Post-VA Tech: Designing with an Eye on Security

The following is the perspective of Chris Waltz, a senior associate at Steffian Bradley Architects’ Enfield, Conn., office. He is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

For me, it started as an e-mail from my college roommate with a link and the simple phrase “Something bad is happening at Tech.”  Although I was thousands of miles away working in the London office of Steffian Bradley Architects at the time, when I clicked the link and saw the events playing out at Virginia Tech, I was instantly transported back to Blacksburg, Va.  The images on the monitor were both familiar and surreal, and from that moment forward the peaceful college campus where I had spent nearly a decade of my life would be changed forever.

I earned multiple degrees at Virginia Tech and credit my time there with a vast amount of personal and professional growth.  Many of my second and third year classes were held in Norris Hall, as it was a primary classroom building for engineering lectures and labs.  The beautiful collegiate gothic building is typical of many classroom buildings constructed in the mid-20th century -- with long, double-loaded corridors to maximize useable space and stairs and exits located to allow for an orderly evacuation in case of fire.  Most classrooms hold about 50 people and have a single door.  It is likely that the people who designed this building were more concerned about nuclear fallout than a student rampaging through the corridors with an automatic weapon, but that is exactly what happened on April 16, 2007, when Seung-Hui Cho murdered 30 of his 32 victims in this building in the deadliest school shooting in United States history.

In the wake of this tragic event, which occurred three years ago today, there have been significant changes at my alma mater as well as other institutions of higher learning and also within my profession. The administration at Virginia Tech was criticized and praised in equal measure for their handling of the situation, but in true Hokie fashion they have moved forward to become a leader in implementing campus alert systems utilizing the internet, e-mail, text messaging, telephones, electronic message boards, and campus sirens and loudspeakers, creating a multiple-redundant system that has been replicated on campuses across the country and has, in fact, become the norm.

As architects we are left to work out what we can do to help stem the tide of campus violence that we experienced firsthand over the past year with violence at a number of campuses, including the University of Connecticut, Florida International University, and Yale. As a profession, we generally agree that the “open” campus model going back hundreds of years is something we do not want to lose; after all, would Yale’s Old Campus or Harvard Yard retain their character if they were dotted with metal-detector check points? Obviously the design solution has to be more subtle and work in tandem with technology and communication to create a campus that is welcoming and yet as safe as possible.       

For buildings, entrances and exits are a good place to start.  When I heard that Cho was holed up in Norris Hall, I immediately feared the worst since I remembered the traditional “crash bars” at all exits which could easily be chained and padlocked.  Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened, leaving the students trapped inside.  Contemporary push-pad exit devices allow the same ease of exit in case of an emergency but can only be locked by an authorized person using a key.

In the classrooms themselves, a helpful security option is to provide an emergency push-button intercom connected directly to campus or local security akin to what is used in banks or in nurse-call systems.  By using Internet connections already in the classroom it would be possible for professors or students to quickly call for help in case of classroom violence or just a common medical emergency.  

In addition to the buildings themselves there is also the concern about the campus at-large, which is typically dealt with through the campus masterplan.  While building shape and placement is usually considered for program, adjacencies, and overall aesthetics, it is also important to consider sightlines and views between buildings, the location of lights and emergency call-boxes, as well as multiple paths for evacuating a space.  These concepts have always been a concern for individual crimes such as muggings and rape, but perhaps it is time to consider that large groups of people may need to exit a section of campus quickly to avoid an individual intent on doing harm to as many people as possible. 

Steffian Bradley Architects recently completed a project at Lasell College (Mass.), which constructed much-needed parking. The underground garage has a green roof on top of it, creating a new residential quad for the school. By providing a wide-open grassy quad in place of a congested surface parking lot we were able to provide a space that was not only more student-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing, but also more sustainable and much safer.

After discussions with many of my colleagues, it is clear that none of us believe we can solve the issues of campus security with architecture alone. It needs to be a combination of design, communication, and technology, resulting from a focused discussion between the university and the designers.  If thinking more about safety in our designs helps to save just one student, faculty, or staff member, then it will be time well spent.

Comments

[BT]

Really interesting stuff, Chris. My department at a southern school had tons of meetings about things just like this after VT a few years back. Does Steffian Bradley Architects do schools all over the country, or just in New England. How can we get in touch with you?

[Baker452]

So sad that we have to think about security in design, but from my perspective of 20 years in admissions and other admin, this is something parents ask about now.

[Chris]

BT - thanks for the comment and yes, SBA does work throughout the US and overseas so I would be happy to speak with you. You can contact me at cwaltz@steffian.com or 860.627.1922, whichever works best for you.