School Design

School Design Henry Sanoff Educators often overlook the positive impact of changing the environment of the school itself when considering how to improve the quality of education. School Design shows how to create more effective schools through a design process that involves teachers, students, parents, administrators, and architects. It reveals how to create school environments that develop the whole child, instill enthusiasm for learning, and encourage positive social relationships. Readers discover how to integrate design research, design participation, and design development to optimize school settings. Numerous case studies identify different techniques for increasing participation through the building design approach. These examples provide strategies for involving teachers, parents, and others in decision making. Included are real–life designs for early childhood, middle, high, and higher education environments. Detailed, practical methods show how to:

• Link behavioral objectives to spatial needs
• Achieve spatial efficacy without compromising education
• Match children’s developmental needs to facility requirements
• Promote greater variety in physical facilities to accommodate various teaching and learning styles
• Gain more valuable feedback from teachers, parents, students, and local citizens on building performance

In response to today’s tight school budgets, Henry Sanoff discusses how relatively minor design modifications can have a major positive effect on school performance. He discusses cost–effective ways that design can change students’ spatial behavior, increase interaction with materials, decrease interruptions, promote more substantive questioning, and ultimately improve academic achievement. Many of the examples cited throughout the text were selected for their innovative techniques of user involvement. There are exemplary designs for child care centers, alternative schools, public and private university settings, and other institutions. This path–breaking volume will provide architects, principals, teachers, and school administrators with a wide array of insights into creating spaces that promote better learning.