Current Trends in K-12 Facility Design
It is a priority and goal of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini to keep up-to-date with national and global trends in teaching environments, funding, and curriculum design. We strive to better understand what educators need to do their job teaching our kids. We understand that the methods and materials for educating children are constantly changing to keep up with best practice for improving the success and knowledge of our school graduates, and we feel the school environment has a direct effect on that success. The following are documents and links that we have found that may help you connect with some of the state-of-the-art ideas and concepts in facility planning, funding, and curriculum design.
School Facility Design and Renovation
School facilities have a design life-span of fifty years or more. D/P/S feels it is a huge opportunity for students, staff, and administrators to participate in the design of new or renovated facilities within their district. Many staff and administrators have been in the educational system for years or decades and may have never had the opportunity to work with a design team for a new or renovated facility.
The following is a link to an article written specifically to help administrators and staff understand some of the many principles of design for schools and learning centers:
http://schoolstudio.typepad.com/school_design_studio/33-educational-design-pri.html
Curriculum Delivery and Corporate Partnering
In order for the children in this country to maintain a competitive edge in growing global markets, corporate partnering is becoming a favorable trend for schools to re-design or purchase new curriculum delivery that will help our students become more competitive by specializing very early on in their education process. This trend in specialization has changed the way schools look and feel, with many new high schools around the country having more of a feel of a college than a grade school.
The following is a link to an article involving a major Corporate Partner, Microsoft discussing the teaching of "21st Century Skills:"
http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoftuseducation/default.aspx
Small Schools, Walkable Schools, Smart Schools
D/P/S has found that many school districts in New Mexico and across the country are leaning toward smaller school designs, keeping schools closer within the community and limiting their maximum student design capacity in order to better manage student/teacher ratios, more easily adapt to community growth trends, more easily fund facility design, construction, operations and maintenance, and - most importantly - to improve the learning success of the students.
The following is a case study done by Public Schools of North Carolina:
Trends in School Design Feasibility.pdf
The following is a case study done by The University of California, Berkeley on California Public Schools:
Smart Schools Smart Growth.pdf
Safety in Public Schools
Over the past ten years security and safety of children on school campus have become huge priorities. Modern social ailments have leaked into our schools and affected the way teachers and administrators must manage the safety and security of our school facilities. Dekker/Perich/Sabatini works closely with school administrators and local and national initiatives to design safety and security into every facility.
The following is a checklist published by Safe Havens International for the design and implementation of safe learning environments and emergency preparedness for both new and renovated school facilities. D/P/S uses this type of information on every project design:
School Facilities Design Checklist - Safe Havens International.pdf
Energy Conservation and Sustainable Design in School Facilities
D/P/S has a firm commitment to work with facility operations and maintenance administrators and school staff to design facilities that comply with modern energy conservation measures. Energy conservative design will help operations and maintenance budgets for school districts, as well as provide a more healthy and clean living/working environment for the fifty or more years each school may be in operation.
The following is a case study for the implementation of ground source or geo-thermal heat pump HVAC systems in an existing school facility. D/P/S has designed schools that utilize this modern and sustainable heating/cooling system:
D/P/S welcomes questions or comments from educators everywhere regarding state-of-the-art education for our children. If we can assist you in understanding, interpreting, or implementing more modern trends into your educational facility, or help you to pursue corporate partners or find funding for the purchase of capital improvements or curriculum programs please contact Benjamin Gardner at benjaming@dpsdesign.org. Construction prices are low and it's a great time to plan and build!