The Forum

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® ACOUSTI-MAT, SOUND CONTROL FOR MASS TIMBER

As students, staff and visitors walk past the large, V-shaped structural columns into the recessed glass entry, they are welcomed into a 90-ft. × 225ft. loft space.

“My favorite space in the building is the Forum,” relates Angela Souza, senior director planning and facilities for the University’s School of Medicine. “It is a space that we created to bring community in and is always full of students.”

“The diagonal columns create a visual and functional dynamic that draws eyes and people into a shaded portico along a primary pedestrian mall on campus, symbolically welcoming the community into the building,” adds Swanborn.

Serving as a living room, lobby, study hall and event space, 3-in.deep risers automatically open into back-supported seating for formal lectures. Here the architects specified BauBuche hardwood laminate and throughout the social areas of the building to lend a sense of warmth and to contrast the cooler industrial nature of the concrete structure.

STAIRCASE AND

BauBuche hardwood laminate from Pollweier offers aesthetics, sustainability, durability, and maintainability. The material is used for seating in the Forum, for the staircase and other gathering areas of the building.

Pollweier www

A large, column-free Forum serves as the welcoming hub for the HSIB. Risers with automated seating are multi-functional as a place to study, eat, socialize, and attend lectures and events.

The

The Forum is lined with balconies, stairs and glass-enclosed classrooms to visually connect adjacent programs and infuse energy into the space. Prominently featured here is Arktura’s multi-faceted, origami-like SoftFold acoustic modules wrapping the wall and ceiling. Presenting a metal appearance, the three-dimensional material is made from polyethylene terephthalate PET plastic. The acoustic product lends visual complexity while eliminating reverberations in the large, open space.

On the interior wall, adjacent to the risers, are dimensional, anodized aluminum panels, which are microperforated and backed with black sound batts to complement the ceiling. “The space was designed to have no perpendicular surfaces and complement opposing surfaces with reflective and absorptive materials for optimized acoustics,” Swanborn explains.

Another feature of this spacious lobby area are large hydraulic glass garage doors, which open to create an indoor-outdoor patio space on the north side.