Meeting: May 19, 2006Speaker: James Nichols, AIA, LEED
Educational Facilities: Design within a Total Context
Location: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Attendees: S. Pollalis, J. Nichols, S. Pobiner, W. Kimm, MIKAEL POWELL (RECORDER), A. Hopper, J. Jungclaus, T. Shafer
The following constitutes an understanding of the lecture and discussion as compiled by Mikael Powell.
I. Context must be considered when reviewing school design, not just the visual surroundings. Architectural, geographic, economic, cultural, programmatic, technical/industrial and ecological concerns are crucial.
II. The economic environment in California in 1961 was conducive to the creation of the School Construction System Development. Ezra Ehrenkrantz, FAIA put together a procurement system for public schools. His central question was “How do you buy the building?” Then, as now, the way Europeans deliver buildings is different then how it is done in America. In 1961, existing U.S. processes militated construction to the lowest quality, even though procedures were meant to be equitable. In addition, existing procurement structures were cumbersome. Ehrenkrantz proposed modular buildings and focused on subsystem specifications in the process. The Ford foundation was an early sponsor. SCSD was successful in terms of a building systems approach. Over four hundred K – 12 schools were built in California and the systems concept thrived. Facilities were based on critical systems and a 5x5 building grid. The bottom line was to build a successful facility for the same money as conventional construction. Costs were equivalent for demountable partitions. Flexibility pervaded -especially in areas where users wanted spaces to be changeable. Demountable partitions were effective because they provided high performance at a low life cycle cost. However, after construction, some users felt that the schools seemed “very cold” in attitude.
III. Ehrenkrantz convened a team of diverse individuals for a joint effort. The team consisted of superintendents, suppliers, labor unions, builders, sociologists and financial executives. Key criterion included a need for 28db sound transmission, thermal envelope performance, 30 CFM ventilation, lighting/illumination standards including maximum glare at 350 FC (if you could get lighting system qualified under the program it had to be interchangeable with all other systems) and the use of demountable partitions. Use of demountable rooms verses moveable screening depended on the how quickly and how often the rooms needed to be reconfigured. Thus, School Construction System Development features high performance, low life-cycle cost and maximum end-user flexibility. On the east coast , not many of these schools were built. In contrast, California constructed several facilities.
IV. In the 1993 global context, conditions were often framed as the U.S. verses the Developed World. Prevalent was the question “What is the relationship between our market economy and the level of student aptitude?” US students scored below their European and Asian counterparts, and the US economic performance was beginning to lag behind global competitors. Moreover, the US seemed slow to embrace technology. In addition, there seemed to be divergent educational goals in the US. It was common to have competing pedagogy such as problem solving/discovery and teaching content/skills. A variety of research emerged concerning how children learn and what children learn, open-ended education and goal-oriented teaching.
V. Innovative topics in 1993 included heterogeneous groupings, individualized learning, Multiple intelligences, Whole Language verses Phonics, English as a Second Language, advances in special education and computers/educational technology.
VI. In a global context, the Ueno Elementary School (Schozo Uchii, Architect) Tokyo in 1993 is exemplary. It is an elementary school on a dense, urban site. It is a community center that values lifelong learning and recreation. It is also a technology friendly environment. The floor plan includes open classrooms with ancillary spaces, a multi-purpose hall and gallery/performance functions areas. It has an Interpretable Performance Space/stairway. The library corners support independent/group study as well. While this project was an advancement, we have much better strategies now for open schools. It was commented that some say, “Kids rise or fall to the environment they are in”.
VII. In 1997, there were many challenges for New Jersey in a political context. New Jersey is a “Home Rule” State - they have local control and funding. The State Constitution guarantees a “thorough and efficient education”. Demographically there is 22% overcrowding in suburbs and 49% overcrowding in Abbott Districts. There was an aging infrastructure (more than 50 years old)as well, with 36% older facilities in suburbs and 64% in Abbott Districts.
VIII. There were several notable legal settlements concerning schools in New Jersey. Robinson v. Cahill (1970) dealt with fair funding. In 1976, the state income tax was enacted (Lockout). The Abbott case in May 1998 determined that the state must pay 100% of project costs, state standards must be embraced in concept, “Local Particularized Needs” are allowed, long-range plans are required, and preschool is to include three and 4 year olds.
IX. New Jersey Legislative Action in 2001 included the Educational Facilities Construction & Finance Act. An $8.6 Billion Bond was authorized for $ 6.0 Billion for Abbott Districts and $ 2.6 Billion for Suburban Districts. During this time the NJSCC created within NJEDA and LEED “Guidelines” were adopted. A major determination was that “Single Prime” contracts were now allowed. This legislative action also spurred a big statewide assessment. Sites were purchased and people evicted from homes. In New Jersey every municipality has a master plan.
X. The political context in 2005 brought a New Jersey Program Moratorium. $8.6 Billion had been spent with 354 being Health & Safety projects and 50 major building projects. The Suburban Grant Funds was exhausted at 2461 projects costing $2.1 Billion. There are 69 ongoing NJSCC projects currently and 59 of 400 new projects have been authorized.
XI. Presently, on the political front the “interim” results may be evaluated as follows – In the positive, critical Health & Safety projects have been completed, Preschool students accommodated, an improvement realized in design quality (albeit uneven) and improved project planning processes. Unfortunately, however, tracking failures caused evictions and land acquisitions for stalled projects, funds were diverted to fund current State budget costs and vested interests prevented much innovation. Presently, long-range facility planning incorporates Internet-based planning/reporting (an Oracle Platform with over 600 District users statewide), a facility deficiency database, capacity analysis and capital planning/budgeting (with a modest Version 3.0 system).
XII. It was discussed that Korea needs many new schools now so they partnered with the private sector to build schools and lease them back to the government. Many people think it will lead to inferior design as they may replicate previous unsuccessful facilities. There are many ideals or education in Korea, but it seems at this time that schools are seen as valuable community space. The user groups in the schools are very fluid and ‘Korea’ wants us to design a prototype that is k-12 and scaled , both appropriately for students and to accommodate the school population. We have not been able to find many examples of mixed use to this degree. We are exploring the notion of zoned buildings. In or design, we must be able to secure lifetime use and totally control access. It is typical to have storage rooms dedicated to each user group.
XIII. It was commented that rather than design a complete building of demountables partitions– it is more useful to be able to combine spaces to work together for periods of time (i.e. block scheduling). Nowadays curriculum is interdisciplinary and there is a need for smaller spaces and limited use of demountables (toward a hybrid system). The big trend is away from specificity of design--- allowing it to happen. --- A lighter handed architecture.
XIV. During our discussions, it was commented that sometimes designers have a cartoonish view of children. In the past community and education leaders have questioned whether Society can be trusted to teach children (this society that allowed two world wars either tacitly or directly). One pioneer, Howard Gardner, is best known to educators for his theory of multiple intelligences, the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. Another noted individual is Ted Sizer of the Coalition of Essential Schools.
Projects shown:
XV. Elizabeth Long-Range Plan in Abbott District (with 24,000 Students). It includes three P-K centers, twenty-eight PK-8 elementary schools and high schools. Facilities incorporate comprehensive education, visual and performing arts, academic and vocational programs. A specific school is Robbins Elementary School, which is one of two NJSCC-sponsored Design Competitions. It educates 550 Students in grades PK-5 in a reused existing (1908) Building. It can be described as a community school in a diverse neighborhood.
XVI. Millstone Middle School (2004) is a 130,00 SF Middle School for 634 Students in three grade-level houses with two teams each. The Media Center anchors the academic wing. As a Community Center, the school has a 1,000-seat auditorium, art and music facilities and dual gymnasiums. It can be described as “ a house within a house” in a substantially rural area. There is community access through an area of the building and the typical common space is an auditorium/gym. Millstone Middle School provides interdisciplinary schooling, described as “everything is connected to every subject”. The design competition was organized with design concept submissions from “qualified” firms. The four finalists received $25,000. The winner progressed into the state system and they received extra points for their procurement competition system. One of the winning four entrants teamed up with Mr. Nichols, but the project did not go forward.
XVII. New Castle County Technical High School employs faculty work centers that replace offices. Unlike typical vocational schools, there is a lot of program information packed into a little footprint. The facility consists of separate buildings. Each area is funded by the county and trades are decided by direct labor needs in the locality. The school works closely with industry to coordinate, as well. New Castle County Technical High School integrates career labs with academics. Their Career Clusters are Construction/Mechanical, Life Sciences, Information Technology, Consumer Sciences, Culinary Arts Restaurant, School Store and Coffee/Bake Shop.XVIII. The Utase Elementary School 3 is in Chiba City, Japan 2006 (Kazuhiro Kojima + Kazuko Akamatsu / Cat) and Chiba City Urban Redevelopment Corporation. It appears to have been built as a part of a planned new town development and built in stages, so it may be a very good precedent. Links to the project are: http://edge.gsd.harvard.edu/~spobiner/
edge_web/research/WiKo.php
<http://edge.gsd.harvard.edu/
~spobiner/edge_web/research/
WiKo.php>. Also, please see the NJIT Center for Architecture and Building Science Research whose mission is to create new knowledge that will help individuals and communities make better-informed decisions concerning the built environment. XIX. Comments from James Nichols after the meeting – “Since I visited you in Cambridge a week ago, I have been thinking about more concise answers to your questions about the impact of educational technology on school design. I hope that I conveyed the idea that it has created the need for spatial opportunities for independent work -subsidiary space, and alcove or a vestibule space adjacent to the main classroom space. This space could take many forms and be open to multiple interpretations by the users- and does not need to be overly designed given the rise of wireless networks”. Also, subsequent to the meeting, Mr. Nichols remarked, “Do No Harm --good design can enable a teacher, but not improve discussion” and “Good Design should not be heavy. Good design should provide the backdrop for good teaching”. -end-
