Beyond the Classroom
Two terms best describe the frontrunners in this year’s Learning By Design recognition of the best in educational facility design‹eco-friendly and community-minded.
Our new Green Special Section debuts this year and includes six of this year¹s winners whose outstanding projects demonstrate best practices in sustainable design and construction, environmentally savvy finishings and landscaping, and other innovative green design and construction. The “Sustainable Buildings for Learning” feature explains the criteria for transforming your new or existing educational facility into an environmentally responsible building. Plus, this year’s Buyer’s Guide includes listings with new green designations that help you easily locate those companies that offer eco-friendly products and services.
Other educational design trends highlighted in this issue:
- The 2008 Grand Prize Award Winners—Rosa Parks School and Ohio University’s Baker University Student Center—earned top honors as the nation’s best educational facility designs at the pre-K to 12 and college/university levels. Judges praised these projects for their ability to unite the communities around them.
- The latest trends affecting college residence hall designs and career-tech facilities. The 21st Century Project Summit recently convened more than 100 professionals to discuss the trends—such as community, sustainability, and technology—that affect how students live and learn. This issue includes innovative ideas, renderings, and models for adaptive, high-tech living solutions to the needs of a new generation of students. In addition, realistic, state-of-the-art career-tech buildings are popping up across the country and preparing students for the future in ways that “shops” never could.
- Case studies provide in-depth looks at creative, eco-friendly designs and tips on revitalizing old buildings and satisfying tech-hungry students.
In our continued effort to be the indispensable resource for all those who help build outstanding learning environments, we welcome feedback from readers. Most recently, many of you told us that the design and layout of Learning By Design as well as the quality of our photography and illustrations are the best in the field in terms of visual presentation and overall appeal, and that new trends in school and university design and case studies on innovative approaches are your favorite topics.
We appreciate this support as we strive to bring you the best in educational design. And we look forward to working with you to continually raise the bar for recognizing the most remarkable and workable design innovations in the pages of Learning By Design.
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Debra J. Stratton
President,
Stratton Publishing & Marketing Inc. |
Marilee Rist
Publisher,
American School Board Journal |
