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The Near Future

Meet Griffin Hall, the new home of Informatics — a unique and inviting state-of-the-art facility where a new generation of professionals will build our region's information economy. Purpose-designed to attract and retain artists, musicians, doctors, entrepreneurs and scientists, Griffin Hall will supply new workforce talent, technically skilled and broadly prepared, to the region.

The photo above changes daily, reflecting the current progress of the construction project. View a Progress Update and Slideshow

Recently, students in the Media Informatics program created a short animation that places a fellow student at the heart of a rapidly building Griffin Hall.

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A Groundbreaking Building

On Thursday, May 28 2009, Northern Kentucky University and the College of Informatics broke ground on Griffin Hall.

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The heart of the future NKU campus

Griffin Hall will create a distinctive place that is the physical manifestation of the College of Informatics' notable curriculum — a visible representation of the robust, ubiquitous technology, and the intense collaboration that characterizes it. This singular and memorable building will be physically and socially integrated into the NKU campus. By integrally connecting the building to the campus, parts of the building and its neighbors form a calm backdrop to the most public, emblematic, interactive place that we have called the Informatics Common.

The prominent entrance leading the the Center, as defined in the master plan, will become the main entrance for the campus.

The West Oval is the forecourt to Griffin Hall's dramatic east front. From here the Informatics Common, with the digitorium at its center, is fully visible. This tall, two-story space is the heart of the building and the most intensive intersection between the social and digital world of the facility.

Flexible, dynamic, state-of-the-art spaces

The ground floor of the Informatics Commons sweeps as a continuous place out to the west oval, welcoming the campus to the building. It is surrounded by actively used spaces — the "genius bar" — a sort of multidiscipline technology help desk, research flex space, the café and the digitorium. The café opens onto the space and outside onto the shaded east porch, defined by the columns that support the glassy "skirt" around the digitorium.

The two-story digitorium is the physical and technological center of the space. The first floor of the two-story digitorium is accessible from the ground floor, the boxes and seating from the second floor (accessible by a gently curved stair and balcony that will serve as study and meeting space). Inside the digitorium is completely reconfiguraable, equipped with A/V and related technology to watch, interact with, and create information and knowledge in a comprehensive learning environment.

The building's controlled transparency literally reflects the Center's purpose. The transparent skin reveals the form of the digitorium at its center and the images on its surface, but it also allows us to look into the building and see the human interaction that is ultimately the Center's most complex and valuable system.

The balance of the building is arranged in simple, economical loft volumes. Classrooms and labs are in the lower two floors so that students can easily come or go at class change time. Administrative functions are on the third floor, and faculty offices on the fourth floor create an optimum research environment.

Download the Proposed Design and Concept document