Blogs

The Iowa Schools Guidebook on Architecture

By Alison Karfeld posted 08-04-2025
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What is the Iowa Schools Guidebook on Architecture? The Iowa Schools Guidebook on Architecture is a new, free resource from AIA Iowa . Created for Iowa School Administrators and School Boards, it will serve as a guide for the architectural design and construction process in Iowa for both new and existing buildings. The Guidebook covers topics from selecting an architect to project delivery methods to considerations for design and construction. The audience for the guidebook includes School Board Members, School Administrators, and School Facility Managers. How did you know this resource was needed? In 2022, a law was passed in Iowa to ...
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The Public University: Driving the Future

By Alison Karfeld posted 07-29-2025
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The Public University: Driving the Future By Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, FAIA From left to right: Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, FAIA, Adam Baacke, Kelly Hayes-McAlonie, FAIA and Douglas Marshall, AIA. Photo credit: Mahbuba Nahid N. Khan, AIA. A panel with a focus on Massachusetts and New York public universities featured Adam Baacke , Commissioner, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Kelly Hayes-McAlonie, FAIA , LEED AP, Director of Campus Planning, University of Buffalo, and Douglas Marshall, AIA , Assistant Director for Campus Planning, University ...
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Forum Subcommittee launch and listening session recap

By Alison Karfeld posted 06-27-2025
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By Enrico Giori, Assoc. AIA The first Forum Subcommittee Launch and Listening Session conversation was energetic and insightful, centered around an urgency and impact matrix that helped frame today’s most pressing and forward-looking challenges in educational facility planning. Key priorities that emerged included the need for integrated, human-centered design strategies, a deeper alignment between curriculum and facilities, and the evolving role of schools as civic and emotional anchors. Participants highlighted the urgency of rethinking the architect’s role as a collaborator in shaping future-ready, value-driven learning environments. ...
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Letter from the Chair – March 2025

By Alison Karfeld posted 03-11-2025
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By Rebecca Baibak, AIA Dear Committee on Architecture for Education Community, In late 2021, I was appointed to serve on the American Institute of Architects Committee on Architecture for Education for a five-year term. Since then, I have had the great privilege to serve with talented individuals from all over the country who share a commitment to CAE’s mission to foster “innovative and collaborative design of educational facilities, and to heighten public awareness on the importance of these learning environments.” As my year as Chair rolls forward, we have been busy meeting as a leadership group, building on prior years’ efforts, and continually challenging ...
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EDspaces 2024 event recap and look ahead to 2025!

By Alison Karfeld posted 12-19-2024
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Where do passionate experts discover the most cutting-edge ideas and trends in educational facility design? Look no further than EDspaces: Designing the Future of Education , the premiere destination for architects, designers, facility planners, distributors and manufacturers from throughout the U.S. to convene under one roof. This year’s attendees met in Houston, November 12-14. For over 10 years, the AIA Committee on Architecture for Education has proudly partnered with EDspaces. We are thrilled to share feedback on the conference, our space, and hopes for next year! “The value in coming to the event,” says Rebecca Baibak, AIA, CAE 2025 Chair, “is to ...
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Letter from the Chair 2023

By Olivia Graf Doyle posted 02-01-2023
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The Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) is a Knowledge Community of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). We are a large and active group of over 10,000 architects and allied professionals concerned with the quality and design of all types of educational, cultural, and recreational facilities that promote lifelong learning in safe, welcoming and equitable environments. The CAE’s mission is to foster innovative and collaborative design of educational facilities and to heighten public awareness on the importance of learning environments. I am honored to be this year’s CAE Chair and eager to share the programs, content and insights we have in store. ...
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Learning By Design Magazine spring 2022 edition

By Carolyn Perricelli posted 04-26-2022
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Learning By Design Magazine publishes its spring 2022 edition Learning By Design recognizes the nation’s preeminent architectural firms by publishing outstanding pre-K to 12 and college/university projects. The spring 2022 edition contains over 58 awarded new university and school facilities and numerous thought-leader editorials on issues pertinent to the future of campus planning. View Learning By Design Magazine spring 2022 edition > View Reflections on the Future of Learning > by Judy Hoskens, AIA and Irene Nigaglioni, AIA Learning By Design Magazine
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Reimagine America’s Schools: A Blueprint for Equity and Opportunity

By Kerry Leonard, AIA posted 01-19-2021
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On January 26, 2021, the Reimagine Schools National Summit will begin to lay out a blueprint for the future. The summit will focus on designing schools for equity and inclusion, including Community Schools 3.0, learning at the intersection of technology and design, and active learning as strategies for greater student achievement. Based on Reimagine America’s Schools work throughout 2020, we invite you to join us in creating a forward-looking vision to build learning communities, implement active learning, better integrate technology and inform a national strategy to design our schools for the future. Date: January 26th, 2021 Time: 12:00-2:00pm (ET) Location: ...
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Join CAE at EDspaces 2020

By Brian Minnich, AIA posted 10-09-2020
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The AIA Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) would like to invite you to participate with us at our Fall Conference at the EDspaces Digital Experience . Our events have always been about innovation, content, connections, and community. This is especially true and needed in today’s COVID environment. Together we can face uncertainties and overcome challenges successfully. ​ We’re inviting all architects and designers (AIA, CAE, or not!) to experience a conference that is a unique collaboration encouraging networking while giving attendees an opportunity to forge meaningful professional connections throughout the education sector. ​ ​ The ...
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Update on 2020 CAE Spring Conference

By Maggie Brown posted 03-18-2020
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COVID-19 and CAE Spring Conference Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the AIA Committee on Architecture for Education has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Committee on Architecture for Education Spring Conference, April 26-29 in Minneapolis. Your health and safety are paramount, and CAE feels compelled to cancel its spring conference to minimize the risk to all concerned. By making this decision now, we hope to minimize any stress or inconvenience. If you are a registered attendee of the conference, your registration will be automatically refunded within 30 days to the credit card we have on file. The hotel has cancelled all reservations made ...
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2019 Spring CAE Conference Travel Scholarship Recipient

By Noah Meier posted 06-08-2019
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Education is the foundation of human society as we know it today. Education leads to personal edification, scientific and artistic innovation, technological development, and the ability to transcend what we previously considered to be impossible. It develops in us an ability to better evaluate, dissect, and interpret the world around us from entirely new perspectives. Education is the beginning of knowledge, and along with it wisdom, but more importantly it instills an integral desire to dig deeper, to push harder, and to make something “more”. Architecture, I would argue, is a direct result of this desire for learning, for something “more” in our built ...
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Seeking Examples: Adaptive Reuse Projects

By Jenine Kotob, AIA posted 06-06-2018
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Hi all, I'm hoping the individuals on this blog can share some precedent examples of adaptive reuse projects of former non-academic buildings into learning environments. These can be in either urban or suburban areas, small or large, national or international, etc. Thank you! Jenine Kotob
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Small Education Spaces Designed for Big Impact

By Nicole Nichols, AIA posted 05-16-2018
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Large new construction projects on collegiate campuses typically generate buzz amongst students and faculty alike. The impact on the campus fabric, from construction noise to safety fencing, becomes an unavoidable but intriguing occurrence that can generate quite a bit of excitement. The financial scope of these project types can reach tens- to hundreds-of-millions of dollars and, although large projects are important to the viability of a college or university, sometimes even small investments can have a big influence on the student experience. Beyond the immediate student body, they can lead to big returns for institutions, communities, and the economy. An ...
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Reinventing the School Experience

By Taryn Kinney posted 04-26-2018
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What does reinventing the school experience mean to you? Is it related to modern facilities, new pedagogies, community partnerships, or is it a combination of all three? At Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Austin, Texas, the answer to reinventing the school experience comes from district leadership, community input, and expert teams creating a vision to guide the district to success for generations to come. It incorporates a long-term facilities master plan and new educational specifications that ensure Austin will continue to operate at the leading edge of education for its learners and the surrounding community. This reinvention comes on the ...
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Three Tips for Safe and Secure Schools

By Christopher Gibbs posted 03-19-2018
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​There are many tragedies related to the recent string of school violence in our communities. The fact that we are spending our valuable time and limited resources struggling to keep our children safe rather than being able to spend it on learning is both sad and disturbing. I do not, for one moment, want to suggest that the children and adults in our neighborhood school buildings should not be safe—of course they should. But the degree of steps we now need to take to keep schools safe is unfortunate, to say the least. The task of providing safe and secure environments in which our children can learn is both complicated and far-reaching. There are no easy answers, ...
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Guns and Schools: Hard or Soft?

By John Clark, AIA posted 03-12-2018
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In the wake of the Parkland shootings, the NRA has called for immediate hardening of schools, while NPR responded by saying they should be softened, and architects are caught in the crosshairs of the argument. Especially architects who are involved with school design must now choose how, or whether, to address guns in schools. Guns and schools don’t mix. But it is currently doubtful that the strong gun control laws needed to help curb this problem will soon be enacted. Architects, as the professional group tasked with designing education environments to meet standards of health, safety, and welfare, must now make sense of conflicting demands and viewpoints. They ...
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Education Design Awards

By Brian McLaren posted 12-31-2017
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The CAE Design Awards is an Internet-based marketplace of ideas. Through this forum the committee disseminates quality ideas on educational facility planning and design to clients, architects, and the public. As how we educate ourselves continues to evolve, we must evaluate and measure our successes, and have an arena in which to test ideas. This awards program is an opportunity to engage in critical evaluation and experimentation, not as an end in itself, but always in the context of our clients and their needs. See the award recipients for 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 , or previous award recipients from 2005-2015 . 2019 book: Free ...
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CAE Conferences

By Brian McLaren posted 12-31-2017
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CAE’s conferences explore a variety of learning environments for students from Pre-K to Higher Education. Attendees have the opportunity to participate in the latest dialogue about the environment's effect on learning--as well as being able to network with peers in the education design space. We have 2 conferences, one in the spring, and one in the fall. Mark your calendars now and join us at the next conference! 2019 Spring conference: May 1-4 CAE’s Spring conference in Los Angeles explores a variety of learning environments for students from Pre-K to Higher Education, ranging from the privileged to the under-served and disadvantaged, under the theme of: ...
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Education and Culture - 2017 ED Spaces / CAE Fall Conference Reflection

By Laurie Hoffman, AIA posted 10-31-2017
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Last week was the 2017 EDspaces Conference in Kansas City. As a first-time attendee, the combination of designers / end-users / vendors coming together to discuss the state of education today and how collectively it can be improved upon for the future, was a different experience. Working from the designer perspective, in the (by comparison) minimal experience I’ve had very rarely do I get to see all three of these groups come together to evaluate or discuss a project. At EDspaces it was a constant, every presentation provided a complete view from start to finish of what projects are going on around the country, it was invigorating and provided a rejuvenation ...
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Kristen Houghton I 2017 CAE Scholarship Recipient

By Kristen Houghton posted 10-16-2017
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I am a graduate architecture student at Norwich University and also work as a substitute teacher’s aide for disabled children in the Saratoga City School District when my schedule allows. Through the classroom experience, as well as my own experiences with bullying, have helped develop my thesis topic related to creating safe, empowering educational spaces. I am determined, flexible, and eager to expand my knowledge regarding Architecture for Education and am excited to share this knowledge not only with classmates, but also online through AIA KnowledgeNet's discussion forum and blog, Twitter, and Facebook. This conference intersects with my Master’s thesis ...
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