The F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College has recently renovated the Olin 125 classroom to enhance design thinking and entrepreneurial thought and action. The completely remodeled classroom was specifically designed to enable collaboration, creative thinking and problem solving.
The renovation was inspired by the recent surge in new graduate programs and courses that employ design methods to teach entrepreneurial approaches that required more classroom space that enables and supports innovation. Since innovative problem solving is an essential goal in the MSM degree program, faculty and staff sought to recreate the space to help shape the culture and habits of a creative learning community.
Design Zone 125 will serve as home to LEAP (Leading Entrepreneurial Action project) in the MSM program and the MBA Product Design and Development course. Also, the Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship course, taught jointly with Olin College and Massachusetts College of Art and Design, will also utilize the room. On Mondays and Fridays, the design zone is open studio space for all graduate students and staff.
Outside of Design Zone 125 in the upper left hallway, there are cubbies and hooks made available to students. This allows students to hang up their white boards so they can revisit the space and continue to work even when the classroom is in use. Nan Langowitz, Associate Dean of the Graduate School emphasized that Design Zone 125 shows Babson’s commitment to our pedagogy and investment in interactive learning and new forms of teaching.