KI Sponsors Auditorium Studio Program for Wisconsin Students

GREEN BAY, Wis. — A new design studio funded by KI this fall helped students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning explore the history and plan the future of auditorium design.

Auditoria Redux, a studio course led by Grace La, a professor at the university and a principal with La Dallman Architects, of Milwaukee, focused on the history and nature of gathering spaces, technical advances in material research and strategies for enriching communal facilities.

Students met weekly, attended guest lectures and participated in field studies to learn about the role that collective gathering spaces play in education and cultural arts, KI officials say.

“The goals of the course involved investigating how the nature of performance and education environments is changing and evolving,” says Nat Porter, vice president of educational markets for KI. “It sought to define new paradigms in which auditoria are sited, integrated and spatially constructed. The students researched auditoria precedents as well as advancements in technology, material science and furniture design.”

The studio project ran through Dec. 21 and culminated with students presenting research and design concepts for auditoria of the future. Student projects included gathering spaces that explored cross-disciplinary interaction within the academic environment, specialization of auditoria programs and the potential for auditoria to create an identity for a university campus.

Many projects also promoted community-oriented performance spaces through the use of formal and informal performance space and a high level of transparency that allowed the public to participate in performances from the outside.

Students also experimented with material choice and the functionality of furniture in performance spaces, an area of the course that will influence the company’s product development, according to Porter.

“KI’s biggest challenge and most exciting opportunity comes with trying to take the creative product ideas from the students and meshing them with the reality of manufacturing processes and the economics of our business and the market,” Porter says.

With the help of the company, industry speakers presented as guest lectures to support the studio curriculum. KI also partially sponsored the school of architecture’s guest lecture series, which featured global experts and were free to the public.

“The guest lecture series was an important program that exposed students to specific expertise and offered a platform for cross-disciplinary exchange, as well as a link between the design profession and the academy,” Porter says.