| MONDAY | MARCH 7, 2022 – 11:00 am |
| The Power of Engagement: A Community’s Role in Transforming the Learning Environment |
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Washington Lecture Hall
Julie Leary, AIA, LEED AP BD+C - Senior Architect, Clark Nexsen, [email protected]
Donna Francis, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, ALEP, Principal, Clark Nexsen, [email protected]
Becky Brady, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CDT, Senior Architect | Associate, Clark Nexsen, [email protected]
Diann Kearney, Ed.D., Principal Coach and Interim Principal, Wake County Public Schools
Balancing input from invested students, staff, school system partners, and community residents can often be a challenge. However, reflecting diverse stakeholder voices through responsive design presents a powerful opportunity to impact an entire community and drive student success. Using the experience of replacing the existing Apex High School in Apex, NC as a case study, this course explores how consistent community engagement led to a 21st century learning environment that captures stakeholder priorities including flexibility, adaptability, and a strong connection to the outdoors. Enhanced engagement techniques influenced the form and character of the new building while establishing a sense of collective community ownership and commitment to an environmentally responsible, holistically supportive school environment.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the connections between stakeholder input, design process, and building outcomes.
- Learn techniques to facilitate community engagement sessions and work with clients to reconcile priorities and goals against equitable project guidelines and requirements.
- Identify application of evidence-based design theories to translate stakeholder input into physical form.
- Explore holistic approaches to develop safe, supportive educational environments that provide opportunities to help students deal with nonacademic as well as academic factors that impact their learning.
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| Shihadeh Innovation Center: Aligning Learning Environments with the Workforce Needs of Tomorrow |
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Harrison-Tyler
Kelly Callahan, AIA, Principal, VMDO Architects, [email protected]
Dr. Jason Van Heukelum, Ed.D., Superintendent, Winchester Public Schools, [email protected]
Ed Smith, Director of Operations, Winchester Public Schools, [email protected]
National Challenge: By 2020, there will be a 10 million job shortfall in skilled labor market in the US. The average age of skilled workers is 55 years old. Local Challenge: John Handley High School will reach maximum capacity in the near future and has limited facilities for Career and Technical Education. Rising to meet these challenges, the new Emil and Grace Shihadeh Innovation Center will prepare Winchester Public Schools students and community members for the new workforce of tomorrow. A radical transformation of an existing unused elementary school, the mission of the Center is to ensure that every student is prepared and empowered with a marketable skill that leads to full, high-paying employment and that every regional industry is fully supplied with dedicated, skilled workers that will sustain and improve their business model. A joint venture with Lord Fairfax Community College and local industry partners, the Shihadeh Innovation Center will be a hub of workforce development for the community. Using hands-on learning strategies, students will develop the necessary skills that will lead to marketable certifications. Industry partners will play an active role in the development of the program of study, while also committing to work-based learning opportunities for students. Lord Fairfax Community College will provide instructors and equipment for certification and credit-bearing courses. The Center will embody Winchester Public School's motto of "Learning for all, whatever it takes." The culture at the Innovation Center will be interdisciplinary and organized into industry themes where CTE teachers, academic teachers, and students will be working together on real-world problems. All John Handley High School students will have an opportunity to apply their academic knowledge to practical skills at the Innovation Center while adults and professionals can learn a new trade to re-enter the workforce or mentor youth interested in their professional field. The Innovation Center is organized around three academies – Professional Skills Academy, Health Sciences Academy, and Information Technology Academy – each offering programs that will equip students with the skills and credentials needed for their future career. The building will house CTE classes currently offered at Handley High School, featuring high intensity trades and professional skills labs, a health sciences suite, and STEAM lab spaces that support cybersecurity, digital design, robotics, and computer technology. High visibility work labs, dynamic collaboration and presentation spaces, abundant natural daylighting, healthy material and air quality, and reduced energy use were all design-drivers. Funding for the Emil and Grace Shihadeh Innovation Center is coming from a mix of private and public donations, as well as skills and labor donated by local businesses. This exciting project just opened in the Fall of 2021 and is already making a difference for students and the community. Hear firsthand from the Project Architect, the District Superintendent, and the Director of Operations as they share lessons learned from the project and the process.
Learning Objectives:
- How to transform an existing outdated and under-utilized resource into a happy, healthy, and high-performing place for self-directed, authentic learning.
- How space can support an interdisciplinary program of studies that integrates workforce training with academic programs through project-based learning.
- How to partner with community institutions and industry partners to fund, develop and operate a shared facility that supports real-world training in response to regional workforce opportunities.
- How to design agile and adaptable spaces that support the diverse needs of students and community members and adjust to evolving programs over time.
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| Cracking the Code: Innovating within a Non-Innovative Ecosystem to get to Immersive Learning Environments and Zero Energy |
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Wilson
Philip Donovan, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Community Studio Principal, Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Inc., [email protected]
Tomás Jiménez-Eliæson, AIA, M.Arch, LEED AP BD+C, Partner & Design Principal, Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Inc., [email protected]
Michael Meechin, Principal, NeoCity Academy High School, School District of Osceola County, [email protected]
We all face this challenge: We want to innovate but face a ‘system’ that hinders every opportunity to create an Innovative Learning Process, with innovative learning environments, and with innovative implementations. School leadership tend to be risked-averse and believe that 21st century learning can happen in a typical classroom, Ed-Specs do not reflect 21st century learning environment needs, and project budgets do not look at life-cycle costs, even though schools are designed to last 50-75 years, and yet, how can we crack the code? Enter: NEOCITY Academy, a new, 500-student, public Immersive Learningscape STEM high school and First Net-Zero-Energy School in Florida, located on the NEOCITY Campus in Osceola County. This presentation will tell the story of how a partnership between Key District Leadership, a forward-thinking Principal, and an ambitious Design Team, provided a Learning experience grounded in 3 key ideas: Create an Immersive Learning Environment designed to support an alternative learning process amid a rigid EdSpec, A Zero-Energy Building that supports a STEM culture of innovation within a strict budget, and a partnership with The University of Central Florida’s College of Education and NEOCITY industry businesses to support the Florida High Tech’s needs with students that practice innovation and work on 21st century skills daily. NEOCITY is a new urbanist development at the epicenter of a boom in the high-tech, advanced manufacturing industry that central Florida is currently experiencing. This rapid growth coupled with the sunshine state’s easement of regulation on solar energy production has created opportunities for the creation of new, high-performance, zero-energy facilities to educate and train the next generation workforce. The core stakeholder design team was given a mandate to design the new public high school within the state mandated budget and space requirements. NEOCITY Academy has been developed as a twenty-first century, Immersive Learningscape, STEM-focused school that will offer students 3 curriculum paths: Advanced Engineering, Biomedical, and Cyber Security. The facility will be designed to use 70% less energy than a typical public school in Osceola County. The project is located in the heart of a new advanced manufacturing corridor within the NEOCITY Masterplan and the school district of Osceola County has formed a partnership with University of Central Florida to evaluate STEM pedagogy for the creation of a national instruction model. The schools high-performance design and ultra-low energy use will save an anticipated $115,000 per year on energy costs and is expected to save almost $2.7 million over 20 years in life cycle costs compared to a typical district school. Utilizing standard tilt-wall construction with high-performance detailing, a distributed heat-pump system and a 202kw, roof-top mounted PV array, the facility can now be a designated prototype for other school districts throughout the state. This innovative new school will be a key teaching tool in support of the development and execution of its high-tech curriculum.
We will discuss how NEOCITY Academy was designed following the concept of the Immersive Learningscape, where Brain-based lessons about learning, Wellness, and features of Inclusive Design are key ideas behind the concept. We will discuss best practices for reducing the EUI in new buildings in Hot and High Humidity Environments and how to get to Zero Energy. The presentation will go in detail about technical, financial, and the decision-making process for getting to Zero Energy.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the process and details by which the Partnership of District Leaders, School Principal and Design Team underwent to Innovate within a rigid non-innovative educational system
- Define the ways in which 21st century, Immersive Learning environments, based on concepts of Brain-Based Learning, Wellness, and Inclusiveness. support and enhance a high-tech, advanced manufacturing STEM high school curriculum
- Describe the ways in which reducing the energy use of the building also focuses on improving cognitive function and the health and well-being of the building occupants.
- Demonstrate 5 key ways in which a public school can reduce its energy use low enough so that a renewable energy source can be added within the project budget including strategies of high-performance envelope detailing for tilt-wall and precast building typologies.
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| Do You Really Know Your Buildings? |
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Monroe
Patrick Davis, Principal, Perkins Eastman, [email protected]
Sean O'Donnell, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal & K12 Practice Area Leader, Perkins Eastman, [email protected]
We know that the built environment has a significant impact on teaching and learning, occupant health, and school operations. So how do we adequately measure and asses our buildings to make strategic and impactful decisions? Traditional assessment tools only scratch the surface and don’t give a complete view of the learning environment conditions. Perkins Eastman was awarded the 2019 AIA College of Fellows Latrobe Prize, a research grant focused on understanding how school buildings impact student outcomes, occupant health, and the communities they are in. As part of that study, Perkins Eastman developed a comprehensive Educational Adequacy (EA) tool to evaluate the factors that make a great and supportive learning environment. The EA tool focuses on factors that impact and support the education of the whole child and includes more than 240 metrics centered on school presence, safety and security, instructional spaces, assembly spaces, extended learning areas, environmental quality, building organization, and the school’s ability to create a sense of community. The condition of the building and the assets in them also plays a significant role and contributes to the overall condition of the learning environment. Facility Condition Assessments (FCA) are the proven method to understand the conditions of our facilities, and they are filled with valuable information, but the reality is that they are complex, static, and rarely used after they are completed. Perkins Eastman has developed a set of tools to breathe new life into FCA’s through the use of 360-degree images and intuitive dashboards to support both long-term planning, and daily operational needs. Learn how Perkins Eastman is blending both these resources to develop a comprehensive understanding of what makes a great, healthy, and supportive learning environment.
Participants will learn about how the built environment impacts the whole child and how a research-backed measurement of Educational Adequacy can be used in combination with Facility Condition Assessments to better understand the conditions of educational facilities. This approach includes over 240 metrics, including an evaluation of health, environmental, and safety conditions in the school facility and the school's ability to create a sense of community.
Learning Objectives:
- Gain a better understanding of how to holistically evaluate educational facility conditions.
- Learn how new technology can improve building and assess awareness for real-time response and strategic long-term planning.
- Learn which building elements support the development of the whole child and how to measure those elements in Educational Adequacy evaluations.
- Learn how environmental conditions that impact the learning environment and student well-being are factored into the determination of an Educational Adequacy score.
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| MONDAY | MARCH 7, 2022 – 2:30 pm |
| Career and Technical Education: It’s More Than Your Father’s Woodshop |
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Washington Lecture Hall
Becky Brady, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CDT, Senior Architect | Associate, Clark Nexsen, [email protected]
Julie Leary, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Senior Architect, Clark Nexsen, [email protected]
Donna Francis, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, ALEP, Principal, Clark Nexsen, [email protected]
Career and technical education classes have been around for a long time, but don’t be fooled – these are not the woodshop or home economics programs of the past. To coincide with current and future student needs, today’s CTE programs constantly evolve and range widely from computer and automotive technologies to cosmetology, agriculture, and culinary arts. While many students graduate from these programs ready for in-demand careers, the critical problem-solving and communication skills that are developed through CTE add tremendous value across all future education or career plans. Designing successful CTE spaces requires a thorough understanding of program needs and how those impact location, infrastructure, systems – which all coalesce to provide an ideal learning experience for K-12 students.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn the importance of considering location, adjacency, spatial and infrastructure requirements when designing CTE classrooms.
- Understand the many overlapping elements that CTE classes share with general learning and out of school experiences.
- Learn the benefits of promoting CTE classes and independent thinking as early as elementary school age.
- Understand the short and long term positive outcomes of exposure to CTE classes.
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| Outdoor Learning Environments: Beyond the Classroom, Community Environmental Education Centers |
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Monroe
Charles Tilley, AIA, REFP, Principal, Quinn Evans, [email protected]
Joe Cellucci, AIA, Principal, Quinn Evans, [email protected]
James Roberson, Instructional Specialist for Environmental Literacy, Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland
Outdoor learning experiences are so much more than moving indoor classroom experiences to the outdoors. The outdoor environment provides an ever-changing landscape for students to refine their motor skills, play creatively, stay healthier, learn independently, and develop an understanding and consideration for the natural environment. Outdoor learning has the potential to enhance, accelerate and more equitably distribute the benefits of a relevant, well-rounded education to all students. This presentation will explore new innovative concepts and solutions for attributes of formal outdoor educational spaces that support environmental education in non-traditional facilities. Two proposed facilities will be featured to illustrate the importance of outdoor learning; the William S. Schmidt Outdoor Education Center in Prince Georges County, Maryland and the Sully Woodlands Stewardship Education Center in Fairfax County, Virginia. Camp Schmidt, an academic center operated by Prince Georges County Public Schools, provides students with a meaningful outdoor experience that enhances and reinforce skills learned in the classroom. As a result, participants have a greater comfort level in being in the outdoors as well as a greater awareness of the environment and their responsibility as citizens in making informed decisions that improve and enhance the environment. The Sully Woodlands Stewardship Education Center, a new Living Building Challenge (LBC) project for the Fairfax County Parks Authority, is envisioned as a catalyst for future sustainable building projects. The LBC goes beyond green building certifications, like LEED, by elevating the goal from environmental mitigation to regeneration. According to the ILFI, every act of design and construction on a living building should “make the world a better place.”
Learning Objectives:
- Gain insight into the wide range of outdoor learning opportunities offered through environmental education centers.
- Explore design concepts and considerations in planning sustainable facilities that exceed current trends.
- Consider the intentional design of an outdoor learning environment that places learning at the center to enhance environmental awareness and deeper learning.
- Translate insight into forward-thinking solutions for the next century of education.
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| Addressing Stakeholder Expectations in Underserved Communities |
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Harrison-Taylor
Derwin Broughton, AIA, NCARB, Principal, KAI Enterprises, [email protected]
Darren L. James, FAIA, President, KAI Enterprises, [email protected]
South Oak Cliff High School (SOC) was constructed in 1952 and designated a "white" high school by the District. The great "white flight" of the 1960's resulted in the school transitioning to a nearly 100% African American student population. While renovations and additions have occurred to the facility over its lifespan the sense of an equitable learning environment was loss by the students and public it served. The design team and the District's journey to address deficiencies and create an equitable modern-day learning environment has been filled with triumphs, trials and setbacks. This session will address the challenges and successes of the SOC journey.
This program is centered around the constrains and opportunities discovered during the programming, analysis and engagement process of delivering projects in underserved communities. With a case study on the South Oak Cliff High School project this CE addresses how the project planning and design process brought forth equitable design solutions to address stakeholder expectations. Gauging the temperature of the stakeholders at the beginning of the process and an post-occupancy evaluation(s) at the conclusion of the project served as a testament to the success of the community engagement and project delivery.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the unique challenges of managing stakeholder expectations in a politically volatile environment while balancing the expected scope to the established budget.
- Describe the design team and District's response to stakeholder expectations with perceived inequities due to local socioeconomics.
- Produce opportunities for integrating 360 degree learning environments into existing facilities and maximizing underutilized spaces for their best and maximum use.
- Illustrate how new building additions can be appropriately integrated into historically significant structures while creating a sense of arrival and place.
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| Embracing the Rhythm of the Learner Year |
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Wilson
Joe DeSensi, Ed.D., President and Managing Partner, Educational Directions, LLC, [email protected]
This session looks at designing a school year around student need and understanding the Rhythm of the Learner Year. We will make the case for both the neuroscience of how students learn and how they access that learning to perform at the level they will be accessed. We will look at the whole child taking into account both cognitive and noncognitive abilities and indicators. This will make the case for the just-in-time approach to developing the culture and climate, unpack standards, build independent learners, make those learners performers, win hearts and minds to get best effort for assessments, and mitigate the summer losses of content and process. We split the year into discrete periods, each with priorities building towards an independent student learner and performer that understands proficiency and gives best effort. In the Summer Period, we evaluate data and plan for the year (culture and climate as well as teaching and learning). In the Opening of School Period, we ensure operations are smooth, and the focus is building a learning environment. And so on through the school year. Toolkits and supplemental materials for planning and tracking will be provide in the session. The hope is that the tools allow educators to put these ideas into practice immediately.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the distinct periods of the school year from the perspective of student as learner and student as performer.
- Understand how to use just-in-time toolkits to plan and monitor student performance.
- Understand how to open school that develops a culture and climate of learning.
- Understand the Neuroscience of Learning and the 5 Legged Model of teaching the whole child.
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| MONDAY | MARCH 7, 2022 – 3:45 pm |
| Furniture Planning 101: Adaptation and Flexibility in a Post-Pandemic World |
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Washington Lecture Hall
Lenore Weiss, CID, ASID, Principal, Spectrum Design, PC, [email protected]
Dian Paulin, M.Ed., NCIDQ, ALEP, Educational Planner/Interior Designer, Ballou Justice Upton Architects
Tammy Riggs, Principal, Colonial Elementary School, [email protected]
This interactive presentation will explore how flexible furniture in the school environment fosters different teaching pedagogies and learning modalities, responds to age and developmental needs, and can also easily switch gears to promote social distancing, personal wellness, and safety in a pandemic or other health crisis. The presenters - an educator, the designer, and an industry partner - will share examples, lessons learned, decisions made, and invite attendees to discuss their experiences as well as participate in a problem-solving session addressing the intermingling of co-teaching both remote and in-person, pandemic challenges, flexible furnishings, and ergonomics.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe what types of furniture foster multiple teaching pedagogies
- Discuss how flexible furnishings can promote learning, wellness, and safety
- Identify which types of furniture and spatial arrangements are conducive to project-based learning
- Illustrate key furnishing features required to promote individual developmental needs
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| Meridian High School: Lessons Learned in Verticality, Inclusion, Security, and Alternative Delivery |
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Harrison-Taylor
Peter Noonan, Superintendent, Falls Church City Public Schools, [email protected]
Wilfredo Rodriguez, Designer, Stantec Architecture, [email protected]
Bill Bradley, Principal Architect, Stantec Architecture, [email protected]
Meridian High School is Virginia’s newest comprehensive high school. Delivered as a public/private venture, the new 7-story, 300,000 SF high school “addition” to the adjacent middle school sought to redefine connectivity within a vertical environment. Superintendent Peter Noonan will share project goals, process, and lessons learned with attendees. Specifically, attendees will hear about the alternative delivery method employed to secure the funding for the $120 million project, do’s and don’ts of vertical facilities, matters of inclusion, and school safety and security in an “open” environment. Architects joining Dr. Noonan will share floor plans, building sections, and images to supplement the conversation and provide context for Dr. Noonan’s comments. Among other things they’ll share how expressing moments along the vertical "journey" created a wide variety of spaces and places for a wide variety instructional/study needs – solo, one-on-one, small group, whole group, and combined studies.
Attendees will learn how facilities can promote better occupant welfare by being intentional about matters of equity and inclusion.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand challenges and opportunities associated with vertical facilities.
- Understand public/private alternative delivery.
- Understand how providing variety and choice can foster a greater sense of community, inclusion, and equity.
- Understand gender neutral facilities (e.g. toilets, locker rooms, theater dressing rooms).
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| Outdoor Education: Design for Farm to Table |
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Wilson
Rick Schneider, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, ISTUDIO Architects, [email protected]
US cities have a problem with access to healthy foods – this is an equity issue. Washington, DC is combating food deserts and changing lives with a unique combination of outdoor classrooms, teaching kitchens and curriculum gardens. Good design provides fertile ground for great outdoor education programs like this to take root. With a collaborative approach and innovative design, architecture achieves a higher mission; do, teach, celebrate. Recent case studies in Washington show how it is done. Inspirational places empower garden classroom programs. DC Public Schools and the Offices of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE) have introduced a groundbreaking pilot program that builds on a robust system of public-school gardens for the city. A unique combination of outdoor classrooms, teaching kitchens and curriculum gardens closes the loop on farm to table – but these places don’t just happen on their own. Through case studies and follow up q+a, attendees will learn about a process that involves community engagement, site assessment, and design for vibrant outdoor education spaces. Case studies illustrate results for successful community gardens and outdoor classrooms. An unused and poorly maintained courtyard is transformed into a place where kids make their own meals, learn where their food comes from, and experience the cycles of nature. Design solutions resolve issues of ADA accessibility and storm water management while creating equity and celebrating the cycle of water in nature. Good design allows for unforeseen added benefits such as a quiet testing space for children, after school farmer’s market, and evening community events. The result is more than the sum of its parts. Architecture, when supporting educational programming, can inspires us to do, teach and celebrate.
Understanding the shocks and stresses communities may experience:
- Planning for urban resilience to strengthen the underlying fabric of a community
- Sustainable design strategies for public spaces + public buildings
- Future trends in building community resilience
Learning Objectives:
- Gain knowledge in planning for green roofs, garden roofs, and garden classrooms that are actively integrated into the curriculum.
- Understand the part sustainable facilities play in equitable design, community resilience, and green infrastructure.
- Utilize the principals of successful projects demonstrated in the case studies and apply them to their own projects.
- Learning how to design to meet community needs, programmatic requirements, site context, local environment, and water conservation while enhancing the educational environment through providing a diverse set of interactions with nature.
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| The Intersectionality of Innovation on Design |
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Monroe
Michele Broughton, Ed.D., Executive Director of Transformation and Innovation Schools, Dallas Independent School District, [email protected]
Derwin Broughton, AIA, NCARB, Principal, KAI Enterprises, [email protected]
The growing popularity of Charter, Private and for-profit education entities has created a market of competition for legacy K-12 public institutions of learning. Research has shown students learn through different mediums and a shift in mindset away from traditional curricula and facilities is required in order to provide choices for young scholars and different pathways to foster student achievement. Dallas Independent School District currently offers 40 plus stand-alone schools of choice including Transformation, Innovation and Magnets. Transformation schools are brand-new schools with specialized academic programming, like Magnet Schools, but without academic entry requirements. Innovation Schools are neighborhood campuses redesigned around innovative anchor models such as Performing and Visual Arts, Montessori, Personalized Learning or STEM. This session will explore schools of transformation and innovation, dissecting the models, curricula, and implementation while addressing the unique facility needs offered and required for the success of these programs.
The basis of this session is centered around the innovation occurring in Dallas ISD through its schools of Transformation and Innovation. These schools are designed through a competitive programming process initiated through community and District stakeholder groups. Successful applicants are then paired with architects that develop complimentary architectural programs that address the unique requirements of these programs. The project planning process is a non-traditional approach to K-12 facility design that while employing equitable program and design solutions creates unique learning models for today’s young scholars. Post implementation and evaluation of these programs is determined through the enrollment of these programs, student success and overall utilization/ growth of these facilities.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the learning models offered through schools of transformation and innovation and the opportunities these curricula offer in evolving antiquated building programs and facilities into 21st century learning environments.
- Plan for equitable, agile and adaptable learning environments that can be easily modified for the evolution of curriculum and growth in schools of transformation and innovation.
- Explore options to transform half century old facilities by removing physical facility constraints and creating opportunities to provide expanded curriculum offerings.
- Verify the effectiveness of innovative and transformative learning curriculums and environments through student achievement and program interest.
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| TUESDAY | MARCH 8, 2022 – 10:45 am |
| The Inextricable Links Between Social-Emotional Learning and Student-Directed Learning |
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Wilson
Jill Ackers, Senior Educator and Learning Designer, Fielding International, LLC, [email protected]
Jay Litman, Partner, Fielding International, LLC, [email protected]
As architects and educators, our authentic challenge is to design learning environments that provide and promote the social and emotional skills necessary for all types of students to be successful in school and on into adulthood. The purpose is to create a living environment where the pedagogy must be designed in an integrated fashion, so learners are required to exercise collaboration, reflection, negotiation, critical thinking, and empathy. We are constantly asking ourselves “How can we create a thriving social and emotional learning environment that encourages wellness and fosters student-directed learning”? In this workshop, we highlight the necessary proof points we have learned from gathering information and prototyping the spaces needed for developing wellness and student-agency through the confluence of thoughtfully designed learning spaces and instructional transformations. Attendees will learn how this integration works and the critical design elements that must be considered when creating truly engaging learning spaces. In this hands-on workshop, we identify the vital school design language, school leadership, and teacher professional development shifts needed to link student-directed learning with innovative learning spaces to ensure students are the beneficiaries of modern learning environments. During this process, a socially supportive and truly nurturing environment is created as the backdrop and in support of student-directed learning. You cannot achieve one without the other! We use the Five Stages of Finding a Solution from Developing Natural Curiosity through PBL (Laur & Ackers, 2017) to examine these proof point shifts in several recent landmark Pathfinder projects recently completed at:
- Eden Park Elementary School, Cranston, RI
- Col-legi Montserrat in Barcelona, Spain
- Academy of the Holy Names, Tampa, FL
- International School of Kazan, Kazan, Tatarstan, RF
- NIST, Bangkok, Thailand
- Criteria #1 – Welfare Aspects of architecture that engender demonstrable positive emotional responses among, or enable equal access by, users of buildings or sites. We are discussing how to design nurturing Learning Environments that support and foster Social-Emotional Intelligence.
- Criteria #2 – Course content must include one or more of the AIA/CES-acceptable HSW topics. This course includes Acoustics, Building Design, and Interior design.
- Criteria #3 – Course content must directly support the HSW definition in 75% of its content 75% of the learning objective (3 out of 4) must meet the HSW definition. 100% of our course content will be focused on the design and pedagogical strategies needed to design effective Student-Directed Learning Environments that support and nurture Social-Emotional intelligence.
Learning Objectives:
- Gain a better understanding of how to create a living environment where the pedagogy must be designed in an integrated fashion, so learners are required to exercise collaboration, reflection, negotiation, critical thinking, and empathy. View examples of schools personalizing student mastery and agency through the confluence of facility design, task selected furnishings and curriculum to produce personalized results.
- Examine the next generation of practices needed to create social-emotional learning environments that transition classrooms intended to operate as enclosed spaces, with minimal connectivity to re-imagined interconnected, interdisciplinary learning communities that foster and support Student-directed learning.
- Identify key strategies for identifying the vital school design language, school leadership, and teacher professional development shifts needed to link student-directed learning with innovative learning spaces to ensure students are the beneficiaries of modern learning environments.
- Learn the Five Stages of Finding a Solution from Developing Natural Curiosity through Project Based Learning (PBL) (Laur & Ackers, 2017) through the examination of these proof point shifts in a series of recently completed landmark Pathfinder projects.
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| Designing Schools for Community Resilience: Lessons Learned from the District of Columbia School Revitalization Program |
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Monroe
Ann Neeriemer, AIA, LEED AP, Associate Principal, Perkins Eastman, [email protected]
Patrick Davis, Principal, Perkins Eastman, [email protected]
The pandemic has illuminated the central role of schools in community resilience. As much as the events of the last 2 years have drastically disrupted education, they have also revealed the social and structural inequities within our communities. Throughout the pandemic, we saw how school partnerships and the school buildings helped to address community challenges. As communities work to define the “new normal” it’s more important than ever to consider how the planning and design of school facilities can contribute to more resilient communities. Over nearly two decades, the District of Columbia school modernization program invested more than $5B in replacement and major modernization projects that has had a significant impact on the public school and community infrastructure of the District. These efforts have transformed not only school buildings, but entire neighborhoods. Using the framework created by 100 Resilient Cities, this session will present lessons of the DC school renewal program, and examine how schools strengthened and supported communities during the pandemic. Through public engagement in the process, communities become more deeply invested in the outcomes and can transform neighborhoods. A more in-depth look at two projects will examine some of the specific features that engaged citizens, increased community pride, and created sustainable projects for the future. Participants will work in groups to evaluate resilience strategies and how their projects can contribute in the areas of Leadership & Strategy, Health & Wellbeing, Infrastructure & Environment, and Economy & Society.
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze how the process and design of school facilities and campuses can impact community involvement and educational outcomes.
- Identify features and components of school facilities that contribute to student engagement and build neighborhood pride.
- Apply concepts of essential systems of resilience to future projects.
- Summarize design and program concepts of sustainable education facilities that build community resiliency.
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| Trauma Informed Microenvironments |
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Harrison-Taylor
Becky Baylor, Learning Experience Coordinator, Meteor Education, [email protected]
Educators around the country are concerned that their students (and teachers) are feeling the stress and anxiety around COVID-19 and its toll on student learning, behaviors and expectations. Research has shown the “trauma” of this pandemic will alter students learning trajectory if not assessed and addressed. This presentation will examine the path to post-traumatic growth and the how classroom design is an integral way that schools can respond to the needs of students who have experienced trauma.
This topic focuses on wellness for students and teachers and it ties to learning environments as well. The goal is to understand that trauma responsive design can support teachers and students as they are stressed, etc.
Learning Objectives:
- Discover how classroom design affects learning.
- Explore trauma-informed design concepts in educational spaces.
- Explore how classroom design should follow evidence, not architectural fads.
- Learn about post-traumatic growth practices in the classroom.
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| The Collision of AGILE and MESSY: Supporting the Requirements of Authentic Learning |
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Washington Lecture Hall
David Stubbs, President, David Stubbs Design, [email protected]
Our learners need to be problem solvers, critical thinkers and modifiers of their world and it is our responsibility to provide the most
seamless and transparent set of tools as they learn to analyze, question, elaborate, refine and evaluate their own ideas... to create and
to Innovate.
Unfortunately, within the walls of our educational environments we have long permitted brave educators to clutter classroom
environments to a point of discomfort negatively affecting the health, safety and potential of its learners. As designers we sometimes
continue the delivery of “kitchen cabinets” within classrooms without the knowledge that this antiquated harboring device is simply not
suited for today’s set of resources. Subsequential responses of simply removing all available cabinetry, shifting the emphasis on
wheels, is placing an additional burden on space.
In this session, we will discuss the disconnects that permitted us to arrive at this point in time, indicate rules for appropriate
systematic solutions, guidelines and recommendations for stuff, as well as the agile movement and housing of these resources that
rarely emerge in portfolio imagery. This past year our knowledge has been heightened to reinforce emerging pedagogical demands of
AGILE environments supporting “simple and easy” pivots. We further understand that authentic learning can be quite messy, thus the
necessity to recognize the requirements and disconnects of space as it relates to clutter. Teacher testimonials will indicate that
decluttering can not only be a systematic approach but one that is fully embedded with agency and inclusion.
This presentation will explore fresh, new innovative concepts for all attributes of educational space that support the disconnects when
simply delivering storage on wheels. We will explore a variety of designed solutions, themes and “apparent trends” for the kitchen sink
replacement within various parts of the county focusing on observed disconnects and hurdles.
My work reflects my passion to constantly improve the social/emotional as well as the physical well being of an educational facilities occupants and stakeholders.
All of my designs have a heightened respect for the most stringent industry safety requirements specifically tip and cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting standards.
Not only do we meet, but it is not uncommon we exceed these standards. Lastly, my "systems" go to great length to honor, inclusion, equity as well as many other
indicators supporting the social requirements of the built environment from the design phase to the agile use of our educational facilities.
Learning Objectives:
- Understanding that our antiquated mindsets are preventing us from moving forward even after the weak underbelly of the educational structure has been
publicly exposed.
- Understanding that decluttering can be a systematic approach to a built environment to modify historic “conditioned” approaches to the management of stuff
that is fully embedded with agency and inclusion.
- Realization that authentic space can be successfully achieved through an event of critical collaboration of instruction and curriculum defining the correct range of
tools.
- Establish the mind shift that not only do teachers have too much stuff, but they will also always have too much stuff and it’s our responsibility to create seamless
designed solutions to support AGILE learning.
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| TUESDAY | MARCH 8, 2022 – 3:00 pm |
| Designing for the Next Generation of Student Learning to Prepare Them for the World |
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Harrison-Taylor
David Schrader, AIA, LEED AP, Managing Partner and Lead Academic Programmer, Planner and Designer, SCHRADERGROUP architecture LLC, [email protected]
Dr. John Toleno, EdD, Superintendent, Upper Merion Area School District, [email protected]
This session will profile how local business and industry inspired the design of the new Upper Merion Area High School (UMAHS) in King of Prussia, a suburb of Philadelphia. Speakers will include the Superintendent of Schools, the architectural firm SCHRADERGROUP, local business leaders and students to discuss the educational limitations of the existing traditional high school designed in the 1960s as compared to the design of the new high school. The panel will discuss how simulating the college and work environment at the high school level will be instrumental to prepare UMASD students as they transition to higher education and the work environment, as well as providing new opportunities to partner with local businesses. The new facility will provide career and higher education level spaces to engage in interactive learning activities of research, develop and present. Multiple hi-tech industry workspaces; a core curriculum academic wing, with a STEAM based central core, is connected by 3-story learning stairs; and multiple project and team-based spaces integrated throughout the school offer collaborative and research based learning opportunities in flexible spaces to compliment the changes in how students are taught and learn. A true “student commons” is at the heart of the facility and will be used throughout the day for multiple activities. The two-story commons, with learning resources located on the second level to enhance the research and project-based components, is mixed use space with dining and food-based opportunities like that found in local colleges and universities. The case study of Upper Merion Area High School offers further opportunities to all students at the secondary level, grades 6-12. The proposed high school was deliberately designed to provide a physical connection to the existing 6-8 middle school to stimulate the opportunities inherent within a “secondary campus”...where student learning is based on content learning rather than age-based and process-based learning. The direct access to the high school provides the opportunity for middle school students to take courses relevant to their interests across the grade structures as opposed to within their grade and age specific learning spaces, and to take advantage of the athletic venues to improve wellness and promote physical activity. At the end of this program, participants will have a key understanding of how space design and the delivery of education and student learning is changing to meet the academic, social and physical needs of the students today to prepare them for the future.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how designing buildings supports 21st Century Learning
- Understand that spaces can be designed to reflect current business models
- Understand how it is possible to provide opportunities across multiple grade levels for advanced course offerings
- Compare students' reflection on their learning experience in a traditional post-industrial school versus learning spaces centered around self direct learning environments
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| The Superintendency During the Covid19 Pandemic |
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Monroe
Carol Cash, Professor of Practice, Virginia Tech, [email protected]
Jodie Brinkmann, Assistant Professor of Practice, Virginia Tech, [email protected]
Ted Price, Visiting Professor, Virginia Tech, [email protected]
Interviews with Virginia School superintendents were conducted one year into the Pandemic, and revealed their priorities, their concerns, and their use of federal funds. In this session, we will share what we learned in response to questions about their first thoughts, what they found as challenges and opportunities, and community perceptions. We also addressed health concerns, politicization, school board relations, and their priorities related to pandemic-related federal funds.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the challenges of VA Superintendents
- Identify how Superintendents spent CARES funds
- Explore the opportunities of VA Superintendents
- Investigate options for the future of schooling
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| Building Navigators |
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Wilson
Danielle Norris, Director of Compass Academy & Virtual Learning, Middlesex County Public Schools, [email protected]
For decades, teaching (and learning) has been a synchronized system, ideally differentiated but ultimately an institution defined by schedules, semesters, and an archaic design of “school”, but what happens when we change the course and allow students to be navigators of their own destiny? This idea of self-paced learning is typically reserved for the gifted, high achieving student; the ones who can “handle it.” However, the truth is your apathetic, disengaged, academically at risk student is just as capable, if not more. Compass Academy was started in Middlesex County in 2018 as a non-traditional approach to education, encouraging students to excel through self paced learning, purposeful and intentional community engagement, & workplace readiness development. With a student population of just over 1,200 in a rural division, Compass Academy was initially designed to support students who had academic deficits, social/ family/environmental challenges or other external obstacles preventing them from on-time graduation. Since 2018, this program has flourished, graduating some of our most at-risk youth and providing a place of direction for those who struggle with a traditional learning environment. We have improved on time graduation rate and reduced discipline incidents. Through blended learning, innovation, and community partnerships, we have yielded students who are more engaged, more confident, and better prepared for success beyond high school.
This proposal addresses fluid learning, environment, wellness & well being and equity/justice. Compass Academy provides an asynchronous environment for students to complete the credits for high school. Students attend for a variety of reasons ranging from social challenges, to truancy concerns, to academic disengagement; however, they have all created a common bond and developed life long relationships centered around their goal of on time graduation. In an environment with coaching, mentorship and relationships are the forefront, they are achieving credits, mastering content, supporting/tutoring peers, volunteering in the community, and engaging in the school and local communities like they have never done before. Each student has in individual success plan, they select the classes to meet their graduation requirements, and they make their own daily schedule. By giving them the autonomy and the tools they need to succeed, every single one has risen to the occasion and changed their original course at the traditional high school. Our environment (including flexible seating) is designed to meet the needs of various learners. Additionally, the incorporation of virtual instruction paired with on site support and the expectation that students & staff are collaborative in progress monitoring has yielded an amazing result in regards to on time graduation rate, reduced discipline, and more engagement.
Learning Objectives:
- Be aware of how to successfully implement asynchronous learning for at risk students
- Understand how flexibility and adaptability in education are imperative to consistent student progress
- Understand how relationships, relevance, and rigor can be maintained in a blended learning environment.
- See the benefits of a non traditional/alternative approach to learning and recognize the benefits it has on all students
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| Net-Positive Education: The Pathway for a High-Performance Learning Environment |
| |
Washington Lecture Hall
Tony Hans, CMTA, Inc., [email protected]
Ann Neeriemer, Associate Principal, Perkins Eastman, [email protected]
Heather Jauregui, PE, LEED AP BD+C, O+M, CHPC, Assoc. AIA, Director of Sustainability, Perkins Eastman, [email protected]
Activities in a thriving school can consume tremendous amounts of energy. Perkins Eastman, along with CMTA and DGS (DC Department of General Services) strive for "Net-Positive Education" – the creation of a high-performance learning environment that not only minimizes energy consumption, but more importantly positively supports the health and education of students and staff. Net Positive Education is a process in which we align our pursuit of Net Zero Energy with strategies to improve the indoor environment from a daylight, thermal comfort, acoustic, and air quality perspective. Using the District of Columbia Public Schools' John Lewis Elementary School and Benjamin Banneker Academic High School as case studies, the design team will showcase the building performance analysis tools used during the design process to inform the performance objectives of the projects and keep the "Net-Positive" targets on track. These two projects are set to become the first net-zero energy schools in DC and are pursuing the WELL Building Standard. Members from the design team will also discuss how Net Zero Energy targets informed the design process to create high performing educational spaces. The presenters will explain how conducting early charrettes with the client, operations, design, construction teams, and the community helped establish the goals for the projects and engaged in discussing possible challenges and opportunities around Net-Zero Energy.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand why deep levels of collaboration between the educational stakeholders, architecture and engineering teams are necessary to increase building performance, strengthen funding strategies, and inform the design process in a weekly manner.
- Showcase how energy modeling and performance analysis can guide the design process, challenge design conventions, meet modern wellness and safety concerns, and generate a high-performing and cost-effective educational facility.
- Explain how Net Zero energy conversations with all stakeholders as early as possible in the design process establishes pathways to optimal building performance.
- Demonstrate how crucial it is, especially in a fast-paced design process, to get real-time data from the Revit Model through energy modeling, daylight, thermal comfort, and building performance tools to make strategic decisions during crucial moments of design.
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