At a prototype classroom on the campus of Baylor University, in Waco, Texas, school officials and teachers experiment with new types of furniture, workgroup configurations, projectors, writing boards, and mobile technology to test new teaching methods and classroom layouts.
TOP 100 K-12 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
Rank, Firm, 2015 Revenue
1. DLR Group $66,300,000
2. Stantec $64,964,601
3. Huckabee $60,544,770
4. PBK $55,230,000
5. Wold Architects and Engineers $26,600,000
6. NAC Architecture $24,647,620
7. HMC Architects $24,031,965
8. Perkins+Will $19,790,000
9. LPA $19,662,221
10. Fanning/Howey Associates $18,915,132
TOP 60 K-12 SCHOOL ENGINEERING FIRMS
Rank, Firm, 2015 Revenue
1. AECOM $50,000,000
2. Jacobs $47,790,000
3. STV $10,618,628
4. KJWW/TTG $9,576,078
5. Wendel $6,321,646
6. Loring Consulting Engineers $6,000,000
7. SSOE Group $5,830,000
8. Dewberry $5,245,499
9. KCI Technologies $5,000,000
10. M/E Engineering $4,688,355
TOP 80 K-12 SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
Rank, Firm, 2015 Revenue
1. Gilbane Building Co. $480,004,000
2. Balfour Beatty US $461,785,038
3. Core Construction Group $421,279,721
4. Turner Construction Co. $404,115,437
5. Skanska USA $214,070,248
6. Kraus-Anderson $203,000,000
7. Shawmut Design and Construction $191,000,000
8. Barton Malow Co. $181,481,875
9. Adolfson & Peterson Construction $168,810,000
10. JE Dunn Construction $157,937,145
K-12 GIANTS SPONSORED BY:
Opened in 2015, the Learning Experience Laboratories (LEx Labs), created by design firm Huckabee, a local educational service center, and Baylor, is a microcosm reflecting nationwide trends.
The lab is a kind of flight simulator where educators experiment in ways that address forces in the corporate world and trends in technology influencing K-12 education. New styles of working—more collaborative and project-based—and mobile technology are changing how people work. The K-12 education sector is responding to those trends.
The need to revamp schools to keep up with the times adds urgency to planning and funding decisions. K-12 construction put in place declined to $12.9 billion in 2015, from $14 billion in 2014, according to School Planning & Management, so school districts have had to upgrade their physical plants with fewer resources.
Educators visiting LEx Labs frequently want to try out new concepts in furniture. Later, they discover that the space promotes the reevaluation of teaching methods. “There’s been a growing trend where the built environment has been influencing professional development,” says Kerri Ranney, AIA, Huckabee’s Director of Learning and Strategic Development. “We now are at a tipping point.”
She admits there is great variability in how quickly schools are changing. “Some clients are willing to jump far ahead in changing the pedagogy and learning environment,” Ranney says. “Others just move a couple of ticks.”
The impact on design of mobile computing devices, movable furniture, team teaching styles, and more collaborative project work means most architects are creating classrooms far different from the ones in which they were educated. When a radical concept arises it helps to visualize what the alternatives could be in a mock environment like LEx Labs.
Design firms must also help educate parents and taxpayers about new learning spaces. Building support for new projects is more important than ever, says Roger Smith, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, BBS Architects & Engineers. “Parents know a lot about their kids’ education. Their expectations are bigger, and they’re more involved,” Smith says.
To generate funding support for major new projects, school districts often mix in amenities that can be used by the whole community. These features include old standbys such as athletic fields, gymnasiums, and auditoriums, but with new twists. KSS Architects designed a combination facility that is best described as an auditorium with a gym built into it for Gottesman RTW Academy, a private school in northern New Jersey.
“They wanted the space to look like an auditorium, not like a gym,” says Merilee Meacock, AIA, LEED AP, Partner, KSS Architects. “A higher-end aesthetic was important. They wanted to display their identity such that performance was a higher priority than athletics.” An accent wall/proscenium/cloud ceiling creates a room-within-a-room effect. Resilient and durable materials ensured that the space would hold up to gym use.
The Jewish day school uses the space for high-holiday services, so the room had to look the part. This adaption helped generate financial support for the newly constructed school.
KSS’s design also had a strong narrative based on a Hebrew phrase meaning “heal the earth” to relate to stakeholders. The building was integrated within the natural contours of the hilly, wooded site. Retaining walls were built with rock blasted from the site during construction.
A garden and greenhouse provide for site-grown food. Students help tend to the gardens and sometimes help cook what they’ve grown. “They can see the life cycle of growing and cooking food,” Meacock says. Composting bins and rain barrels boost the environmental credibility.
The ecological angle was “a narrative people could visualize and understand,” Meacock says.
MAKING SPACES WORK TWICE AS HARD
Space flexibility is critical to classroom design. Spaces have to be adaptable, even allowing for drastic changes such as, say, a doubling of classroom size. Meacock recommends that walls separating classrooms should not be load bearing. Shared spaces must also be able to accommodate multiple uses. The tables in the dining hall at the Gottesman school can be removed so that the space can be used for science lab projects.
More than ever, designers must consider the furnishings during the earliest stages of a project. “If every kid has a tablet, where will we put the tablet cart?” asks Kevin J. Walsh, AIA, LEED AP, BBS’s Lead Designer. Spaces that allow for multiple furnishing configurations will be most adaptable.
K-12 design and construction firm leaders know they must keep close tabs on trends in primary and secondary education during this time of great flux. Who can predict with 100% accuracy how new generations of technology will influence teaching and learning? Where there is uncertainty over pedagogy, there must be a proportional amount of flexibility built into the design. Firms that connect best with educators tapped into influential trends will have a distinct advantage in this market.
RETURN TO THE GIANTS 300 LANDING PAGE
Related Stories
Architects | Jul 19, 2022
Perkins Eastman Bolsters Its Dallas Studio with 5 Dynamic New Principals
Seasoned staff bring talent, experience, and enthusiasm to expand firm.
Energy-Efficient Design | Jul 19, 2022
All is not lost: 3 ways architects can respond to the Supreme Court’s EPA ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants dealt a significant blow to our ability to fight the climate crisis with federal policy.
Office Buildings | Jul 19, 2022
Austin adaptive reuse project transforms warehouse site into indoor-outdoor creative office building
Fifth and Tillery, an adaptive reuse project, has revitalized a post-industrial site in East Austin, Texas.
Women in Design+Construction | Jul 18, 2022
Registration is open for BD+C's 2022 Women in Design+Construction Conference
Join your AEC industry peers in Chicago, September 26-28, 2022, for the 7th annual Women in Design+Construction Conference, hosted by the BD+C editorial team and the 35-person WIDC Advisory Board.
Airports | Jul 18, 2022
FAA will award nearly $1 billion for airport projects
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will award nearly $1 billion to 85 airports of all sizes across the country to improve terminals.
Building Team | Jul 18, 2022
Understanding the growing design-build market
FMI’s new analysis of the design-build market forecast for the next fives years shows that this delivery method will continue to grow, despite challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mixed-Use | Jul 18, 2022
Mixed-use development outside Prague uses a material made from leftover bricks
Outside Prague, the Sugar Factory, a mixed-used residential development with public space, marks the largest project to use the sustainable material Rebetong.
Building Team | Jul 15, 2022
ABC: Construction materials prices increased in June, up 20% from a year ago
Construction input prices increased 1.9% in June compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data released today.
Arenas | Jul 15, 2022
U. of Oregon renovation aims for ‘finest track and field facility in the world’
The renovation of the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field had the goal of creating the “finest track and field facility in the world.”
Building Team | Jul 14, 2022
ABC’s construction backlog inches lower in June; Contractor confidence falters
Associated Builders and Contractors reports today that its Construction Backlog Indicator fell 0.1 months in June and stands at 8.9 months, according to an ABC member survey conducted June 21 to July 5.
