Hennings 200 Active Learning Theatre

Project Snapshot

Occupancy: December 2017
Project Manager: UBC Project Services – Anita Ryder
Project Coordinator: UBC Project Services – David Kosub
Room Capacity: 180

Project Summary

In 2016, UBC’s Learning Spaces Team in consultation with the academic community undertook a project that would see the transformation of an iconic traditional lecture theatre, Hennings 200, into UBC’s first collaborative lecture theatre.

The new HENN 200 layout allows for instruction to seamlessly switch between small group work and front-of-room teaching, without the need for furniture reconfigurations.  By providing amenities that support traditional lecturing as well as group activities, this classroom opens up options for instructors to engage with their class. The room design aims to better facilitate instructor-to-student and student-to-student interaction in a large class environment (180 students) that would not be possible in a traditional lecture theatre.

Features

Comfortable furniture: Adjustable and ergonomic chairs. Castors and swivel base provide flexibility and movement to encourage collaborative activities.

Flexible room layout: Participants can move around the room easily and instructional processes can occur in multiple places around the room. Furniture can be “nested” to stow efficiently, providing flexibility for a variety of uses.

Supports collaboration: Tables for groups of 4 encourage group work in a theatre style lecture room. It is possible to use the classroom for lecturing (front-of-room), large group discussions (per tier) or small group work (in 4’s).

New technology: Dual source projection, and multiple classroom technology sources which will permit simultaneous display of up to two different sources. Media Capture / Stream provides the ability to record and stream.

Strategic use of colour and lighting: Ample and comfortable lighting to support a variety of activities. Use of natural wood finishes to provide a comfortable environment to teach and learn in.

Sustainable building practices: Material selection strategies that promote cost-effective, durable, and low cost maintenance.

Accessibility considerations: Many considerations were implemented for accessibility. Automatic door openers assist wheelchair users into the classroom, ambidextrous writing surfaces do not differentiate based on the users dominant hand, listening assist systems and proper acoustic treatments help those who are hard on hearing, and ample screens and cameras provide legibility to the information being projected or written on the boards.