Flexibility Drives New School Design Trends

The Great Recession has been brutal for many sectors of the economy, and architecture and engineering firms have not been immune. In Arkansas, one bright spot in an otherwise underwhelming couple of years has been school construction.

Since the beginning of 2009, 45 school-related projects worth nearly $825 million have been announced, begun or completed in the state, according to Arkansas Business records and listings from F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill Inc., which tracks construction projects. That figure includes private schools and colleges but no projects worth less than $5 million. And several Northwest Arkansas companies will benefit from the building boom.

Firms that have not pursued school projects in recent years could be in for lean times, said Brent Stevens, executive director of the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

“Those that are not involved in school construction and design, what business they had has pretty much dissipated, and now they’re looking for new projects to keep their business afloat,” Stevens said.

Increased state money for equalizing school facilities as a result of the Lakeview school funding decision has led to a surge of public school construction that is unprecedented, said Jack See, partner with Wittenberg Delony & Davidson Architects in Little Rock.

“It allowed a lot of districts to build to a level that they had never been able to build to before,” he said.

See served as vice chair of the state’s task force for the joint committee on educational facilities in 2003 and 2004 and chaired the new standards committee, which developed new public school facilities standards for the state.

“If a building is well-maintained and well-designed, it can enhance the learning environment for students, teachers and the community,” See said. Conversely, older buildings – especially those in need of serious repairs – can negatively affect students and teachers.

For the 2009-11 biennium, the state set aside $128 million for school facilities, said Doug Eaton, director of the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities & Transportation.

Nearly all of that money has been disbursed to school districts, which apply for the money in even-numbered years, he said. State funding of school construction has also been good for builders.

“I think it’s been a real boon to companies throughout the state to have construction work,” said Bob Shell, president and CEO of Baldwin & Shell in Little Rock. “And I’m not talking about just people like us, general contractors, but subcontractors and suppliers. I think the state would be in a world of hurt if we didn’t have this going on right now.”

Education-related projects account for about 80 percent of Baldwin & Shell’s business right now, Shell said.

“We’ve seen a number of commercial or private projects postponed or put off because of the economy, whereas school construction has continued on at a steady pace,” he said.

Revenue for Baldwin & Shell last year was up to almost $130 million, Shell said. That’s a 16 percent increase from the $112 million the company reported for 2008, according to the Largest Commercial Contractors list Arkansas Business published in September.

 

Flexible Facilities

While many schools are built to last for decades, educational practices shift often and more easily than the buildings in which they are implemented.

“The dynamics of learning are changing,” said Ron Shelby, president of Hight-Jackson Associates PA in Rogers. “Most schools built in the ’50s and ’60s are out of the industrial-type image, where you have hallways, double-loaded corridors and classrooms on either side down rows of corridors, with each class having a teacher that is planted in that classroom.”

Many recently built schools have classrooms that are bigger and can be combined with other classes for team teaching and larger group projects, he said.

“They need to have the ability to be flexible. Not only immediate flexibility, but long-term, so that in a 10-year trend, how can we tear the walls out and make this building change into something else,” Shelby said.

Another way in which school districts want their buildings to be flexible is in terms of community use. For many smaller towns, school buildings are the largest structures available, and are often used for various civic functions. In that scenario, most school districts want a design that allows for portions of the building not in use to be locked up easily, so that during after-hours functions those areas are secure, Shelby said.

 

School Mission

Another element of contemporary school design is that greater attention is being given to each school’s unique teaching and learning objectives, said Eldon Bock, principal and COO for Witsell Evans & Rasco PA in Little Rock.

“Schools are becoming more of a backdrop to an educational mission rather than a facility that you try to force-fit a program into,” he said. “So there is a lot of exploration in terms of what is the educational mission, based on their success, and how can we configure buildings to support their mission.”

Special project areas are being included in schools for in-depth learning and greater collaboration between students, he said. This means more common areas, breakout spaces and even features as simple as wide spots in hallways.

“High schools are fast approaching college-level learning environments,” Bock said. “Technology is quickly finding its way into the classroom with interactive smart boards and wireless network environments.”

Another movement is toward what are sometimes referred to as “small learning communities.” This is important for larger schools, particularly those with more than 1,800 students, because in schools that big, students can lose their sense of identity, Shelby said.

The basic concept of small learning communities is to break the school population down into smaller units for core classes, with students predominantly staying in one area of campus and venturing out of that for lunch, extracurricular activities and specialized or advanced courses, he said.

Hight-Jackson – along with Marlon Blackwell Architect of Fayetteville and DLR Group of Overland Park, Kan. – is working on the renovation of Fayetteville High School. The $45 million project incorporates small learning communities that may include about 300 students each, Shelby said.

Another issue of concern for school administrators, parents and architects is safety, especially regarding emergencies.

“Over the last decade and a half we’ve had some pretty significant incidents, so there’s a drive to provide secure environments for children by design and to lessen the need for security personnel and supervision,” Bock said.

This means fewer entry points in schools and systems that allow buildings to either be locked down in the event of a school shooting or promptly evacuated if necessary.

Fayetteville High School’s current campus has 56 exterior doors, a circumstance that presents a security threat, according to the district Web site.

Another safety focus is on making the buildings healthier with better ventilation, more natural light and reduced use of volatile organic compounds, See said.

“A healthy and productive building can support a school’s mission by seven benefits: better student performance, increased average attendance, increased teacher satisfaction and retention, reduced operating costs, reduced liability exposure, a positive influence on the environment and increased opportunities for using the facility itself as a teaching tool,” he said.

In addition to the media and career centers that are becoming more common in schools, many of the new school buildings present students with opportunities to learn about architecture by experiencing unique architecture firsthand, See said.