Regina Public School Division’s new schools focus on flexible learning environments

Every child has a different way of learning. For example, some work better in large groups, while others prefer to work individually. To accommodate the learning styles of all students, the new Douglas Park and Arcola elementary schools incorporate learning environments that are much more flexible than the traditional models.

“We all learn in different ways — there’s different styles of learning — so we try to adapt to kids’ needs so that they … can learn in a way that they need to learn,” said Dixie Nelson, principal of Douglas Park School.

The teams at P3Architecture Partnership (P3A) and Number TEN Architectural Group, the architects of Arcola Community School and Douglas Park School respectively, took this ideal to heart when preparing their designs. They created buildings that could utilize traditional classrooms, but that could also turn those traditional classrooms into something a little unexpected.

Each of the classrooms — or learning studios — comes equipped with large overhead doors that can be lowered or raised, depending on how much space a class needs. This gives teachers the options of combining classes for larger projects, letting kids spread out into smaller groups, or letting some students work individually while others combine efforts, among other scenarios. All in all, everyone involved felt it would be the perfect way to address all learning needs while allowing students some room for creativity.

“The way of delivering education for the 21st century is teaching creativity, because creativity is the key to understanding how pieces go together in our world,” said James Youck, project director on the Arcola Community School design team. “So, our philosophy is the educational space should allow this to happen and not stand in the way of it. And teachers want to do this, there are not many teachers that are not interested in … teaching this way.”

The creative learning processes don’t end with the classrooms. Certain elements of the buildings are exposed, with signs explaining what’s going on, so that the schools could be treated as “3-D textbooks.”

“When you walk in the front door there’s a cut-away in the floor where we have a glass floor that shows off all of the heating piping in the floor and all of the structure,” said Greg Hasiuk, principal architect on the Douglas Park School design team. “Then adjacent to that glass floor is a glass wall, and the wall … shows all of the studs and the insulation and the electrical boxes and the wiring and the plumbing in the wall. And then there’s also a glass ceiling above that that shows off the ductwork and the heat pump.” There is also a similar cutaway for the elevator shaft.

Arcola Community School utilized cutouts in much the same way, as well as composite beams in the school’s atrium that demonstrate how the structure works.

But despite their similarities, both schools have distinct features requested by those schools’ communities that make them unique.

When designing the Arcola Community School, the P3A team incorporated “Saskatchewan” as the school’s theme. As a result, the building features such elements as a “waterfall-style” staircase that pools into a river running through the school, tree-trunk columns that lead up to a canopy-style balcony, a patchwork-field carpet and a living wall. The roof of the building is a green space where plants that are found throughout the province can be grown.

The Douglas Park School community, on the other hand, chose to “Bring the ‘park’ back to ‘Douglas Park.’ ” The school features lots of glass, which brings the outside in, plenty of trees in the courtyard, an indoor commons area that looks like a grove of trees and an abundance of natural light.

“[The natural light] has made a huge difference, I think, especially during the winter months when it’s dark so long. Having the natural light during the day is a real bonus,” said Nelson.

Both design teams worked with the students, teachers and members of the community to design the schools. This collaboration, Youck and Hasiuk said, led to many of the schools’ design elements, particularly the themes. Both schools were rebuilt because of the Regina Public Schools Structural Innovation plan and involved the assistance of educational planner Fielding Nair International.

The design team for Douglas Park School included Hasiuk (principal-in-charge), Gabe Derksen (project architect), Robin Lalonde (interior designer) and Don Miller (contract administrator) Number TEN (architect of record), Brownlee Beaton Kreke Consulting Engineers (structural engineer), Mechanical Design Group (mechanical engineer), Ritenburg & Associates (electrical engineer), Clifton Associates Ltd. (civil engineer), Crosby Hanna & Associates (landscape architect), Daniel Lyzun & Associates Ltd. (acoustical engineer), Demand Side Energy Management (commissioning agent), Enermodal Engineering (sustainability/ LEED), and Westridge Construction (general contractor).

The design team for Arcola Community School included Youck, Vanessa Keilback (project architect), Patrick Kelly (principal-in-charge), Sherry Hastings (job captain), Sarah Turnbull (lead interior designer), Deb Christie (furniture/learning environment), David Powell (landscape architect), JC Kenyon Engineering (structural engineer), MacPherson Engineering (mechanical engineer), Alfa Engineering (electrical engineer), Associated Engineering (civil engineer), Daniel Lyzun & Associates (acoustical engineer),. Riley Slywka (landscape architect, City of Regina), P3A (sustainable design/LEED), and Westridge Construction (general contractor).