Confusion and frustration can often accompany local school boards of education and facilities designers who attempt to meet classroom facilities needs pursuant to North Carolina legislative requirements when building or renovating schools. This booklet identifies a number of procedures, regulations, and agencies associated with the construction of…

This report describes the design-down process of defining educational specifications that includes recognition of societal changes and community involvement when building or renovating schools. A progressive, collaborative step-by-step approach is described through which the design team moves in the development of a school building design. Each…

The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board is responsible for developing accessibility guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, including play facilities. This report provides a section-by-section analysis of the proposed guidelines, and exceptions, for play areas. Guidelines include ground and elevated…

An educational program's characteristics are one of the main factors influencing the number of square feet needed per student. Listed are some initial questions facility planners can ask to help guide the facility design process with the educational program in mind. (GR)

The Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) system has created a procedure for guiding the architectural design and construction of elementary school buildings that document staff representatives can use when reviewing drawings and specifications for the facility. The document is divided into three sections: the first lists the type of spaces and…

Suggestions for improving school library and media services are offered by elementary school media staff in the Sacramento (California) area. This manual consists of one-page reference sheets for each school that responded to a request to share helpful ideas on media services. In addition to a helpful idea or ideas, each sheet includes the name of…

Article presented three examples of an informal humanities approach attempted at the elementary level, specifically, at the Brookside School, a coeducational day school at the Cranbrook educational community in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. (Author/RK)

The new Terraset Elementary School in Reston, Virginia, uses earth as a cover for the roof area and for about 80 percent of the wall area. A heat recovery system will be used with solar collectors playing a primary role in heating and cooling. (Author/MLF)

The functional spaces of this school are organized to require two instead of three roof-top air-conditioning penthouses. (Available from 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, $15.00 annually.) (Author/MLF)

Discusses trends, in New South Wales, in designing high school science facilities. Also discussed is the "open-space science complex" which would offer the maximum flexibility required for future courses. (BR)

Raleigh County (West Virginia) Vocational Technical Center is strongly committed to the importance of total student development as well as to the responsibility of vocational instruction. These commitments are clearly reflected in the architectural planning for the new educational center. (Author/MW)

An elementary school in a rapidly expanding suburb of Columbus, Ohio, is planned around the issues of energy, economy, and open plan teaching. (Author)

Tips on working with an architect to cut school construction costs. (Author)

In this article the reader is launched into the story of how the educational village called Parkland Community College came to be. (Author/RK)