News Brief: Bridging Campuses
Student Lounge Connects Pittsburgh and Doha Campuses and Cultures
Pittsburgh is known as the City of Bridges and now a new student lounge at Carnegie Mellon's Pittsburgh campus may be the city's largest connector. It joins CMU's Pittsburgh campus with its campus in Doha, Qatar, 8,000 miles away.
The new student lounge dubbed the "Doha Room" in the Resnik Café is decorated with items from Qatar and has a sister room in Doha called the "Pittsburgh Room" that is decorated with memorabilia from Pittsburgh. Together, the two rooms aim to connect students and cultures.
The new spaces provide constant video conferencing via two large monitors and are intended to create gathering places that encourage interaction and collaboration between students at both campuses and to expand the university's global education initiatives.
The Doha Room in Pittsburgh is the vision of Kim Abel, director of Housing and Dining Services, who found inspiration in a presentation by students from IMPAQT (Initiating Meaningful Pittsburgh and Qatar Ties).
Ryan Woodring (MFA'10) painted a Sidra tree, a symbol of haven for scholars in one corner of the space. Details of the Doha Room also evoke design elements of the Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar building. Abel said the room includes similar stained-glass windows, carpets, arches and square cutouts in the walls. Seating in the room resembles the colorful tiered Majilis-style seating in the Qatar building's large assembly area.
Abel created the concept of the Doha Room and solicited pictures and ideas from faculty and staff who have visited Doha. Steve Gergely, associate director of Dining Services, and Quad3 architects helped to finalize the plan. The room was sponsored by Housing and Dining Services.
For more information on the Doha Room, contact Renee Camerlengo, assistant dean of Student Affairs, at 412-268-2075 or reneec@andrew.cmu.edu.
Above right: Ilker Baybars, will take over as dean of Carnegie Mellon's Qatar campus in August, and Mark Kamlet, executive vice president and provost, sit in the Doha Room in front of artwork painted by Ryan Woodring (MFA'10).
Above left: Students from the IMPAQT program helped open the new Doha Room on the Pittsburgh campus.