Colorful floors. Quiet hallways.

colorful floor

For a facility with plenty of open space and very few doors, the ability to absorb the noise of kids constantly switching classrooms was a big deal.

Reading friends of Aledo, Texas needed new flooring for their recent renovation. As a school with a pre-K and kindergarten curriculum, they had several requirements for this new flooring: It had to be fun. It had to help with noise. And it had to be easy to clean.

Working with Jeff Green of FloorPartners, the school chose Interface’s Studio Set™ luxury vinyl tile (LVT) for its classrooms and hallways. Multi-colored planks run from classroom to classroom in bright zig-zag patterns. In choosing the flooring, he says, “Studio Set had everything we wanted as far as sound quality, and the versatility of the product allowed us to create a really unique design.”

Flooring that performs on many levels

Almost a year after completing the renovation, Reading Friends owner Diane Taylor is a convert. “I was hesitant [about how the LVT] would absorb the constant noise of the kids switching classrooms, but it really has worked!” she says. For a facility with plenty of open space and very few doors, that’s a big deal. “I am so impressed by how easy [Interface LVT] has helped absorb the sound in our hallways and classrooms.”

Additionally, intensive floor maintenance has become a thing of the past. School staff are able to spend more time with the kids and less time making the floor look nice. According to Diane, “it really was the perfect flooring for the high-traffic, highnoise areas of our school.”

In fact, because of the success of this project, the entire Aledo Independent School District is considering designating Interface carpet and LVT as part of its standard flooring for all its facilities. From experience, Jeff Green explains, “Interface carpet tile is a real idiot-proof product. And as far as LVT, it’s a matter of getting people to experience it in their schools to trust that it’ll meet their needs.”

interface.com

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management September 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • 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.

  • S4L Announces 2026 Education Design Showcase Winners

    Spaces4Learning is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2026 Education Design Showcase! Now in its 27th year, the annual awards program honors innovative solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction across K–12 and higher education.

  • 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.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.