This geography lab/classroom is located in the Walter Hitschfeld Geographic Information Centre in Burnside Hall, McGill University. The laboratory allows students to work together as a team around specially designed tables, as well as to follow lectures projected onto the walls of the space. A conference room to the side can be separated off with a sliding partition.
The selected furniture and the innovative tables integrate all computer equipment and facilitate collaborative work. The space is open to the rest of the library floor, but was treated acoustically so that the library users are not disturbed.
During the design phase, the tables were given a lot of attention. The final form, two opposing crescents, allows students to see each other’s work without difficulty. The large screens, needed for geography applications, can be lowered into the table which makes conversations across the table easier. Tables are spaced apart so that professors can circulate to help students with their work or interact with them during lectures.
To allow everyone a perfect viewing angle, projection surfaces are distributed all along the classroom and in the conference room. An innovative audio-visual system that controls the projections was installed on the professor’s lectern.