Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Unique Furniture Enhances Learning

  • 09/01/18
National Office Furniture

National Office Furniture provided furniture that gave TCALC classrooms the look and feel of a modern workplace.

The Topeka Center for Advanced Learning and Careers (TCALC) is an innovative high school program that provides students the opportunity to focus on professional skills like project management, business ethics, time management, teamwork, and creativity. Through a project-based curriculum, students receive authentic exposure to corporate environments while developing the skills needed to succeed in 21st-century professions.

The facility promotes this progressive approach through its variety of learning spaces. The facility was designed as if students are fully immersed in a professional culture, and offers collaboration spaces, multi-use areas, private offices, and team rooms to accommodate the unique curriculum.

To prepare students for high-skill, high-demand jobs, TCALC offers a variety of hands-on experiences and features spaces that encourage interaction within a professional atmosphere. Maneuver tables and Jiminy seating provide mobility, allowing students and faculty to reconfigure and accommodate their needs. Fringe, Reno, and Swift lounge furniture create a variety of collaboration spaces and casual commons areas. Private offices support flexibility with Tessera casegoods, while the Footings, Strassa, and WaveWorks tables provide unique gathering and meeting spaces.

Through four pathways (Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing, Bioscience and Biomedical, Business, and Human Services) TCALC is teaching business ethics and skills within a professional atmosphere, allowing students to become more comfortable in a business culture, setting them up for success in their careers after graduation.

“Our goal is to have a unique, welcoming, and thought-provoking educational space which had the look and feel of a modern day corporate business environment. National Office Furniture was instrumental in helping us achieve that goal,” says Larry Robbins, deputy superintendent of Operations, Topeka Public Schools.

www.NationalOfficeFurniture.com

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management September 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • GeoCam and UCLA: Modernizing Campus Accessibility Mapping

    In early 2025, UCLA partnered with GeoCam to capture and modernize its pedestrian infrastructure data. The goal was ambitious but clear: to produce a high-accuracy, imagery-backed digital map of every sidewalk, pathway, ramp, and ADA-related feature on UCLA’s 419-acre campus.

  • Missouri Child Development Center Completes $2.3M Expansion

    The Urban Sprouts Child Development Center in St. Louis, Mo., recently announced the completion of a $2.3-million expansion and adaptive reuse project, according to a news release. The new space includes a retail café, outdoor learning space, and a support office building.

  • Western Kentucky University, Gilbane Announce “Elevate WKU” Partnership

    Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky., recently announced that it has reached the financial close on a on a public-private partnership (P3) with Gilbane Development, according to a news release.

  • Wold Completes Geothermal Projects at Two Minnesota Schools

    Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has completed two geothermal expansion projects for Mounds View Public Schools in Shoreview, Minn., according to a news release. The work at Highview Middle School and Irondale High School serves the district’s long-term goal of reducing energy costs and dependency on non-renewable fuel sources, as well as improving building performance.