SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

In 1991, MSU was the first School of Architecture in the US to require the purchase of a laptop computer for use in the Design Studios. Interior Designers were required to purchase computers beginning in 1995. The computer is used as one more "tool" in the designer's tool kit.

A NotePad in Every Backpack

by Michael Berk, 1991

A new paradigm exists...we have truly entered the Electronic Age. The only thing which holds us back is our hesitance to embrace the technology. The future lies with our students. The 1990’s demand that each student be a SMART Student (with access to computer networks via their own portable note pad). This is no longer a science fiction. Networks will be everywhere (and are everywhere). The SMART Student can and will be able to link into vast databases for information; the regional university will become an international university. Future machines will most likely communicate via micro-waves (like cellular phones). This device will also function as a TV, a telephone, a pager, a fax machine, and even a mailbox. You will use this computer at your desk and on your person. It will be small and ultra-compact. And it will be very economical. This new paradigm will challenge the current pedagogy of the physical separation of this electronic tool (which locates the machines in laboratories) from the traditional design tools normally found on the student's desk in the studio; the SMART student will have the electronic technology available to them at all times (on their person and at their desk) during their design process. The MSU School of Architecture has embraced this model; the following document will attempt to outline a method for implementation.

Commentary by Mick Hintz, 2006…
It seems that Professor Berk was right. In just over a decade most of his predictions have come true. Networks are, in fact, everywhere. Nearly every building on our campus has high-speed internet access. Many buildings and many open spaces on campus (including our sports stadia) are now WiFi hot spots. Every Starbucks has Internet Access. Vast databases of information are indeed available (Just try googling your own name). We watch DVDs, send emails, faxes, and instant messages with our computers (DVDs didn’t even exist in 1991). Products like Skype and iChat allow us to have George Jetson-like video conversations over IP. Nearly everyone on campus has a cell phone. You can use it to talk, email, text message, take pictures, and surf the web. Devices like Palm Treo and Blackberry have made access to information almost transparent (Just ask Paris Hilton). Technologies like WiFi, Bluetooth, and G3 allow us to connect wirelessly to information from even remote locations. Not only is there more information available, but it is more readily available. How did we ever find our way without MapQuest, OnStar, Google Earth, and GPS? How did we buy books before Amazon, or rare collectibles before ebay?