www.arch.columbia.edu

Designers at one9ine faced both conceptual and technical challenges as they redesigned the website for Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. With a mandate to work within an existing content management system, designers spent a lot of time early on figuring out what would be feasible to change and what wouldn't. From there, the one9ine team created new wireframes for the site and put on their creative problem-solving hats. A custom-built Flash movie, for example, works as an auto cropper to make sure new and existing photos appear at uniform sizes.

On the flip side, the school's dean wanted the site to break down barriers between the school's three disciplines. People knew about the architecture program but not much about the planning and preservation courses-or how the three disciplines intersect. The solution was to shift the focus from job titles to the work itself, something that was accomplished with a visual navigation system called the matrix. It features a grid with a variety of thumbnail project images that are perfect for browsing. "Ultimately, it does what they want," says Warren Corbitt, studio principal. "It takes the words and labels off." But for those with a literal bent, there's also a more traditional navigation system on the site.
Michelle Taute

one9ine
ART DIRECTOR: Warren Corbitt
DESIGNERS: Warren Corbitt, Lee Misenheimer
CLIENT: Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation
CONTACT: www.one9ine.com