31 Global School Design
Principles
Excerpt From:
C. Kenneth Tanner & Jeff Lackney (2006).
Educational Planning:
Leadership, Architecture, and Management. Boston: Pearson
- Allyn & Bacon.
Trends in
Educational Architecture
The body of knowledge concerning well-designed learning environments is
contained in the following
31 global school design
principles that appear to have currency in today’s school
planning and design. These principles are derived from a variety of
sources: from the reflective practice of educators and design
professionals to the empirical research of environmental psychologists
and educational researchers. Each school design principle takes as an
underlying premise that all learning environments should be
learner-centered, developmentally- and age-appropriate, safe,
comfortable, accessible, flexible, and equitable in addition to being
cost effective. These premises run through all principles and should be
understood to moderate the appropriateness of each principle in
practice. The school design principles are presented here as an
extended checklist format that can be used at a guide for a school
design visioning process.
No single school building process will be able to address and implement
all of these principles; some may not apply to the situation, others
might not be appropriate because of budgetary limitations. Certainly,
if school size research suggests learner groupings of one hundred,
building a school this small may not be cost effective – other
principles may need to be employed in combination to meet this
principle, such as the principle of creating schools within schools,
although we do not recommend this as a solution to poor planning and
designs of the past.
The chapter is divided into principles for site and building
organization, principles for primary educational space, principles for
shared school and community facilities, community spaces, principles
related to the character of all spaces, and principles related to site
design and outdoor learning spaces.
Principles for Site & Building
Organization
Many of the principles for site and building organization have evolved
from earlier forms but have taken on new significance in twenty-first
century school design. For instance, neighborhood schools, a
cornerstone of early nineteenth century schools has taken on new
significance with controversies to end ‘forced’ busing in urban school
districts as well as create smaller learning communities. There is a
new emphasis on formalizing the learning that can take place within the
surrounding community of the school. In addition, the size and scale of
school buildings is being seriously challenged. Schools are becoming
smaller and more intimate in many urban school centers. Finally,
buildings are being organized in ways that help transition from smaller
home environments that are safe, secure and inviting.
1. Plan Schools as Neighborhood-Scaled Community Learning Centers
The potential exists to transform the traditional school building into
a community-learning center that serves the educational needs of the
entire population in the community. Typically, a community-learning
center can be created by interlacing residential neighborhoods, various
existing community and school organizations, functions and
facilities (Bingler et al, 2003; Decker & Romney, 1994,
August; US Dept of Ed., 1999, April; OECD, 1996). The community school
most often functions as a cohesive facility or network of closely
adjacent facilities (Hodgin, 1998, January; Fanning/Howey Associates,
1995). Locating the community-learning center in neighborhoods will
provide a symbolic identity for that community. Facilities that are
close to the neighborhoods of the children they serve provide
opportunities for children to walk and bike with the added public
health benefit of increasing their physical activity, rather than
relying on more costly modes of transportation. Community schools often
will provide a variety of services, at flexible schedules, accessible
by people of different backgrounds. By providing facilities accessible
for the entire community, the center will create increased involvement
and awareness of the value of education (Warner & Curry, 1997).
School facilities that act as true community centers serve the broader
societal goals of providing the setting for meaningful civic
participation and engagement at the local level.
2. Plan for Learning to Take Place Directly in the Community
A variety of social and economic factors have created an environment in
which many educators recognize that learning happens all the time and
in many different places (Duke, 1999, February). The school building is
just one place learning takes occurs. While the school building is
often perceived as a community center, the idea of embracing the whole
community as a learning environment has evolved in a complementary
fashion. Educational programs can, and are taking advantage of
educational resources in urban, suburban and rural settings alike.
Formal educational program partnerships have been established with
museums, zoos, libraries, other public institutions, as well as local
business workplace settings (Bingler et al, 2003; Fielding, 1999).
In addition, increasing costs of public spending for education has
encouraged the sharing of school and community facilities that prevent
cost duplication of similar facilities such as gymnasiums, auditoriums,
performance spaces, and conferencing facilities (Fanning/Howey
Associates, 1995; OECD, 1995, 1996). Sharing facilities can also
realize long-term maintenance and operating cost savings over the life
of the building. Sharing school facilities with a variety of community
organizations may foster meaningful inter-organizational partnerships
that can strengthen educational opportunities for learners.
3. Create Smaller Schools
Barker and Gump (1964) in their classic book “Big School, Small School”
demonstrated through their research that small schools (100-150), in
comparison with large schools (over 2,000) offer students greater
opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities and to
exercise leadership roles. In particular, they found that participation
in school activities; student satisfaction, number of classes taken,
community employment, and participation in social organizations have
all been found to be greater in small schools relative to large
schools. Garbarino (1980) later found that, small schools, on the order
of 500 or less, have lower incidence of crime levels and less serious
student misconduct. Subsequent research by others suggests a negative
relationship between mathematics and verbal ability tests and
elementary school size controlling for socio-economic differences
(Fowler, 1992; Howley, 1994, June). Additionally, the same
research indicates that smaller elementary schools particularly benefit
African-American students’ achievement.
For educational planners and architects the research on small schools
suggests that the size of learner groupings should be roughly between
60-75 students in pre-school, 200-400 students in elementary school,
400-600 in middle school and not more than 600-800 students in
secondary school (Raywid, 1996, 1999; Lashway, 1998-99, Winter;
Irmsher, 1997). If a community learning center must house more than 75
preschoolers, 400 elementary or middle-school students, or more than
800 high-school students, it is often recommended that the facility be
decentralized not just in the size of student body, but also
curriculum,
administration and architecture. Architectural forms of these smaller
units may include a village, campus, or multi-faceted building
comprised of a series of interconnected schools-within-a-school for a
maximum of 400 students. Another strategy for reducing the scale of
educational facilities is to distribute and network various school and
community functions throughout the neighborhood in both new and
existing sites.
4. Respect Contextual Compatibility While Providing Design Diversity
As real estate development sprawl has expanded, the principle of
creating well-defined neighborhoods has been ignored in urban planning.
While a strong neighborhood may not directly influence educational
performance, the sense of cohesion experienced by community members may
help increase parental involvement in neighborhood schools. Research
has shown that parental involvement in the school is critical to a
learner’s success. By creating a contextually compatible school, people
may feel that the school is part of the neighborhood, and in turn, part
of them. While maintaining a sense of continuity through contextual
design, creating diversely designed environments that have their own
identity is equally important in enabling community members to
recognize the school as a symbol of their community (Moore &
Lackney, 1994).
Well-defined neighborhoods blend schools into the pattern and character
of the local, surrounding community. In a complementary fashion, one
might create differently styled schools with for example, variations on
the overall design theme, to respond to the need for community identity
and as a response to active parental, children, teachers,
administration, and community participation (OECD, 1996).
5. Consider Home as a Template for School
The transition from the home setting to institutional settings such as
the school environment can be stressful, especially for younger
children in childcare settings. Experience tells us that building in
physical and social home-like characteristics may reduce anxiety on the
part of both parent and child, help children feel more comfortable and
enable the student to concentrate on learning (Moore et. al., 1979).
Use friendly, "home-like" elements and materials in the design of the
school at all scales when appropriate and possible (Crumpacker, 1995).
Home-like characteristics might include: creating smaller groupings of
students often called “families” in the middle school philosophy,
designing appropriately-scaled elements, locating restrooms near
instructional areas, providing friendly and welcoming entry sequences,
creating residentially sloping roofs, and creating enclosed
‘back-yards’ (Moore et. al., 1979). Use familiar and meaningful
elements from the surrounding residential neighborhood as the
"template" for the imagery of the new school.
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