Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Passive Security Concepts

  • 11/01/06

Building Layout


    • Avoid blind spots, corners, and cubby holes.

    • Locate administrative and teacher preparation offices within major circulation areas (i.e., corridors, cafeteria, bus drop-off, parking) to provide visual supervision.

    • Develop spatial relationships so there are natural transitions from one location to another.

    • Locate toilets in close proximity to classrooms.

    • Design toilets to balance the need for privacy with the ability to supervise.

    • Locate areas likely to have significant community use close to parking. Ensure these areas can be closed off from the rest of the building.

    • Provide for natural integration of students and staff.

    • Give offices external exits.

    • Widen stairwells in two-story buildings.

    • Create the ability to partition unused portions of building.

    • Include elevator(s) in two-story buildings.


Landscaping, Playing/Practice Fields, and Lighting


    • Use high trees and low bushes (less than three feet high) to deter hiding.

    • Use aesthetically pleasing fencing around the perimeter of the building.

    • Place a tree buffer along the perimeter of the property to avoid extensive fencing.

    • Use non-intrusive lighting in all areas (not correctional-type lighting).

    • Install emergency lighting/power in hallways, stairwells, and rooms.

    • Provide security lighting around building and parking lots with photocell timer that has on/off switch.

    • Separate athletic fields from informal gathering areas.

    • Locate athletic facilities away from building site to avoid vehicular and pedestrian conflicts.


Featured

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).

  • Building Beyond Simulation: Creating Immersive Ecosystems for Healthcare Education

    Health sciences education is one of the fastest-growing facility types in colleges and universities. The demand for medical, nursing, and allied health professionals is driving the creation and renovation of medical simulation training facilities that provide students with real-world experience through advanced simulation-based learning.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • University of Pennsylvania Releases Design of Future Physical Sciences Building

    The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, Penn., recently released renderings of an upcoming 350,000-square-foot Physical Sciences Building, according to news release. The facility was designed by CO Architects and will unite the university’s departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, and Earth and Environmental Science.