Using Design Thinking to Inspire Students to Build for the Future

Gilbane Partners with Northwood School for an Innovation Hack focused on Building for the Future

Sparking ideas, inspiring inclusive and collaborative thinking, and encouraging problem-solving are all critical components to educating the next generation of builders. In support of our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) journey, we partnered with the Northwood School in Lake Placid, NY to develop a unique learning event for students.

Utilizing Design Thinking principles, our team worked with Stacy Prime, Chief Innovation Officer and Director of the Innovation Hub, of Northwood School to design and facilitate a half-day Innovation Hack centered on the Building For the Future – specifically addressing athletic facilities.

Bringing Innovation and State-of-the-Art Technology to Students

The day started off with an inspirational discussion by Jamie Graham, of Cannon Design, who provided the students with design approaches and how the firm engages with various stakeholders to deliver places of the future.  She was followed by Rawle Sawh, Director of VDC for the New York Division and Jonathan Struthers, VDC Manager for New York City.  Rawle provided context around the state of construction and what we do and how we use technology to automate and communicate with our clients, design teams and end-users.  Jonathan demonstrated the latest technology in virtual design and construction including how we use drones and 3D modeling to bring concepts to workable solutions and award-winning facilities.

As a special treat, Coach Ryan Davis, Director of Football Strength and Conditioning, from the University of Maryland gave the students perspective around how he as the end user, engaged with the design and construction team to provide the most innovative facility to meet the needs of his athletes.  He talked about things that were going through his mind at various points in the design development and how the technology helped with the visualization and ultimately a state of the art facility (Jones-Hill House) that was constructed by Gilbane.

After listening to the design team, the construction team and the end user, the students were asked to participate in a stakeholder value analysis that included evaluating key concerns to include financial, functional, and emotional needs that should be considered in an Athletic Building of the Future.  This included thinking through key community members and how this facility would be a benefit to all.

Once the students discussed and assessed design needs and considerations, they broke into groups and created prototypes and developed their story boards used to pitch their ideas to the fellow students and our team.

The students were supported and challenged in the prototype development and pitch preparation by school staff and rotating mentors. They reflected that this was a fun and challenging event and that they enjoyed seeing inspiring ideas from other facilities.  Awards were handed out for most sustainable, collaborative, futuristic, end user engaging and best overall.

It was a great day, and we hope we inspired some future designers and builders – and who knows maybe even future clients! Click here to access our full  2021 Gilbane Cares Report – Our Blueprint for Impact, which highlights our priorities, actions, and initiatives.