, prayer halls and direct access to the city’s electric-rail underground transportation system.
— —Edited by Betsy Cutcliff
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