On March 8, 2018 we celebrated the dedication of the B. E. & W. R. Miller BuildLab, where we heard from our University leadership, students, and donors about the transformational effect that this gift will have on future generations of Architecture students. The B.E. & W.R. Miller BuildLab, designed by Professor Rocco Ceo, provides a home for the design/build program where students execute an architectural project from beginning to end in a safe and properly equipped environment. As part of the hands-on learning process, the students are currently tasked with completing the furnishings and interior and exterior details of the open-air building, which has a 40-foot by 40-foot concrete frame with 17.5-feet-high ceilings.
Students’ designs were typically built out in the open, exposed to the elements, in the School of Architecture courtyard but, with the BuildLab, there is now a dedicated space for students to bring their ideas to life and at full-scale.
“The students not only solve problems on paper, they actually build the solutions,” said Dean Rudy el-Khoury, “the BuildLab plunges them into the messy reality of the physical world, an experience that is increasingly missing from the digitized realm of design.”
Each semester, students build a project for a community partner, and the BuildLab program continues to seek funding for ongoing operation.
For more information, to take a tour, or to make a donation to the BuildLab program, please contact Lisa Merritt at LMerritt@miami.edu or 305-284-5841.
Read more, Weatherpoof Learning!
