A compact concrete box with a rational floor plan hosts a forward-looking middle school in Rüschlikon, Switzerland.

A cluster of new buildings captures the rugged, free spirit of a rural boarding school in Birmingham, Alabama.

An environmental charter school in Connecticut gets a new building with an unusual wood structure.

An innovative use of local materials engenders an inspiring setting for learning in Burkina Faso.

Color and texture create a stimulating environment for the children of a nursery and elementary school complex near Paris.

Three firms collaborate to expand and renovate a popular high school in Arkansas.

A new school in the sprawling Nairobi slum of Kibera stands in striking contrast to the informal settlement that surrounds it.

The ambitious environmental agenda of a new elementary school by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) on Staten Island, New York, is obvious from the first encounter: almost 1,600 photovoltaic (PV) panels cloak the 68,000-sqare-foot, two-story structure, covering the south facade, extending over its roof, and cantilevering out to float above a playing field.

Modular construction yields a surprisingly fresh aesthetic in a school for young children in Germany.

How do you give civic scale and stature to a mid-rise school in a high-rise context? This was one of the challenges faced by bKL Architecture in designing the new lower school of GEMS World Academy in Chicago.