The architectural design of Mounds Park All-Nations Magnet School (St. Paul, Minnesota) incorporates cultural symbols representing the Native American worldview and Medicine Wheel Circle beliefs, as well as design elements from aboriginal housing styles, and colors and sculptured elements that reinforce the relationship of nature to building. (SV)

The recently completed American School in Aberdeen, Scotland, serves the children of U.S. oil company employees and other Scottish and foreign children. Describes the program manager's role, explains how to select the architect and contractor, and offers advice on what to remember when building abroad. (MLF)

The process of designing a child care center is described. This process includes the conceptual and schematic design, schematic pricing, design development, and construction documents. Overall design criteria, and interior program components, are discussed. (LB)

The New York City Prototype Schools Program was initiated in 1987 as one of the strategies to design and build new facilities more quickly and at a reasonable cost. The prototype school building features five different blocks that can be configured in a variety of ways to meet individual site requirements. (MLF)

Focuses on ways to meet the facility needs of students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Provides a definition of inclusion; discusses some processes to design school environments that support a side range of student needs; and presents a process that will enable facility planning teams to move all students from self-contained classrooms…

Poses questions that school board members and administrators must address in planning school facilities to educate all students. Lists 24 questions that address the changing demographics within the community and demonstrate that school facilities of tomorrow will need to meet the diverse learning needs of all children. (MLF)

Describes how educational facility design impacts learning style needs that act as the basis for cognitive learning. Recommends involving cognitive learning specialists, interior environmental planners, and creative engineering personnel in the planning and design process to enhance learning, maximize technology use, and improve educational…

Provides reasons for using dome architecture in building educational facilities and describes the development of two such dome facilities in Arizona: a pre-kindergarten through Grade 8 multipurpose facility for Native-American students, and a school library and parent center. Highlights the facilities' interior-design features and some cost…

Discusses how consensus planning encourages group participation and enhances the overall design and construction process. Describes values analysis and ways to include others in examining values, offers step-by-step instructions on how consensus planning works, and provides two examples of consensus planning in action. (RJM)

Describes nationally recognized educational-facility designs from around North America, including the four 1997 James D. MacConnell Award winners. Features profiles of 13 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, 13 high schools, and 5 other types of schools. Contains pictures and facility synopses, and lists occupancy date, building capacity, project…

Examines the planning and development process for building a new secondary school close to a busy commercial center in Geneva, Switzerland. The use of a two-stage architectural competition to help meet the proposal's challenges is described. Geneva's need for a new school, traditional school designs, and educational trends are also discussed. (GR)

Explores three ways students are taught environmentally-sustainable design within an eco-school system: the passive example of the present school premises; the use of architects-in-schools schemes, and student environmental assessments of the school premises. Examples are provided of how each method addresses sustainable design and how they may be…

Presents a list of imaginative design options for optimal outdoor learning as well as intimate contact with nature. Focuses on entrances, pathways, signage and displays, barriers and enclosures, manufactured equipment and play structures, multipurpose game settings, groundcovers and safety surfaces, landforms and topography, trees and vegetation,…

Built 7 years after the original plan and budget were approved, Brunswick High School (Maine) houses 1,200 students on 50 acres and contains the latest technological features. Among these are energy management systems that students can see firsthand, a traditional library with 21st-century features, and interactive environmental learning from…

George Washington Bush Middle School (Washington) is built to accommodate a design and technology program. Technology education and information resource areas are located centrally to a cluster of eight general classrooms. (MLF)