Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Spotlight on Student Centered Design

  • 11/14/17

Chris Gibbs is a principal at DLR Group Architects and has seen many changes and trends come and go in educational facility design.  Designing for student engagement and experience are part of what informs his process, along with the goal of holistically transforming the outcomes for all learners.  

Q. Designing for student engagement has become a hot topic in past years. What are some of the developments on the horizon when it comes to designing schools promote student attention and alertness?

A. Educational facilities play a critical part in the engagement of learners at all levels. As learning place design continues to better align with curriculum and pedagogy, designers must consider spatial variety to maintain student attention and alertness. Spaces may range from individual nooks for quiet contemplation to larger spaces that support active group learning. Each option is equally important to meet the varying needs of young learners.

Q. Is there more of a trend toward designing buildings for career- and college-readiness? How can building and classroom design help students to be better prepared for life after the K-12 world?

A. Preparing students for the ever-changing world that they are launching into after their K-12 experience is more challenging than ever. The pathways students chose after high school are wide-ranging and many of the careers they will pursue have not been invented. Providing learners with a variety of learning places and experiences, when paired with effective best-teaching practices, will develop a solid foundation for their future endeavors. School facilities should provide for seamless day-to-day flexibility in their ability to be modified to support the diverse learning activities that may need to occur.

Q. What are some elements of school design that are overlooked, but really benefit students when thought out and planned carefully?

A. All human beings are social creatures and one critical part of K-12 education is the development of social skills. School design sometimes overlooks the importance of designing spaces for young people to be social. K-12 students of all ages need to continually refine their ability to make friends and be friends in addition to an ability to communicate on a variety of levels.

Featured

  • 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.

  • St. John Fisher University

    Classroom Revitalization – Basil Hall Room 216

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. St. John Fisher University's Basil Hall Room 216 Classroom Revitalization has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of Spaces.

  • Texas District Breaks Ground on Second High School

    The Waller Independent School District in Waller, Texas, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for what will become its second high school, according to a news release.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.