Page 18 - School Planning & Management, July/August 2017

FACILITIES { LEARNING SPACES }
Using Active Planning to Evaluate Space and Leverage Resources
Active planning of facilities is critical for all school districts, no matter the size.
By Ellen Kollie
“WHEN STUDENTS LEARN IN WELL-PLANNED schools — schools designed specifically for them
with good IAQ, lighting, finishes and technol- ogy — they perform better,” says David Waggoner, AIA, ALEP,
LEED-AP BD+C, K-12 market leader and vice president for Atlanta-based Heery International. Who doesn’t want our next generation of leaders to perform well in school? No one, which is why school district leaders need to know about active planning, a process that encompasses both facility and space planning.
Facility planning and space planning are not the same thing; how- ever, there is a relationship between them. “Facility planning registers
more along the broad-based lines of how are you going to organize your overall campus or district,” says J. David Torbert, AIA, partner with Orlando-based SchenkelShultz Architecture. “It’s a process of evaluating the buildings and determining what, if anything, can be remodeled, renovated or replaced. It is defining goals and objectives.”
Space planning is the conceptual relationship of the spaces within the school, such as the relationship of classrooms to the gym, cafeteria and media center. “Space planning is a universally accepted term for how you’re putting the spaces together and how they relate to one another within the overall campus,” Torbert says. “It is finding solutions to your goals and objectives.”
18 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JULY/AUGUST 2017
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