Project Overview

PRINTABLE VERSION

Comprehensive Project Outline

 This semester you will be creating a theoretical schematic design for an education environment for children between the ages of 7-12. The proposal for the design of the environment is to support the mission of the school as outlined in this document. The duration of the project is 15 weeks and you will be working in teams of 3 students.

The studio is created to allow you to understand and practice how research is part of the design process. Knowledge from curricular theory and related topics are to be implemented in a manner that allows the design of an educational environment to meet the needs of children and the learning process. The research explored in this project does not tell you what the school is in physical form, or what the school looks like, but allows you as the designer to access knowledge to focus creative thought.

School Focus

The school is based on a curricular model that allows the children to construct and reconstruct their knowledge based. The curricular structure also recognizes the development and use of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences. Children have the ability to demonstrate their exploration and understanding of knowledge, experimentation, invention, and creativity in a variety of projects that cumulate in a learning portfolio.

The learning environment is to support excellent educational opportunities for children in Finland. The staff and environment supports children that represent all races, social classes, disabilities, and intelligence types found in the Finnish society. The school has adapted A Charter of Rights as Presented by Loris Malaguzzi, Reggio Emila, January 1993.

The school supports a sustainable environment though the actions of the children and staff, and the creation and maintenance of the physical facilities. This support extends to acting upon principles of green and sustainable design.

The school is committed to providing all students access to the greatest possible learning activities. This in-turn requires the objects and environments to be designed, to the greatest extent possible, for all children no matter their physical ability and or use of their natural intelligences. “Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.”   -- Ron Mace.

It is the synthesis, synergistic and Gestalt effect, of curricular theory, commitment to multicultural education, sustainable environments and universal access that creates excellence in education.

School Values

Supporting Learning through Curricular Theory

The school is dedicated to providing education based on cutting-edge theoretical and philosophical foundations. The environment of the school should directly support the objectives of the curriculum.

Constructivism/Social Cultural Understanding of Learning – Constructivism is based on the ability of the students to construct knowledge though hands-on multi-week projects. Constructivism offers a way of learning that reduced the amount of learning through memorizing (behaviorism). In behaviorism students memorize knowledge and present it back to the instructor with little evidence of application or independent thinking. In the constructivist classroom teachers are not seen as the vessel of knowledge, but as facilitators of learning.

Constructivism is based on the study of topics from whole to part. Traditional subjects such as math, science, languages, and history are incorporated into the topics. For example students may study the topic photography. Within the topic of photography students could learn ratios by learning about f-stops, chemistry with photo developing, history from photographs of cultural events, and writing assignments from studying images. Topics are a means to make traditional subjects meaningful.

Constructivism engages student learning in team formats. Students are seen as independent thinkers with emerging ideas of the world that form outside of the classroom. (This opposes the model of students as “blank slates” ready to be filled with knowledge.) Teacher challenge the preconceptions and suppositions of the children to assist in reconstructing knowledge that is ill formed.

You are to use the book, The Case for the Constructivist Classroom by Brooks and Brooks to provide details on constructivist theory.

Multiple Intelligence  -- Howard Gardner, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

“We should not ask how smart are children, we should ask how are children smart.”

Intelligence is not a singular phenomenon, but it is dynamic and multifaceted. At one time we thought that a single test (IQ) could measure all intelligence, but Howard Gardner introduced a way to think of intelligence as a multi-dimensional entity.  Gardner suggests that you can think of intelligence in the following ways:

Linguistic – language and word smart
Logical-mathematical – math and logical smart
Musical – musically smart
Bodily-kinesthetic – body movement smart (dance, sports, arts)
Spatial – picture smart
Interpersonal – people smart
Intrapersonal – reflective thinking smart        

We use all of the above intelligences, but we bias some and maybe avoid others. Good teachers will identify your strong intelligences to reinforce and exercise the weaker intelligences. No two people use the combination of intelligences the same way, but we uniquely combine the intelligences to create our own way of understanding the world.  

Engaging a Multicultural Population           

The environment must be able to create inclusive meaning to the culture as a whole. Issues of race, class, gender, physical and mental disabilities, and sexual orientation of the students, parents, and teachers must be addressed and synthesized in the design of the learning environment. The environment must be created to allow children to relate and engage their own cultural foundation without intentionally or unintentionally stigmatize, or segregate anyone.

The environment should express a system of shared values that engages as many as many cultural groups as possible. The environment should be designed to reduce the reinforcement of incorrect or negative cultural stereotypes. The above multicultural values are partly based on the work of James D. Banks, from “Diversity Within Unity: Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning in a Multicultural Society.”

http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultural/banks.htm

Sustainable Design          

The minimizing of the environmental impact of the school is of primary concern to both the design and operation. The school is committed to being part of the solution of rapid economic growth, increasing human population, depletion of natural resources, and the impact of pollution on the ecosystem.  

The following are central concerns of the school:

1. Use of Low-impact Materials: non-toxic, recycled materials, and materials that consumer as little energy as possible in production and delivery

2. Durability and Construction Quality: Matching the quality and construction of the materials with the use and life expectancy of the environment. Using longer lasting materials that have to be replaced less often for items that are expected to have a long life. Using materials with very low resource consumption for short-term life expectancies.

3. Energy Efficiency: How the use of the school will impact the use of energy for lighting systems.

4. Designing the system for reuse and recycling.

http://www.aiacolorado.org/SDRG/

Universal Design

The school has adapted principles of Universal Design from the Center of Universal Design, NC State University.

1. Equitable use of objects and environments for all children, staff, and parents.  The means of use should be the same for all children, staff, and parents whenever possible. (Do not segregate or stigmatize children with the design.)    

2. Flexibility and adaptability in use for all children. The children should have a choice in methods and tools to accomplish a task. The environment and objects should be flexible in developing accuracy and adapt to the pace of the children. 

3. Simple and intuitive use of the objects and environments used to facilitate learning. The environment and objects must be responsive to the children’s intuition. The environment and objects should not be unnecessarily complex, and information should be presented consistent with its importance. The environment and object must accommodate the range of language and communication skills of the children, staff, and parents. 

4. Provide information to the children, staff, and parents in a manner that engages the widest use of their sensory abilities. (Use as many senses as possible to enhance communication.) Enhance contrast, and legibility.

5. Provide tolerance for error within the design of objects and environments. 

6. Provide low physical effort and natural efficiencies in the use of objects and environments. Minimize repetition and sustained physical effort in completing everyday tasks.

7. Provide adequate space for use and approach for tasks and activities. Ensure clear lines of sight; provide components for variation in human sizes.

http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/index.htm

Project Outcomes

Individual Project Portfolio and Blog @ squarespace

Each student must develop and maintain a project website at squarespace for the duration of this studio. The development of the web environment of this project is to allow you to engage and learn how to build a professional web environment and share ideas with peers and the greater Internet community. Written concept statements, research findings, will be posted as blog entries. Students will present visual information in a gallery format. Information is to be structured for easy access and available for comment by peers.

Applied Research

The Learning Environment project required the designer to engage the body of knowledge in educational theory and practice. This knowledge is to be transformed by the designer into tangible design proposals that inform the interior design of the school. Research will also include in-depth investigations of sustainability, expanded populations, and universal design.  

Programming and Diagram Development

Each team is to develop a comprehensive program document to outline the physical space requirements, learning objectives, and the social and psychological needs of the occupants. Teams will also create comprehensive diagrams illustrating concepts such organizational strategies, adjacencies, circulation, access to natural light, and other issues pertinent to supporting a learning environment.  

Schematic Design

Teams of students will investigate the design of a school via the investigation of space, light, material, furnishings, and finishes. Students will sketch draw, make models, develop material selections, and create lighting proposals in digital and material mediums. Emphasis in the schematic phase is ideation of the transformation of diagrams and research into tangible, buildable, school proposals.

Formal Presentation of Project

The final presentation of this project is to meet professional standards similar to how a designer would present to a client. The following are required at the final presentation.

A written and visual statement on how the design of the school specifically meets the values stated in this document and research conducted in class projects. The concept statement must be 250 words minimum.

Digital Movie Presentation (7 Minutes Maximum)–

• Interviews with Educational Experts
• Computer Generated Animated walk-through of space
• Still Images (Incorporate zoom and pan to animate images)
• Music (Appropriate selection)
• Graphic Titles

Floor Plan

Section Elevations

Reflected Ceiling Plan

Perspective Images and other 3-dimensional representations

Materials Presentation (physical presentation)

        Labels on all materials

material specifications and data sheets

Photocopies of sustainable data in notebook format

36”X36” Printed Presentation Sheets

Other items as outlined in class assignments

Video tape of your final presentation on your website. (Yes your final presentation will be video taped. The final presentation must be professional, follow a logical sequence, and involve the oral participation of all team members.)