Awards: Grand Prize > Citation Awards > Honorable Mentions

Of the 130 pre-K-12 schools, specialized educational facilities, and college/university design projects entered into this year’s Learning By Design competition, only six architecture firms came away with prestigious Citation of Excellence Awards. Judges noted skillful design transparency among many of this year’s stand-out project entries, helping educational facilities look less institutionalized and creating warm learning environments.

Several Citation of Excellence Award winners also did an exemplary job of effectively using outdoor spaces for student interaction and instruction, particularly among design plans that feature multiple buildings. One judge commented, “It’s all about the spaces between the buildings as well as the buildings themselves.”

The following firms earned Learning By Design 2007 Citation of Excellence Awards for their entries in this year’s competition:

Charles H. Kim Elementary School Glen Nordlow

Harley Ellis Devereaux, Los Angeles, Calif., received a Citation of Excellence Award for Charles H. Kim Elementary School, Los Angeles, Calif. This school for K-5 students, a demonstration site for the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, emphasizes sustainable design through features such as ample daylighting, energy efficiency, recycled material content, air quality control, and on-site storm water retention.

The school’s interior includes Energy Star roofing, environmentally friendly paint, and close attention to acoustics throughout the three-story classroom building—which has underground parking—and the one and a half-story multipurpose building.

Judges also praised the school’s ability to create “positive outdoor space.” An exterior lunch shelter and multipurpose spaces throughout the campus, for example, support the school’s year-round program.

Hillside Elementary School Kun Zhang

RDG Planning & Design, West Des Moines, Iowa, received a Citation of Excellence Award for Hillside Elementary School, West Des Moines, Iowa. Judges noted Hillside Elementary’s unique ability to create a warm learning environment for its nearly 650 students in grades K-6. At the center of that strategy is the school’s hearth room, which features a fireplace, and “living rooms” that serve as extensions of classroom space at each grade level.

Throughout the building, the height of the windows is appropriate for elementary-age children, and reading nooks—also scaled to children—serve as gathering places. In addition, the school features an aquarium and an aviary that provide opportunities for hands-on science instruction. 

The integration of technology also is abundant throughout the school, including Smart Boards, LCD projectors, webcams, audio remote speaker systems, a wireless laptop network, and an automated media system controller.

“This design dealt very well with the school’s resource spaces—the living rooms, for example,” judges commented. “And the windows are down at kids’ scale. A lot of thought went into it.”

William F. Stanley Elementary School Robert Benson Photography

Flansburgh Architects, Boston, Mass., received a Citation of Excellence Award for William F. Stanley Elementary School, Waltham, Mass. This school, which serves 600 pre-K through fifth-grade students, is the first LEED-certified school in the state. The building sits on an 11-acre wetland site and features photovoltaic panels, recreated wetlands to process storm water run-off, an energy management system, high-efficiency boilers, and ideal orientation to the sun. What’s more, the sustainable features of the building have been integrated into an ecometrics station, where students and teachers can monitor the building’s energy use.