May 22nd, 2009

HEADLINE NEWS

Green Schools Initiative Gets Boost with $6.4 Billion in Funding
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a $6.4 billion, multi-year school construction bill aimed at building, modernizing, and repairing educational facilities to make them healthier, safer, and more energy efficient. These funds are in addition to the more than $100 billion in stimulus bill money flowing to schools, colleges, and universities. These recent funding boosts mean expanded construction, renovations, and upgrades in the coming months.

Under the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act, states would receive money to make grants and low-interest loans to school districts for constructing new buildings as well as repairing and upgrading HVAC, lighting and other systems that have been shown to affect student learning. This legislation also would earmark $600 million over six years for public schools in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

School districts, colleges, and universities have free access to hundreds of best practices and award-winning educational facility design and construction ideas on the LEARNING BY DESIGN Web site, www.learningbydesign.biz. LEARNING BY DESIGN also features special editorial and design projects that focus on green design and construction strategies. In Fall 2010, LEARNING BY DESIGN will publish a Special Edition on green design and technology. See the latest Call for Entries for details.

ED Secretary Calls for Innovative School Designs
In recent interviews and television appearances, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has hailed the Rosa Park School—a LEARNING BY DESIGN Grand Prize Award recipient in 2008—as an example of how innovative educational facility design allows schools to be the centers of their surrounding communities. Duncan says creating environments where schools are a hub of community activity is a top priority for the Obama administration—and now that stimulus money is boosting educational facility construction nationwide, innovative designs and best practices are getting renewed attention.

The Rosa Park School in Portland, OR, is a LEED Gold-certified school serving 550 students in grades K-6. The school’s green features include photovoltaic cells that provide real-time readings of energy consumption, a stormwater retention and discharge system, and a recycling center for community use.

To read more about this LEARNING BY DESIGN Grand Prize Award recipient and see photos of the Rosa Park School, click here.

Design Competition Doubles Down
LEARNING BY DESIGN has announced its 2010 Call for Entries and is now accepting design project submissions. The award-winning magazine will present two awards programs and publish two editions in 2010—a General Excellence Edition in April and a Special Edition with a focus on green design and technology in October. Firms that submit projects to both editions earn special entry fee discounts and are eligible for multiple awards.

Publishers of LEARNING BY DESIGN, presented by Stratton Publishing & Marketing in partnership with the National School Boards Association, say the publication expanded its frequency in 2010 in response to reader research that confirmed increased interest in the magazine and educational design best practices. Additionally, the expanded design competition gives architectural firms that specialize in educational facilities two opportunities in 2010 to showcase their best work and gain national recognition.

In 2009, LEARNING BY DESIGN showcased more than 100 outstanding educational facility design projects and presented 21 awards, including the 2009 Grand Prize Award received by Bioscience High School in Phoenix, a project of Orcutt Ι Winslow.

The LEARNING BY DESIGN 2010 Call for Entries—which includes additional information about both editions—is available online. To request a print copy of the Call for Entries, e-mail the editor.

FEATURES

Navigating the Stimulus for Schools
By Isaac Williams

As the first waves of the $100 billion in economic stimulus money for education begin pouring into states, many questions are cropping up about how states should best spend these funds to improve the quality of educational facilities. Educational institutions also must develop new reporting mechanisms to meet the accountability standards that will ensure their stimulus funding. Additionally, the current recession has combined with the urgency of spending the stimulus money in the next two years to create something of a crisis. As a result, educational leaders and facility designers must now reevaluate how educational facilities are sited, funded, and designed.

The following are some measures educational jurisdictions can take to make the most out of their stimulus funds now, and create the conditions for designing outstanding 21st century schools, colleges, and universities

1. Start With Pilot Projects. The language in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act explicitly supports modernization projects. However, states have wide latitude in the way they interpret that language. Often modernization includes building system upgrades like air conditioning and lighting to keep schools functional. However, states now have the opportunity to leap frog into the 21st century and develop small pilot projects that demonstrate new approaches to teaching and learning, and set new standards for energy efficiency and integration of technology. These need not be expensive and risky systemwide investments at first; rather modernization may begin with small, targeted, pilot projects. Modernization could include everything from renovation of existing facilities to demonstration projects to additions. These small projects coupled with rigorous post-occupancy evaluations can provide the data needed to make smart choices about how to spend stimulus money in the future, and invest in school building inventory beyond the stimulus horizon.

2. Re-evaluate the Classroom. There have been many calls for building 21st century classrooms. But is the classroom really the best model for creating 21st century schools? Will updating existing classrooms with air-conditioning, and perhaps a digital projector or two really change our education system? In the most dire cases, it will certainly help, but this strategy misses the opportunity to evaluate how learning takes place. We must design spaces for students to work collaboratively on projects, both indoors and outdoors; spaces for students to do independent research; and spaces that inspire the creativity in each student.

A project of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, School Without Walls in Washington, DC, fits nicely in the neighborhood of rowhouses, and apartment buildings. The school could not have been located on such a prime, well-connected site, if traditional acreage standards for siting the school were applied. Photo by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects.

3. Re-Evaluate Acreage Standards. The acreage standards in place in many jurisdictions for siting schools recommend one acre of land for every 100 students, plus an additional 10 acres for an elementary school, 20 acres for a middle school, and 30 acres for a high school. This means for a high school of 500 students, a site would need to be a minimum of 35 acres to be considered viable. This makes building smaller schools in cities where they are most needed nearly impossible, and leads to essentially a divestment of school construction in cities. It also makes building new schools anywhere an expensive endeavor, and therefore delays the opportunities jurisdictions have to build. These standards need to be reconsidered to favor building smaller schools closer to where students live, even if that means on smaller plots of land.

4. Reconsider Property Tax Funding. It’s been known for some time that a property tax-based funding stream for local education systems creates great disparities in the quality of education environments. The collapse of the housing market and decline in property tax revenue across the country has put education systems in a financial crisis. The education programs included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are designed to fill the gap between the plummeting property tax revenues and the dramatic increases in need.

A project of Dull Olson Weekes Architects, the Rosa Parks School in Portland, OR, is a LEED Gold-certified school. The school includes a Literacy Center and a Family Resource Center for community use after hours. Photo by Gary Wilson.

5. Search for Community-School Partnerships. The 2009 LEARNING BY DESIGN awards illustrate the rise of community organization and school partnerships. Schools around the country are beginning to seek partnerships with universities and community organizations to share resources. Particularly in urban settings, where land may be scarce but there are community resources nearby, partnerships can be a successful strategy for delivering the resources schools need. Examples include the expertise of professionals and academics in the community to enrich academic programs and athletic facilities shared with community recreation centers. Such partnerships can lessen the financial burden on educational institutions and help place the school at the center of the community.

Isaac Williams is an assistant professor in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, University of Maryland, College Park.

Performance Facilities That Tickle the Senses
By Steve Crane, FAIA, REFP

Public schools, colleges, and universities often must do more with less, and that includes designing and building multi-use facilities where students can enhance their educational experiences through the performing arts. These facilities must accommodate a variety of events, from school assemblies to theater productions, band performances to poetry readings, and dance recitals to full orchestra concerts. Plus, many schools share performing arts spaces with the surrounding community—an ideal way to make the school a valued part of its neighborhood.

Here are several strategies for designing and constructing inviting multi-use facilities that also meet the needs of students, staff, and the community.