• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Chaminade University of Honolulu

Chaminade University of Honolulu

  • VISIT
  • APPLY
  • GIVE
  • STUDENTS
  • PARENTS
  • ALUMNI
  • FACULTY/STAFF
  • CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
  • Admissions
    • Admissions Home
    • Freshman Students
    • Transfer Students
    • Master’s & Doctoral Admissions
    • Flex: Online Undergraduate Students
    • Military Students
    • Non-Degree/Visiting Students
    • Experiential Honors Program
    • Early College Program
  • Tuition & Aid
    • Financial Aid Home
    • Tuition & Expenses
    • Scholarships
    • $5,000 Graduate Scholarship
    • Net Price Calculator
  • Academics
    • Academics Home
    • Office of Student Success
    • Academic Advising
    • Academic Programs
    • Career Development
    • Military Benefits
    • Registrar
    • Tutoring & Learning Services
    • Undergrad Research & Pre-Professional Programs
    • Sullivan Family Library
  • Student Life
    • About Student Life
    • Silversword Athletics
    • Student Activities and Leadership
    • Residence Life
    • Health Services
    • Marianist Leadership Center
    • Counseling Center
    • Campus Ministry
    • Campus Security
    • Dining Services
    • Bookstore
  • About
    • Chaminade University News
    • Our Story
    • Leadership
    • Strategic Plan 2019-2024
    • Mission & Rector
    • Facts & Rankings
    • Commencement
    • Accreditation & Memberships
    • Montessori Laboratory School
Search
×

Search this web site

The World is Our Classroom: E+ID Students Travel to Vancouver

March 4, 2020 by University Communications & Marketing

Every year, students in Chaminade’s Senior Commercial Design dream up a major project to execute.

And this year, they wanted to design a boutique hotel.

Environmental + Interior Design Students in Vancouver for their experiential learning field trip

Dr. Elizabeth Lockard, associate professor of Environmental + Interior Design, was on board with the idea. But she also threw in a few curve balls. She required that the hotel be situated in a cold climate, where students would have to insulate for below freezing temperatures and strong winter storms. She also said the students would need to use the metric system.

The stipulations were meant to be especially challenging to a class studying in oh-so-balmy Hawaii.

That’s why, Lockard said, a central component of the design class is to visit a destination where their project could be centered. The idea: allow students to see firsthand how a given environment can be incorporated into their final design.

To meet Lockard’s requirements, the group settled on Vancouver and started raising funds to make the trip.

Environmental + Interior Design Students in Vancouver for their experiential learning field trip

And last month, four seniors and Lockard jetted off to the city for some invaluable hands-on research.

From February 6 to 9, they walked the city, visiting art galleries, trekking up Grouse Mountain and touring hotels and a proposed project site.

They walked away knowing so much more about cold climate design than a book or a lecture could ever tell them, Lockard said, allowing them to understand a place “viscerally as well as intellectually.”

“It allowed them to internalize their knowledge in a way that it could not happen in the classroom alone,” she said.

Allisen Caberto, who hopes to graduate in May, said the real-world exercise was rich with “ah-ha! moments.”

“Rather than role-play hypothetically, you get to become part of the lesson,” she said.

Caberto added the trip also hammered home for her how vital it is to consider sustainability in a final design project. “Whatever we build and create has an impact on it, and so as designers who have a larger influence on building designs, we should try to build consciously and harmoniously with the natural environment to help reduce human footprint,” she said.

Environmental + Interior Design Students in Vancouver for their experiential learning field trip

“And from visiting Vancouver, it is visibly clear they keep the natural environment in mind and embrace the outdoors.”

Senior Elyssa Shirai also took the trip and said it left her “inspired.”

“Not only are you seeing a place that isn’t like Hawaii but also to take in the lifestyle of the people who live there, the amazing sceneries and different landscapes of that place,” she said. “There were many special moments on this trip.”

Lockard said one of the major takeaways for students is that interior design is a practical field that requires hands-on learning. She noted that details like pedestrian or vehicular traffic patterns can have a significant impact on a design and can’t be discerned solely by looking at a map.

The trip allowed the seniors to “internalize” their knowledge, she said.

That kind of transformational experience “could not happen in the classroom alone,” Lockard said.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Featured Story, Humanities, Arts & Design, Students Tagged With: Environmental + Interior Design

Chaminade University Logo

3140 Waialae Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii 96816

Contact Us
Phone: (808) 735-4711
Toll-free: (800) 735-3733

facebook twitter instagram youtube linkedin

Visit

  • Plan a Visit
  • Campus Map (PDF)
  • Events

Resources

  • Campus Security
  • Student Consumer Information
  • Institutional Review Board
  • Title IX / Nondiscrimination Policy
  • Emergency Information
  • Careers
  • Campus Incident Report
  • Privacy Policy

People

  • Students
  • Parents
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Staff
US News Badge US News Badge US News Badge

Footer

© Chaminade University of Honolulu

Terms and Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy