Brief History of School Design

1800s One room school houses with one teacher who was responsible for the education of all grade levels. Churches and homes were places for education as well. In most small towns schools and churches were the social centers of the community.

1806-1840Schools were often dirty noisy and ill suited to the process of education. As populations grew and the country become more urbanized the need for larger schools with assembly line like curriculum and larger rooms were created.

These large rooms consisted of rows of benches similar to churches.

1840-1850The evolution of the large room schools led to smaller rooms off the large room.This was the beginning of sorting and grouping the children by age and putting them in their own room with a separate teacher. This also started the promotion of one grade to the next. This occurred mainly in urban areas while rural areas stayed with one and two room schools.

1848 – PresentAs the delivery of education became more sophisticated—expansion of subjects, extended use of text books, lengthening of the school year, and so on—it was a natural step to sort the students into groupings by age.

The design response was a four story building design to hold hundreds of students. The first three floors had a series of four classrooms opening onto a common corridor. Each classroom housed 50 plus students. But that number reduced as curriculum changed. The introduction of gymnasiums and music rooms added to the building design.

The look of the schools varied based on community and location.

NowFlexible Learning Environments – Classrooms and areas that can be opened up to include more students or spaces that create a small intimate teaching environment

Sustainable Practices – Use of “green” materials, buildings that create their own energy, buildings that work with the environment.

Day lighting – Bringing in effective natural daylight to areas of the building.

Community Based schools – Schools that are open to the community that they are in.

School Building as a teaching model – Buildings that teach the users how their systems work.

Sidwell Friends Middle School by Kieran Timberlake www.kierantiberlake.com

www.rvca.ca/new_building/green.html

WASTE WATER, STORMWATER AND DOMESTIC HOT WATERMANAGEMENT SCHEMATIC

VIEW OF PLANTED ROOF, GARDEN, AND SOLAR CHIMNEYS

RECLAIMED WOOD CLADDING

SUSTAINABILITY LEARNING CENTER

High School for the Visual and Performing Arts

SITE ANALYSIS

Natural Physical Features – Contours of site, drainage patterns, soil type, trees, rocks, ridges, valleys, pools, and ponds

Man-Made Features – Walls, curb cuts, fire hydrants, power poles, and paving patters.

Circulation – Vehicular and pedestrian movement patterns on and around the site.

Utilities – Electricity, gas, sewer, water and telephone.

Sensory – Visual, audible, tactile and olfactory aspects of the site.

Human and Cultural – Analysis of surrounding neighborhood in terms of culture, psychological, behavioral and sociological aspects.

Climate – Knowing conditions such as rainfall, snowfall, humidity, and temperature variations over months of the year as well as prevailing wind direction, sun-path and vertical sun angles.

Basic School OrganizationBasic School Areas

AdministrationClassroomsMultipurpose/CafeteriaGymOutdoor areaLibrary

HIGH PERFORMANCE TOOLS TO UTILIZE

WATER: rain water harvesting, on-site wastewater treatment, storm water management, xeriscape landscaping, high-efficiency irrigation systems, biofiltration, water-saving plumbing fixtures

ENERGY: photovoltaics, passive solar strategies, external sun shades, wind turbines, high-performance building envelopes, ground source geothermal combined with heat pumps, thermal mass, high-efficiency mechanical systems with web-based or computer controls, green roofs, “cool” roofs

INDOOR AIR QUALITY: natural ventilation, solar chimneys, displacement ventilation, wind walls, use of low-VOC materials

RECYCLED AND GREEN MATERIALS: construction site recycling, recycled content in building materials, certified green building materials

TRANSPORTATION AND MULTIPURPOSE: accommodation of alternative transportation systems, adaptable school plans that can evolve with changing educational strategies, and schools that serve as community centers for after hours

ResourcesThe Language of School Design, Design Patterns

for the 21st Century Schools by Prakash Nair & Randall Fielding

http://www.mahlum.com/home/?intuition

http://www.bassettiarch.com/index.htm

http://www.mcdonoughpartners.com/

http://www.blrb.com/http://www.hoarch.com/welcome/

http://www.dlrgroup.com/#/1/http://www.dkarch.com/

http://www.nbbj.com/

http://kierantimberlake.com/home/index.html

http://www.mithun.com/ http://www.nacarchitecture.com