Page 27 - spaces4learning, Summer 2022

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALEX NYE PHOTOGRAPHY
THE DOORS EXEMPLIFY HOW WELL-CHOSEN ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES CAN POTENTIALLY ENHANCE STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES.
taught. Those inside the classroom can also look out and see stu- dents collaborating on large whiteboards and laptops. The ability for students to see multiple modes of learning happening simulta- neously helps establish connections between subjects and projects to support student success. The door design ensures both faculty and students can approach a lesson in a way that is most conducive to the material itself and the learning style of the student.
Sliding Doors Balance Visual Connectivity and Acoustic Privacy
It is also important that educational settings provide students with quiet environments for concentrated learning. Building on past research, Dockrell and Shield studied the impact of noise on academic performance in 2006. Students were randomly as- signed to varying levels of noise conditions (from quiet to bab- ble plus environmental noise). The analyses were controlled for ability. The results suggest that in general noise has a significant and negative effect on both performance and speed of processing a task. Further, students with special educational needs were negatively affected in a different manner than their peers. These results were in line with previous studies, which, when taken together, suggest that acoustic privacy can have a substantial impact on student success rates.
Supporting the need for acoustically isolated spaces, the over- sized sliding door systems in Thacher’s building were specified with perimeter acoustic jamb gaskets and drop-down bottom seals to provide a Noise Isolation Class (NIC) rating of up to 39. This meant the door assemblies reduced surrounding classroom noise by 39 decibels—effectively rendering sounds equal to aver- age freeway traffic to the level of a soft whisper. As a result, they minimize noise from adjacent areas to provide students with a distraction-free learning environment. Additionally, these doors have a soft-close dampening system that reduces closing noise.
While all students benefit from acoustically isolated spac- es, it is important to note the increased effect noise can have on students with hearing loss and/or students with attention deficits or autism. For students with hearing loss, background
noise can reduce their ability to comprehend class lessons and assignments, limiting their academic achievement. Likewise, background noise can heighten sensory processing challeng- es (which are common for those with attention deficits and/or autism). This limits the ability for neurodivergent students to achieve their academic potential. For these reasons, doors that provide premium acoustic performance can not only help edu- cational environments support student learning in general but can also support a more accessible learning space.
Large Glass Lites Support
Daylighting Goals
In 1999, the Herschong Mahone Group conducted one of the first evidence-based design studies by examining the effects of day- light on more than 2,000 classrooms in California, Washington and Colorado. The data indicate students with the most classroom daylighting progressed 20 percent faster on math tests and 26 per- cent on reading tests in one year than those with the least. These findings are reported to be consistent regardless of curricula or teaching styles. They were duplicated in a 2002 study by Edwards & Torcelli and a 2008 study by Tanner. Furthermore, according to a study by The National Center for Education Statistics, 16 – 28 percent of schools fail to provide a satisfactory amount of natural lighting to their students. Finding efficient ways to improve access to daylight is vital to evidence-based design.
With such evidence behind the benefits of access to daylight in schools, it follows that the Thacher School would desire to increase natural light within its project-based learning hub. The building’s exterior features an extensive amount of glazing that floods the common areas with natural light. Drawing this light into the hub’s interior, the oversized, full-lite sliding doors help maximize the classrooms’ access to daylight. In fact, some of the doors within the hub are so massive they take up the vast majority of a wall. Because they were specified with transparent sidelites and transoms, as well as full-lites, they leave few barriers to natural light. When used in conjunction with other architectural elements, sliding doors can help educational settings meet and exceed daylighting goals.
Improving Student Success
with Well-Designed Doors
The doors used in Thacher’s project-based learning hub were cus- tomized for the school, so they present specific benefits that are particular to the building. However, they also generally support researched tenets of evidence-based design in classrooms. As such, they exemplify how well-chosen architectural features can poten- tially enhance student learning outcomes. While door specifica- tions can vary greatly by school, architects and administrators can support academic success by considering how door design contrib- utes to evidence-based design by providing access to daylight, flex- ible layout and a balance of visual connection and acoustic privacy.
Tysen Gannon, LEED AP, AD Systems has more than 15 years of experience in the architectural products industry, including roles in sales, product management, research and marketing, with a focus on glass and glazing, fenestration and façade systems.
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