Las Vegas’s Clark County school district currently leads the nation in school building. By 2007, the county will have constructed more than 200 new schools in 20 years—an astonishing pace for a town that only 100 years ago was little more than a whistle stop in the desert. To improve the quality of Clark County’s schools and the value of its education and extend the body of knowledge associated with learning and the best practices of educational facility planning and architecture, AIA Las Vegas has established the Design for Learning Foundation as the 2005 Legacy Project. The foundation will fund research on the design of educational facilities and study how the built environment affects student performance and achievement. According to Randy Lavigne, executive director of AIA Nevada/AIA Las Vegas, the foundation will become a clearinghouse for accumulated knowledge on the subject. The foundation’s board of directors will include architects and staff from AIA Las Vegas, educators, and community leaders from the region and beyond.

To support the fundraising campaign, the Las Vegas chapter hosted a raffle on the last day of the AIA convention, May 21. Teller, famed magician and half of the “bad boys of magic” team Penn & Teller, made a special appearance to draw the winning tickets and announce the winners. Prizes awarded were an iPod and two pairs of tickets to the see Penn & Teller in their show at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, “Living in Vegas! Live at the Rio!” on Saturday, May 21. For more information on the 2005 Legacy Project, contact Randy Lavigne at rlavigne@aianevada.org.

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