The CAE / K-12 Sub-Committee would like to be a source of relevant readings for our membership. I've just read a report that I believe should be required reading for all K-12 architects. The report: A History of School Design and its Indoor Environmental Standards, 1900 to Today by Lindsay Baker, comes to us from the web site of our friends at the National Clearinghouse for School for Educational Facilities. Lindsay Baker is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Architecture, Center for the Built Environment, UC Berkley.
The paper takes us through four major periods of school design and the future:
- School Buildings prior to 1930
- The Progressive Era (1930 - 1945)
- The Impulsive Period (1960 - 1980)
- Declines of the 1980's and the New Movements of the 1990's and 2000's
- 21st Century School Environments: What does the Future Hold?
Each period reports on: Evaluation & Standards; Ventilation and Air Quality; Lighting and Acoustics. I'm not sure how many of us have thought about how these environmental issues drove the conceptual design of classrooms and schools over the past 100+ years. Recognition of the issues, educational and environmental over the decades has been similar but the science and technological advancements have altered the school design responses.
I found the historical references interesting: the Kalamazoo Decision of 1874 determined that public schools paid for by local property taxes were legal; and the design influences ranging from Horace Mann and Maria Montessori (as you would expect) to Saarinen, Aalto, Neutra, Gropius, and the Crow Island School by Perkins and Will.
The three page "Cited Work" section starting on page 27 is a who's Who of books and articles we should all read or at least become familiar with.
Find the NCEF Publication at: http://www.ncef.org/pubs/greenschoolshistory.pdf (lots more to check out on their website)
Enjoy
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Philip Poinelli FAIA
CAE K-12, Sub-Committee CoChair
Principal
Symmes Maini & McKee Associates, Inc.
Cambridge MA
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