A school design for more than educating students

Being good stewards of public funds requires vision for needs well into the future without ignoring what’s going on right now. This is chal- lenging when it comes to new school buildings. Design needs have changed a lot since the era before the internet, when most city kids could walk to school in every grade.

“A school can no longer just be a school,” said Richard L. Porter, director of the new Master of Real Estate Development program in the School of Building Construction at Georgia Institution of Technology. “In the future it will have several uses throughout the day and the week into the weekend.”

This isn’t a brand new idea. About a decade ago, the American Architectural Foundation, in cooperation with Target Corp., hosted a forum called “School Design and Student Learning in the 21st Century” to look at chang- ing educational practices and how design could enhance those. Here are some high- lights from the report:

■ Recognize the paradigm change Designers must respond more quickly to the ongoing changes in teaching and learn- ing. The current models for school design are not evolving quickly enough, given what one participant called a “snowstorm of paradigm changes.” Flexibility must become a defining princi- ple in school design.

■ Create new links to the national education reform effort In the past, education reformers and designers have worked on separate but parallel tracks to improve our nation’s schools. What is missing is the creative link that allows both communities to join together to find ways to improve student achieve- ment.

■ Build for a changing student population There is a growing consen- sus among educators that American education should move toward universal prekindergarten programs. Architects must design new facilities to address the specific needs of these younger students. At the same time, the design community must recognize that an increasing percentage of K-12 stu- dents will be poor, members of minorities, or new immi- grants and will have a much greater need for additional social services. Seamlessly co-locating these services in the design of new schools is one clear way to help close the achievement gap.

■ Design for the age wave The impending retirement of millions of aging baby boomers in the next decade may dramatically expand the population of citizens who will want access to school facilities. Designing schools as community learning centers is one way to respond to the changing dynamics in this new era of lifelong learning.

■ Use technology to expand learning but recognize its limits Students commonly have personal computers and other multimedia communication tools, and this shift is leading to a major redefini- tion of work spaces in school facilities. Even as technology gives students greater free- dom to learn anytime and anywhere, technology has its limits. Schools still provide what students most need — access to teachers who provide wisdom and meaning in a rapidly changing world.

■ Design for health, safety and sustainability The importance of daylight and indoor air quality are now givens for increasing student achievement. Other environ- mental factors, including lighting, sound, heating, and nontoxic materials, deserve greater attention.