Planning & Design


Logan Memorial Educational Campus

Logan Memorial Educational Campus

Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Logan Memorial Educational Campus has been recognized with an EDS 2024 Grand Prize award in the category of New Construction.

School Specialty Launches $50,000 K–12 School Makeover Sweepstakes

Comprehensive K–12 learning environment solutions provider School Specialty recently launched its first-ever $50,000 School Makeover Sweepstakes, according to a news release. One grand-prize winner will receive a school makeover, while ten first-prize winners will get professional development packages worth up to $6,500.

Marist College Selects DLR Group to Design New Campus Master Plan

Integrated design firm DLR Group recently announced that it will partner with Marist College to design a new campus-wide master plan for its campus in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., according to a news release. The plan will serve as a blueprint for the Marist 100 initiative, a strategic plan that aligns with the college’s centennial celebration in 2029.

futuristic classroom

The Future of Learning Environments: Flexibility, Simplicity, Connectivity

Spaces4Learning recently convened a panel of ed tech experts to discuss how technology and design can help create a better learning experience for all students — and how institutions can plan, design, and assess their own vision for the classroom of the future.

Massachusetts Elementary School Enters Final Stage of Construction

Studio G Architects recently announced that a new elementary school in Groton, Mass., has reached the final stage of construction. Florence Roche Elementary School (FRES) will cover about 110,000 square feet and was designed to embody the district’s educational pedagogy of Universal Design for Learning.

Boston Technical College Announces Groundbreaking of New Campus

Franklin Cummings Tech, a private technical college in Boston, recently celebrated the groundbreaking of a new, 66,000-square-foot facility as its new campus, according to a news release. The college partnered with Studio G Architects and Studio ENEE for the facility’s design.

Spaces4Learning Launches Glossary of Industry Terms

Here at Spaces4Learning, we recently launched a new resource on our website—the Glossary of School Facility Planning and Maintenance. It offers clear and concise definitions of key terms and concepts used in the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of K–12 and higher-education facilities.

Building Blueprints: Champaign Central High School and Centennial High School

Following decades of advancements in teaching and learning, two public high schools in Champaign, Ill., were challenged to adapt their buildings to support future-ready education. Through renovation, addition, and reorganization by global architecture and design from Perkins&Will, the transformed Champaign Central and Centennial high schools—located four miles apart—are aligned with the community’s vision and designed to meet the evolving needs of contemporary education.

Spaces4Learning 2024 Predictions for Educational Facilities: Part 3

We asked our readership to send us their predictions for 2024 trends in educational facilities. Across K–12 and higher-education campuses both, we asked for opinions on topics like technology, flexible learning spaces, campus safety & security, disaster response, and more. This article is the third in a three-part series compiling responses from educational professionals and vendors.

Spaces4Learning 2024 Predictions for Educational Facilities: Part 1

We asked our readership to send us their predictions for 2024 trends in educational facilities. Across K–12 and higher-education campuses both, we asked for opinions on topics like technology, flexible learning spaces, campus safety & security, disaster response, and more. This article is the first in a three-part series compiling responses from educational professionals and vendors.

California Community College Tops Out Brand-New Campus

The Gavilan Joint Community College District recently announced the topping out of Phase 1 of a new campus in Hollister, Calif., according to a news release. Gavilan gathered with representatives from partners Blach Construction, Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA), and Gensler to celebrate the ceremonial placement of the final steel beam in the building’s structure.

Spaces4Learning Launches 2024 Education Design Showcase

Spaces4Learning is now accepting entries for the 2024 Education Design Showcase! The program was established in 1999 to share innovative and practical solutions in planning, design, and construction.

Call for Opinions: Spaces4Learning 2024 Predictions for Educational Facilities

We’re inviting our readership—administrators, facilities managers, architects, engineers, builders, superintendents, designers, vendors—to chip in on their predictions for educational facilities in 2024.

Community-Driven Design for Next-Generation Learning: A Case Study of Upper Arlington High School

“Your voice matters” defined the Upper Arlington, Ohio, High School master planning and design process, and it was the catalyst behind the project to improve aging facilities in this high-performing district.

An Open-Door Policy: Designing for Social-Emotional Learning

While these design goals sought to balance the various needs of a school, they also supported social-emotional learning (SEL), which focuses on fostering social and emotional skills within school curricula. SEL can take many forms, but it generally adheres to five central competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.

Delivering Successful Career & Technical Education (CTE) Spaces that Spark a Sense of Curiosity

Creating successful spaces to spark curiosity, collaboration and confidence for students starts with several key programming and design considerations.

Nebraska to Open Boys Town Education Center

The village of Boys Town, Neb., recently announced that the Boys Town Education Center has opened its doors to students in time for the fall 2023 semester, a news release reports. The town is a National Historic Landmark and serves as the headquarters of Boys Town, one of the largest non-profit childcare organizations in the U.S.

San Diego Neighborhood Debuts New TK–12 Campus

Integrated design firm DLR Group recently announced the completion of the Logan Memorial Education Campus in the Logan Heights area of San Diego, Calif., according to a news release.

Georgia District Plans K–12 Complex

The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) recently updated the public on the construction of a new K–12 Multi-School Campus in Garden City, Ga., according to local news. The facility will have the capacity for about 2,400 students and will welcome students from Groves High School, Mercer Middle School, and Gould Elementary School.

Case Study: Modernizing a 1960s L.A. School with Biophilic Design

The client was Grover Cleveland Charter High School, part of the Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles, Calif. The challenge, modernizing a 1960s-era, single-story school to double its square footage to accommodate additional students and to follow biophilic design goals that would benefit students and foster collaboration and social interaction.

Bringing STEAM to Life in the K–12 Classroom

What if you could apply crucial STEAM concepts in a way that engages students like never before?

Designing Learning Spaces for Generation Alpha

Generation Alpha is the class of digital natives born after 2010—currently learning, exploring, and growing in PK–12 environments. What makes them different than past generations of learners? Technology has been ingrained into them as part of their childhoods.

Every Student Can Be a “Math Person” with the Right Curriculum

Enjoying math is just like enjoying a sport; it works better if you are doing it with other people. And learning math is like learning a sport; you learn by doing it, not by watching somebody else do it.

Designing for Neurodiversity: Leveraging Research to Create Spaces for All Learners

Interior design is often considered an art, but it’s also very much a science—especially when it comes to designing for neurodiverse populations.

Aligning Learning Space Design with 5 NAEYC Program Standards

When designing early childhood learning environments, it’s important to consider research, development, and the input of experts and educators to determine what is important to help children thrive in these learning spaces. The NAEYC standards are a great foundation to guide the decisions you make in your learning space design in order to support students’ learning and development.

Terra Linda High School Innovation

3 Adaptable Spaces We’ll See More of in Schools

Learning is untethered, spontaneous, and technology-rich, and schools are reshaping themselves to facilitate nimble and adaptable approaches to education. As we look to the future of schools, here are three flexible spaces we’ll see more of.

Francis Tuttle Technology Center: Danforth Campus

The Francis Tuttle Technology Center, one of the premier career training schools in Oklahoma, enlisted architecture and design firm Bockus Payne in the creation of the Francis Tuttle Danforth Campus in Edmond, Okla.

Schools In Focus: Talking Campus Security with Mitch McKinley

Schools In Focus: Designing a Kids' Kingdom

Our guest today is Hiroshi Okamoto, principal and co-founder of OLI Architecture. He's here to tell us about Anji Play, an early childhood education facility in the Zhejiang province of China.

Spaces4Learning Launches Education Design Showcase 2023

Spaces4Learning is now accepting entries for the Education Design Showcase 2022! The awards program celebrates innovative and practical solutions in planning, design and construction at K–12 and Higher Education institutions both.

Kingspan Light + Air, Solatube Form Architectural Solutions Team

Building envelope solutions provider Kingston Light + Air and daylighting company Solatube International recently announced plans to form an Architectural Solutions Team, according to a news release.