Students love nothing better than personalizing their space--desk, bedroom, or even their cars. This article describes a classroom challenge that gives students a chance to let their spirits soar with the invention of a new form of wall treatment. A trip to a big box store might prove to be most helpful for students to visualize their new product…

Many school and college campuses are like small cities--they offer a little bit of everything. Although academic buildings and residence halls account for a sizable percentage of the facilities on a campus, the academic community on a school campus can include other buildings with specialized design and performance needs: laboratories,…

The opportunity to design a learning space does not come along often. Usually, it involves the construction of a new building or the complete remodel of an old one, and both of these require a lot of money. Smaller projects, such as renovation of a single room or a defined space, can be the best way to test ideas and establish a model for…

At Santa Clara University (SCU), Vice Provost for Information Services and CIO Ron Danielson led the design and construction of the campus's 194,251-square-foot Harrington Learning Commons, Sobrato Technology Center, and Orradre Library, a single building opened in March 2008. Danielson and his team were responsible for describing design goals,…

The design and implementation of technology can prove a particularly daunting challenge for campus planners and project designers. Specialization is required for the selection and implementation of technologies including the familiar network, telecommunications, and data-processing functions, and also the more esoteric emerging technology labs and…

In this article, the author talks about legibility as an essential component of education facility design. Legibility is concerned not only with stylistic consistency, but also with other design factors that help make a building understandable. Reconfigured interiors and multiple additions can create confusing paths. Illogical assortments of…

The purpose of the study was to (a) determine the design features of the physical learning environment that support collaborative, project-based learning, and (b) to gain an understanding of the rationale for the selection of the features. The literature review indicated a need for changing learning expectations to prepare learners for rapidly…