Calvin Ahn Contributes “All Are Welcome Here: Syracuse University’s Schine Student Center Renovation” for APPA’s Facilities Manager Magazine
Calvin Ahn, Principal, co-wrote “All Are Welcome Here: Syracuse University’s Schine Student Center Renovation” for APPA’s March/April 2022 issue of Facilities Manager magazine. Calvin partnered with John Burse, Principal of Mackey Mitchell Architects on the article about the two firm’s transformation of the Schine Student Center that also sought to change the way students engage through the lenses of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Challenges familiar to many campuses, Schine Student Center presented significant hurdles: confusing circulation, hard-to-find student programs and resources, outdated dining, and poor accommodation of those with differing abilities and backgrounds. Integrating changing trends and expectations into renovations can be daunting.
Embracing these principles, Schine has been transformed from a transactional destination to an inclusive, vibrant campus living room. The center’s increased openness enables improved circulation, wayfinding, and accessibility, embodying the key principles of universal design. Prior to the renovation, vital student activities and resources were undersized, hard to find, or located elsewhere on campus. Improving student ability to discover these opportunities was important to increase engagement, and also critical to advancing inclusion and equity. Student-facing services and student organization offices are now prioritized and highly visible, along with a key grouping of cultural centers, all of which allow deeper, connected conversations around the many intersections of student identities.