Making furniture decisions can involve many factors, and they vary from institution to institution. For fixtures, furnishings and equipment, comparing initial cost with the cost of ownership over a life cycle can be more challenging. It may be the functionality of the furnishings that provides the greatest return on investment. In this article,…

Sometimes students come up with crazy ideas. When this author first started teaching at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia five years ago, she had a sophomore share such an idea with her. He wanted to put solar panels on the school's roof as a way to reduce the school's carbon footprint and set a bright clean…

Roofs always have been a major focus for building energy-conservation measures. The emphasis traditionally has been on beefing up insulation. More recently, advances in roofing materials technology and analytical techniques have found new ways to fine-tune the energy performance of roofing to reduce not only operating costs, but also environmental…

Designing break-the-mold classrooms--learning spaces that depart dramatically from traditional classrooms--comes with increased risk, especially when the design will be replicated multiple times within a new building. One way to reduce risk is to build a life-size mock-up classroom before making final design decisions. This can help faculty better…

This article discusses how Watkinson School head John Bracker was able to accomplish the school's plan of having a new science building that would meet all of their needs: innovative building that offers a range of eco-friendly features, an inspiring learning environment, and even better, the right price. Bracker contemplates on a structure that…

Invoking a statement by the cultural geographer David Livingstone--that location is essential to knowing--this paper focuses on Danish school architecture during the 1950s and 1960s and the interplay between local geography and developments and discussions on the national and international scene. Through exhibitions and study tours and…

The lighting of learning environments is an important focus in designing new schools and renovating older schools. Studies long have shown that appropriate lighting levels and daylighting improve learning; now, climbing energy budgets have spurred school administrators to seek more efficient use of lighting. Electricity rates are expected to rise…

Acoustics has received greater importance in the learning environment in recent years. In August 2000, The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) published the study "Classroom Acoustics: A Resource for Creating Learning Environments with Desirable Listening Conditions" providing a framework for understanding the qualities, descriptors of the…

Most of the scholarship on learner-centeredness is focused on individual classroom pedagogy, but this book takes learner-centeredness beyond the classroom and asks academic leaders to consider the broader implications of making their institutions fully learner-centered. Systemic change is needed, and curriculum is at the heart of what higher…

Space is both an asset and a burden for colleges and universities. On the one hand, space holds enormous value for institutions; their campuses and buildings are worth, in many cases, hundreds of millions of dollars. Space is the medium in which the institution operates. Online courses have proven that education can be conducted anywhere, but most…

Space has been of growing significance in social theory in recent years, yet, explorations of it in the scholarship of higher education have been limited. This is surprising, given the critical role space has in shaping staff and students' engagement with the university. Taking a practice-based approach and focusing on academic identities, this…

Hanover School Division (HSD) is located southeast of Winnipeg, Canada and is currently Manitoba's largest rural school division, with 7500 students in 18 schools. A recent wave of immigration has led to rapid growth in both numbers and diversity and the recent planning and construction of Clearspring Middle School in Steinbach is providing many…

New school buildings often grab headlines that highlight their green features and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, yet nearly 90% of schools in the United States were built before 1985, with the largest portion built from 1950-69 to accommodate the baby boom generation (National Clearinghouse for Educational…

School design utilizing integrated architectural and structural precast and prestressed concrete components has gained greater acceptance recently for numerous reasons, including increasingly sophisticated owners and improved learning environments based on material benefits such as: sustainability, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, storm…

From its conception, Richardsville Elementary was designed to be an affordable net zero facility. The design team explored numerous energy saving strategies to dramatically reduce energy consumption. By reducing energy use to 19.31 kBtus annually, the net zero goal could be realized through the implementation of a solar array capable of producing…