Now On Demand

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 0.1 IACET CEU

May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations.

This webinar is part of the Education Academy.

This webinar will explore innovative design practices and strategies in new K–12 environments, and will profile three unique projects that focus on the aesthetic, environmental, and safety goals of designers who seek to incorporate optimal learning opportunities for students and enhance the community at large.

Kim Yao, AIA, principal at Architecture Research Office, will present on New York’s Riverdale Country School, a new 23,000-square-foot facility in the Bronx that provides a stimulating place to learn, socialize, and engage with nature. The new Upper Learning Building was designed to allow the school to reconfigure the way classrooms are organized on campus in order to allow for greater collaboration.

Jay Brotman, AIA, managing partner and Julia McFadden, AIA, associate principal, both of Svigals + Partners, will present on the new Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The ambitious project features safe, inspiring, and meaningful educational architecture and landscape design in support of the needs of the current and future student body, and it serves to advance the vision of the entire community as it rebuilds and rebounds.

Jon Cicconi, AIA, associate director at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), will present on the Kathleen Grimm School for Leadership and Sustainability at Sandy Ground (aka P.S. 62) project in Staten Island, New York, the first net-zero-energy school in New York City and one of the first of its kind worldwide. The 68,000-square-foot, two-story school serves 444 prekindergarten through fifth-grade students. The cutting-edge building harvests as much energy from renewable on-site sources as it uses on an annual basis.

The presentations will be followed by a moderated discussion focused on how these ambitious and varied K–12 school design projects address several key issues, including:

• Cost: What tradeoffs, if any, are required to achieve design excellence using energy-efficient, sustainable materials, products, and practices for the optimization of K–12 learning environments? In the featured projects, what was the ultimate value in the specific design decisions?
   
• Community involvement: What role did the local communities play in determining the scope and main features in the school designs? What were the benefits? What were the obstacles?
   
• Drivers: Did the school district or school faculty request certain features, or did you, as the architects, propose them? If the latter, what led you to suggest using specific materials or make specific design decisions to support the end goal? How did occupant safety and specific educational goals inform design decisions?
   
• Design constraints and opportunities

Learning Objectives - After viewing this webinar, you should be able to:

1. Define the innovative design strategies employed in the three ambitious, high-profile K–12 school projects drawn from Architectural Record's 2016 and 2017 K–12 Building Type Studies.
2. Explain the cost impacts of innovative design for each of these projects.
3. Discuss how the design teams optimized the environments for student learning, flexibility, collaboration, and safety.
4. Describe the range of approaches for energy-efficient, sustainable design employed by these three innovative projects.

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