Learning in the 21st century is less about the classroom and more about the experience. But how do you design physical and virtual spaces that convey the experience?

Last week, the University of Virginia hosted the Universitas 21 Learning Environments Design Forum. Representatives from the consortium gathered to learn about ways U.Va. creates informal learning spaces and to explore design opportunities for the Carr's Hill Arts Grounds. The School of Architecture hosted the forum.

Universitas 21 – or U21 – is the international network of 21 leading research-intensive universities in 13 countries. U.Va. President John T. Casteen III currently serves as its chairman.

The first U21 design forum was held in 2007 at the University of Melbourne in Australia, and the second at the University of Hong Kong. U.Va. architecture professor Peter Waldman, who had attended both, invited the group to the University and expanded the exploration to include student workshops. U.Va. architecture students joined counterparts from Hong Kong and Melbourne for an extensive design charette that ran parallel to the U21 staff members' workshop.

Architecture School dean Kim Tanzer praised the experience as an opportunity for the students, U21 members and the University community to learn and explore. The Carr's Hill Arts Grounds is the home to the School of Architecture, the Department of Drama, studio art in Ruffin Hall, art history in Fayerweather Hall, the U.Va. Art Museum and the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library. The Cavalier Marching Band, part of the McIntire Department of Music, will soon join the community when its new rehearsal hall is added.

"The Carr's Hill Arts Grounds is not quite a collective space yet," Tanzer said. "The U21 forum is an opportunity to help shape that space."

She said the Arts Grounds is similar to Thomas Jefferson's design for the Lawn, but on a different scale. "The same principles of interaction apply to both," she said.

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