Chiang | O’Brien Architects was selected to renovate the first, second, and third floors of the Computing and Communications Center (CCC) building at Cornell University in order to optimize the utilization and functional space for the collocated offices of diversity, learning strategies, and teaching innovation. The design team engaged the participating stakeholders in a series of program-information-gathering interviews, which included large and smaller, individual meetings with representatives from each of the three groups.

The academic support units include the Learning Strategies Center, the Office of Academics Diversity Initiatives, Intergroup Dialogue Project and the Center for Teaching Innovation. The first three units support student learning skills and the last supports faculty and other teaching members of the Cornell community with a broad range of consultations including the deployment of “active learning” teaching. As a result of the reorganization, opportunities afforded by this project, a new space is being created for a new active learning classroom where the latest teaching pedagogical approaches can be implemented.