Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

KI Joins Education Design Research Consortium as Founding Sponsor

  • By Matt Jones
  • 09/17/24

Furniture solutions manufacturer KI recently announced alongside the Center for Advanced Design Research and Evaluation (CADRE) that it will become a founding sponsor for the Coalition for the Advanced Understanding of School Environments (CAUSE). A news release reports that the coalition’s research will focus on the relationship between K–12 physical environments and educational outcomes.

CAUSE members include architecture firms, local school districts, academic institutions, and research organizations, according to the news release. It was founded by researchers from organizations like CADRE, Perkins&Will, Multistudio, HKS, and the Austin Independent School District.

“We're excited to support CAUSE in its mission to use evidence-based insights to improve educational environments,” said KI research manager Jonathan “Juan” Matta. “We're eager to contribute to developing a research tool that will provide critical findings for enhancing how and where students learn.”

The coalition will develop a standardized, open-source, post-occupancy evaluation tool to measure how built environments impact the educational results of K–12 schools. They will consider elements like lighting, acoustics, ergonomic seating, access to nature, and more while creating an initial version of the tool, which will be deployed during a pilot study this fall in a Texas School district. Research will focus on “how school design impacts health and educational performance, establish[ing] data collection protocols for K–12 facilities, and promot[ing] interdisciplinary collaboration and an open-source approach within the industry,” according to the news release.

“Contemporary science is fundamentally a collaborative endeavor. CAUSE represents an industry commitment to working across organizations to generate better data that can improve the positive impacts of design for teachers and students,” said Michael Ralph, one of the coalition’s founding members and vice president at Multistudio. “The strength of our initiative comes from the expertise provided by our many leaders across research and design, and only by pooling our collective wisdom can we advance our efforts toward evidence-driven design excellence.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • New Arizona Fine Arts School Reaches Construction Milestone

    Construction of the new Hilltop School for the Arts and Theater in Litchfield Park, Ariz., recently hit a significant milestone, according to a news release. The Agua Fria High School District held a beam-signing ceremony to celebrate the building’s topping out, or the placement of its last structural beam.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.

  • Photo credit - Chuck Coates

    Florida District Modernizes Central Energy Plants at Two High Schools

    Flagler Schools, a public school district in Flagler County, Fla., recently partnered with Matern Professional Engineering to modernize the central energy plants at two of its high schools, according to a news release. The project is part of a larger, district-wide effort to reduce energy costs and operational expenses.

  • Zurn Elkay Releases 2025 Sustainability Report

    Zurn Elkay Water Solutions recently announced the release of its annual sustainability report, according to a news release. The 2025 report discusses the organization’s efforts to maintain good environmental stewardship and the solutions provided in helping customers meet sustainability goals.