Page 24 - School Planning & Management, July/August 2017

FACILITIES { LEARNING SPACES }
Programmatic Synergies
Planning strategies to support future pedagogies
By Brooke Trivas
20TH-CENTURY SCHOOLS WERE DESIGNED to create the most efficient spaces for the consump-
tion of information in a teacher centered environ- ment. Siloed, repetitive classrooms were developed to enhance the individual student experience. The classrooms were largely insular and there was little to no consideration as to how these rooms were networked. Students learned through rote memorization, which we have since discovered generates little retention and schools were designed to support these obsolete learning practices. Every 20th-century school planning stereotype can be found lurking in the hallways of most antiquated facilities.
Superintendents, principals and educators have been work- ing, around these physical barriers, to impart 21st-century skills within 20th-century building planning modalities.
At Perkins+Will, we look to models in and outside our K-12 practice for future trends to ensure that we are future-proofing our
educational facilities. With 10 other practice areas outside of K-12, we constantly ask our subject matter experts what future developments they are seeing that may impact the design and planning of our school facilities. So, what are the subject matter experts telling us?
• Sports+Recreation: Technology is the future of prevention and well-being. Imagine football players reducing field time and injuries by using virtual reality and augmented reality wearable technologies for training and concussion/health evaluations.
• Science+Technology: Hyper-Applied Science, which is the ability to achieve nearly instant development of application from theory — through the advent of advanced prototyping. “Think-make-break (test)” spaces which allow students to rapidly take experimentation from concept to prototype. This will radically change instructional methodologies and the spaces required to support them.
• Workplace: Work environments will be varied in size, configura- tion and styles. Formal offices and assigned desks will disappear,
24 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JULY/AUGUST 2017
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF PERKINS+WILL