Metamorphosis of School Design
By: Dr. Franklin Hill

School facilities must evolve as a whole to support new teaching and learning paradigms. If we stubbornly cling to a systematic, incremental approach to change, our facilities will become a hodgepodge of unrelated elements that, ultimately, serve no coherent end.

When trying to grasp how educational facilities must evolve to meet the needs of the 21st century, it is useful to visualize the process of metamorphosis. A butterfly, emerging from its cocoon, is a wholly different creature from the caterpillar that preceded it. In other words, a butterfly is not merely a caterpillar with wings. Rather, it is the embodiment of a whole new system developed to address a whole new set of challenges. So it is with school facilities.

Take, for example, our current preoccupation with communications technology. As we are well aware, it promises to revolutionize the way we teach and learn. However, as school leaders, if we integrate this technology into traditional school building configurations solely to enhance traditional educational methods, we will not fulfill that promise. We will have caterpillars with wings instead of butterflies.

As Peter Senge states in his seminal book, The Fifth Discipline, organizational leaders must promote "whole systems" thinking for their institutions to evolve. In schools, whole systems thinking has led to such breakthrough ideas as theme-based instruction, integrated curricula, teaming, public/private partnerships, and the idea that schools are learning organizations whose members continually discover how they can create and change their own reality. These concepts, in turn, have affected the way architects and others conceive of, build and renovate school facilities.

Following are some of the major trends in school facilities design based upon whole systems thinking. How many have you considered or implemented?

Simpler Construction Systems
The construction of facilities is greatly simplified when schools reduce their size. For example, schools without large libraries no longer need differentiated ceiling heights. Also, larger, open-plan multi-functional spaces constructed of surface steel studs and drywall finishes don't need load-bearing walls. Finally, acoustical battening and other sound-absorbing technologies reduce maintenance costs while increasing long-term design flexibility.

Off-Site Learning
Many schools have increased their capacity by as much as 15 percent by shifting appropriate programs off site. For example, some secondary schools are collaborating with post-secondary facilities to provide online and off-site learning experiences. In some cases, local businesses are not just providing school-to-work opportunities--they are leasing classroom space to schools, thereby enabling instructors to show students firsthand the connection between core academic subjects and job-related tasks. Schools are also experimenting with off-site learning at government, recreational, healthcare and other facilities.

Creative Financing
The traditional method of funding capital construction through local property taxes has often proven ineffective. In response, schools are examining creative financing methods that combine private-sector investing with long-term "lease/purchase" or "design/build" strategies.

Private sector financing allows schools to avoid bond referendum requirements, spread payments across multiple years, and lower their owner costs. Also, creative leasing of school buildings can generate revenue, and lease/purchase arrangements for technology equipment can help schools avoid obsolescence and maintenance hassles.

The Extended Learning Community
One of the biggest trends is the increasing interdependence among schools, families, community members, and business. Historically, these entities have only cooperated at a superficial level. In the new whole systems paradigm, they maximize their resources by organizing around a unified societal vision.

Multiple Use Sites
Many schools still have an institutional facade that reinforces their traditional mindset. Twenty-first century schools have moved away from this and are being redesigned to accommodate multiple uses by students and community members. Many new buildings combine traditional school building elements with elements of offices, community centers, industrial parks, high-tech facilities, and colleges. These types of school buildings send a new message to a new, expanding clientele focused on lifelong learning.

Classrooms As Learning Environments
Whole systems thinking does not only affect macro-level architecture, it also applies to the details of classroom interior design. Elements of lighting, color, acoustics, and surface textures can be adapted to support learning styles or intelligences. Such traditional components as two-by-four fluorescent tube lighting hung from a nine-and-a-half-foot grid, although being cost-effective, can seriously hamper many students' learning.

Important components to consider when designing any learning environment are the orientation of computer equipment to windows; the height and angle of instructional televisions; the placement of auditory devices; the placement of acoustical partitions and dividers; and the placement of visually distracting, functional components.

Future schools will be:
* More simply constructed
* Revenue generators
* Privately financed
* Integrated with social, governmental, and business entities
* Focused on multiple, community-wide uses
* Designed to support new learning theories

As school leaders, we must continually evaluate the above trends as they relate to new construction or remodeling. These ideas can be a great review tool for post-occupancy evaluation or establishing standards for proposed new construction and remodeling. Seeking input from planning experts who work in the field on a daily basis can help you look at options, match plans to local conditions, and develop a whole systems development framework.

Dr. Franklin Hill, founder of Franklin Hill & Associates, combines 25 years of professional qualifications and experience in education and architecture with a competence in state-of-the-art technologies. He has made affordable and flexible high-tech schools his specialty.