
Richard T Farmer School of Business
Miami University
Location:
Oxford, Ohio
Architect:
Architect of Record:
Moody Nolan, Inc.
Design Architect:
Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP
Construction Cost:
$45 million
Project Size:
225,000 SF
LEED Certification:
LEED Silver
The mission of the Richard T. Farmer School of Business is to be a premier business program committed to providing students with a lifelong ability to seek and acquire knowledge and translate it into responsible action in a competitive global environment. Primarily focusing on undergraduate programs, the school does offer three graduate programs.
The architectural style of the structure matches the buildings on Miami University’s campus because it mirrors the red-brick Georgian Revival style. Variations in roof line and architectural elements create an exterior that is visually interesting and harmonious. The interior space reflects a shift toward small group work, seminar instruction, and experimental learning. The new building has 12 case classrooms, a student commons, café, eight cluster rooms, three standard rooms, three seminar rooms, one trading room, a small and large auditorium, four teaching labs and 136 faculty offices. The building has received LEED Silver Certification.
As a signature building for the campus, the structure had complicated interior and exterior architecture. There are a number of very unique steel framing solutions utilized within the structure. The floor of the large auditorium is sloped and is constructed on sloped steel beams and composite deck. Since the floor slope is radial, the slopes of the beams vary and the composite metal deck was warped to follow the varying floor slope. The balcony layout of the risers in the auditorium balcony is also radial so each riser is supported on a pair of curved steel beams with the composite floor deck supported on the top flange of one beam and the bottom flange of the adjacent beam as the riser steps up the balcony.