Alter Hall at a glance

LOCATION: 13TH Street and Montgomery Avenue, connected to Speakman Hall.

SQUARE FOOTAGE: 206,073

NUMBER OF STORIES:  Seven-story building with eight floors

ESTIMATED COST:   $79 million

CONSTRUCTION START: November 2006

ANTICIPATED OPENING: September 2008

ARCHITECT:  Michael Graves and Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann

Alter Hall Features

The Fox School’s technology-rich building facilitates teaching, learning and collaboration, and simulates a business environment.

Atrium

Images by Michael Graves and Bill Hurt

INNOVATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

Case study rooms: 13 tiered case study rooms seat up to 72 students and are equipped with two projectors, two screens, class capture capability, wireless Internet, and power at each desk. Larger rooms have video conferencing and “push-to-talk” amplification and recording.

Seating: Case room seats swivel 360 degrees to facilitate group work.

Pivoting rows: Computer lab desks pivot to change from straight rows to quadrants to facilitate group work.

Podiums: Localized room control stations are height adjustable, equipped with a computer, a tablet to capture an instructor’s handwritten notes, and audio, visual and lighting controls with memorization feature for the settings of each class.

“Smart” classroom management: Network-based control systems allow opening/closing rooms, AV/computer troubleshooting, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication to the control room.

ELEMENTS THAT ENCOURAGE COLLABORATION

Atrium: Three-story open space and entry point with steerable speakers for enhanced acoustics.  Also features an 84” electronic display for television programming and electronic messaging.

Breakout rooms: More than two dozen rooms accommodate up to 10 people each and are equipped with a whiteboard, surround sound, a large plasma screen, a table wired for power and Internet, a computer, a DVD/VCR console, and a touch-panel room reservation system.

Communicating staircase and collaboration hallway: Faculty area connects 126 new offices on four floors to facilitate interaction among faculty, staff and students.

Collaboration rooms: Small spaces for faculty brainstorming are equipped with whiteboard image-capture software.

Conference rooms: Larger collaboration spaces are equipped with projection equipment or a large plasma screen, a computer, surround sound, tables wired for power and Internet, and a DVD/VCR console.

M.B.A. Commons: Doubles as a lounge for M.B.A. students and a special events space accommodating more than 400 people standing, 270 seated. Room is equipped with a prep kitchen and staging room, two drop-down projection screens and recessed projectors, a smart podium, ambient lighting, Internet access, cable TV, and audio and video conferencing.

Student Lounge

Images by Michael Graves and Bill Hurt

Undergraduate commons: Lounge for undergraduate students conveniently located near breakout rooms and classrooms has Internet stations scattered throughout. Students can access the Internet wirelessly while lounging on chairs with tablet arms to provide extra work surface area.

Student lounge: 4,200-square-footlounge on first floor doubles as a presentation space equipped with an oversized drop-down screen and media center, and is encircled by  what is believed to be the longest stock ticker at a U.S. university.

Main auditorium: High-tech theater seats 270 people, has a custom-built contoured screen, laser and LED lighting, seats with Ethernet and power outlets, and the ability to narrowcast events throughout the complex. Circular stock ticker displays up-to-the-minute stock market data and electronic messages for students and faculty.

FEATURES THAT SIMULATE A BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Business Simulation Center/Trading Room: Lab designed to give students hands-on experience performing business transactions, including managing supply chains, trading stocks and bonds, and running business scenarios. Students can invest real money allotted by the school for real profit. Three projectors and screens allow real-time display of stock data, as well as data from student and faculty workstations.  An elliptical ceiling mirrors the shape of the student lounge and is accentuated by LED lighting.  The room is illuminated by glare-free up lighting reflected by the ceiling.

Interview rooms: 13 interview rooms with digital recording devices.

Recruiting offices: Lounge for recruiters and visitors offers food, comfortable furniture, phones and computers.

— Julia Straka
For the Fox School of Business and Management

Fox School to break ground for new building