Mary Jo Olenick: Architecture Is a Partner in Human Performance

Mary Jo Olenick has been this month’s Buildings & Grounds guest blogger.

Mary Jo Olenick

My Chronicle blogging experience has been interesting.

Although I thought that my professional experience had prepared me for deadline-driven creativity and that I was a natural “idea guy,” this writing thing was different. Harder and more fun—like learning how to ride a bicycle.

It gave me the chance to define what architecture is (at least from my perspective): not just a passive, artful container of human activity, but a partner in human performance.

It was also a soap box from which I could shout encouragement to the higher-education establishment:

Build residence halls that are relevant to today’s 18-to-22-year-olds, rather than reconstructing the buildings that inhabit our memories of baby-boomer college life.

Make architecture that embraces people, not architectural sculptures that are too precious to occupy.

Think small when it comes to space—consider that scarcity breeds ingenuity, while abundance more often leads to empty extravagance.

If higher education is about teaching and discovery, we need to find ways to measure our impact—as architects and planners—on both. Right now the approach is often to apply corporate metrics like revenue, growth, and productivity. But is bigger really better when it comes to building environments that inspire and enable creative thinking?

Thanks for listening.

Mary Jo Olenick is an architect who leads the S/L/A/M Collaborative’s higher-education practice. Read her earlier posts here, here, and here.