The 2006 release of Learning by Design showcases the nation’s best in educational facility architecture design. This year’s grand prize goes to klipp, Denver, for the Denver School for Science & Technology. The jury noted a nationwide focus on career and technology education among the more than 120 school and university projects submitted. Other trends include flexible common areas, sustainable outdoor spaces as learning environments, environmentally friendly designs, and site plans that account for safety.

Outstanding Educational Facility Design Grand Prize

Klipp, for Denver School of Science & Technology
The Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) is a charter high school built in 2005 that represents the first of four demonstration schools in Colorado. DSST enrolls 40 percent low-income students and focuses on science, math, and engineering. Part of the overall master plan for the former Stapleton Airport, DSST embodies New Urbanism planning concepts. The scale and character of the school is consistent with Stapleton’s adjacent residential, retail, and mixed-use development—partners in the school’s internship and work-study programs. Located on a brownfield site, sustainability was a major design influence, taking advantage of solar orientation and prevailing breezes. The area bus transit system reduces parking and limits paving. To ensure maximum energy efficiency, building systems were designed in association with Colorado’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation.

DSST is an entirely wireless environment. Each student maintains a digital portfolio and personal Web page accessible to the entire school community, colleges, and potential employers. Classrooms cluster around a central open studio space, with project rooms adjacent to each studio for students to work on assignments. The commons functions as a student/faculty lounge, all-school gathering place, and an area for presenting and exhibiting student work.

Citation of Excellence Awards

Visually inviting spaces, seamless additions, gentle curves, and designs that enrich the learning environment as well as the surrounding community topped the list of winning attributes in this year’s Learning by Design school and university design competition.

MoodylNolan Inc., for the University of Illinois at Chicago West Campus sports and fitness center addition/renovation. “This facility really contributes to the campus as a whole,” said Learning by Design judge Sean O’Donnell, AIA, senior associate for Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects. O’Donnell noted MoodylNolan’s well-executed site plan that supports smooth pedestrian traffic throughout the facility and supports a “very pleasant interior.” The firm designed and built the addition on top of an existing underground lap pool—a unique solution that allowed an architecturally open site to fit into a tight urban campus.

NTDStichler Architecture, for South Pasadena (Calif.) High School renovation/addition/restoration. The stand-out accomplishment of this winning design project is how “it captures the heritage of the community,” noted Learning by Design judge Judy Marks, associate director of the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. The project’s expansion and modernization includes several 1920s Art Deco buildings as well as bungalows from the 1940s and tilt-up concrete buildings from the 1970s. “The architects relished expanding upon the Art Deco theme,” Marks said. “And there is beautiful detailing all the way through.”

SchenkelShultz Architecture, for St. Lucie (Fla.) High School. Scheduled for completion in July 2006, the school will serve 2,500 students in grades 9-12. Learning by Design judges praised the project’s focus on creating small learning communities and breaking down the scale of the school. Kelley Carey, chair of the Learning by Design panel, said a well-thought-out site plan “effectively breaks down the scale of the high school. Rather than introducing cookie-cutter classrooms, there are project rooms and open spaces for multidisciplinary educational activities that encourage group learning,” said Carey, president of Associated Planning & Research.

VCBO Architecture LLC, for Davis High School, Kaysville, Utah. Among the most eye-catching features of this design are curved hallways that make the school “more inviting and less institutional,” said Learning by Design judge Sean O’Donnell. And because the hallways were built at a gentle curve, allowing for good visibility, they don’t pose a security problem, judges noted. Davis High School also is an excellent example of design for small learning communities. The four small learning communities along the curved central hallway—the core programs at Davis—are fine arts, business, construction trades, and science and technology.

Symmes Maini & McKee Associates, for Marblehead (Mass.) Veterans Middle School renovation/addition/restoration. Built in 1913 with additions in 1935, 1937, and 1986, Marblehead Veterans Middle School is “a beautiful historic building” after undergoing a well-thought-out and considerate renovation, said Learning by Design judge Pam Loeffelman, AIA, a principal at Perkins Eastman Architects PC. “The additions are respectful of the past, but celebrate the future,” she explained. Completed in June 2004, the school now features building façades of red brick, stone trim, and multifaceted windows that complement the historic character of the original building.

Northwest Architectural Company, for Kirkland (Wash.) Junior High School. Completed in September 2004, the school received high marks from Learning by Design judges for its refreshing design sophistication at the junior high level. “Kids are a lot more sophisticated than they used to be, and we need to understand that,” Loeffelman said. “This is a 21st century learning environment.” The school’s library, a high-tech facility featuring curved walls and abundant natural light, is the center of Kirkland’s design. Flanking the library are the school’s core academic “houses,” designed to support team-teaching in flexible, open spaces.

Flansburgh Associates Inc., for Wood End Elementary School, Reading, Mass. Aptly named, the school sits on 11 acres adjacent to forests. Completed in October 2004, the school serves 425 students in grades K-5. Learning by Design judges lauded the firm’s attention to detail, particularly the school’s exposed timber structure and abundant natural light that make the “school-in-the-woods” environment complete. “The wood really warms the building up,” O’Donnell said. Carey noted the building’s abundant natural light and fit with the surrounding natural environment.

Gruzen Samton Architects LLP for Babylon (N.Y.) Elementary School renovation/addition/restoration. Among the stand-out features of Gruzen Samton’s design is the school’s new commons area that effectively links public-use spaces, including the existing cafeteria, a new competition-sized gymnasium, and a state-of-the-art library/media center. Loeffelman said a well-thought-out and strategically designed series of additions “really provides clarity of public spaces,” making the school a welcoming place for the community.

Publishers’ Citation

Gilbert Architects Inc., for Upper Moreland Primary/Intermediate School, Willow Grove, Pa. The facility’s design effectively supports a “house” concept in which classrooms are grouped around a shared learning subject. Learning by Design publishers noted that the architects created an inviting learning environment for students, making them part of smaller communities within a large school.

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