By Faith Talamantez
As the academic year opened this week, students and faculty were full of praise for UC Santa Barbara’s most recent building project, as they easily adjusted to modern, airy classroom spaces, fitted with the latest technology.
This fall marks half a year since the Interactive Learning Pavilion opened its doors, serving dozens of departments in the College of Letters and Sciences.
“I definitely feel more engaged, mostly because of the natural light keeping me awake,” said third year Writing and Literature major Jasmine Liang. “My experience is definitely a lot more comfortable in ILP.”
Students outside of the Interactive Learning Pavilion.
With its gleaming staircase and gorgeous views, the ILP is wedged between the Library and the Psychology building. The project was approved for construction in 2019, and now, $97 million and four years later, the building has become a popular place to study. Its variety of classrooms and seating spaces host upwards of 2000 students a day.
Those heading in and out of lectures and labs this week described it as an exhilarating change of pace to learn in a classroom that is clean, spacious, and up to date, adding a newfound sense of importance to their learning.
The building offers a plethora of different learning spaces, including lecture halls, study spaces, classrooms, and computer labs. From new projector systems to wheeled desks, many of the classrooms are equipped to teach students with state-of-the art educational methods that focus on collaboration and discussion.
“I really like it because when they were designing the spaces it is clear that they were paying attention to current needs of pedagogy,” said Katie Baillargeon, a continuing lecturer in UCSB’s Writing Program. “I appreciate the flexibility of the classroom and having the resources ready in the room.”
The main entrance of the new Interactive Learning Pavilion (ILP)
Baillargeon now calls ILP her new favorite place to teach. “It’s a nicer space and it’s newer, so people just automatically are happier to be there,” she said, reflecting her students’ opinions of the building as well.
The project was designed to address a huge lack of classroom seats in proportion to UCSB’s enrollment. Whether it be in study spaces with available whiteboards and markers, or at one of the comfortable couches outside, there is plenty of room for students to get their homework done, and appreciate the weather in Santa Barbara.
The university has yet to announce publicly any plans to continue to updating classrooms, but there are four different development plans in the works to build new student housing for students at UCSB.
Faith Talamantez is a third year Writing and Literature major. She is a Web and Social Media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.