7 Precepts for Future-Proofing New School Construction

Several years ago I was on a district committee tasked with developing and reviewing design plans for new K-12 school construction. As part of our work, the committee traveled to schools that had won architectural awards for their innovative designs. This led me to rethink what should go into school design, especially with considerations for how the concept of “school” is likely to change over the next 20 to 50 years.     

At the time of our committee’s visits, most of the schools still operated in traditional ways for their respective grade levels. But in looking forward, some of these new schools’ design teams had given serious thought to how “school” might change in the not-too-distant future. And they had worked to align their schools’ designs to these anticipated future needs by making the spaces as flexible as possible. Their attention to this is not unique, as flexibility has increasingly become a key concept in thoughtful new school designs.

Here are some of the precepts I’ve seen embraced by designers and architects as they design flexible learning environments that function well today, but have an eye to the future. 

1. To support more student-centered instruction, the concept of teacher-focused classrooms will change. Classrooms aligned to a front teaching wall from which the teacher presides and instructs no longer work when more open and individualized instructional practices are the norm.
2. The school day may no longer be structured according to class periods and bell schedules where the students pass from room to room. Instead, academies or learning communities may be adopted where students spend the majority of their day in one area. Such a model will require different considerations for hallways, lockers and classroom layouts.
3. Anticipating how classroom needs may change to support greater collaborative work, schools’ interior spaces will need to be as flexible as possible. Movable walls, movable furniture and adaptable storage areas will be key.
4. Expecting that online and blended learning adoption will continue to expand, school environments must then accommodate the needs of students working individually on a computer for a portion of their day. Important considerations include setting aside space for learning pods that offer students a quiet and distraction-free work area.
5. In the recent past, school designers began building multi-use environments to replace the traditional large spaces that only served a single function. Lunchrooms, gymnasiums and auditoriums were the first to be reconfigured and combined. But looking ahead, school designers are also reconsidering other single-use spaces that may be ready for change. School offices, libraries, computer labs, art and music rooms, science labs, sports facilities, and more are now getting long looks from designers for how these areas can be adapted and reconfigured for the changing needs of “school.”
6. The physical location of schools is also being reconsidered. Districts that built new schools in areas away from transportation corridors and easy public transit options are now being looked upon critically by some school designers. Instead, locating schools where the students can more easily integrate and interact with their community during the school day is now considered a distinct benefit for the kinds of new learning opportunities students will need.
7. And finally, building light-filled green schools that adhere to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards is also growing in importance among many school designers. These schools can help model and engender strong environmental ethics in their students, and provide inspiring learning and working environments for students and staff.  

The question of what K-12 education will look like in 20 to 50 years is a topic of some debate. Based on our history over the past 100 years, and the slow pace at which K-12 education has advanced, one could reasonably argue that “school” might continue to change very little. However, it’s entirely possible that schools will continue to be disrupted by technology advances, and current trends toward more collaborative, personalized and student-centered learning will continue. If so, schools constructed to primarily support traditional learning models will need to be remodeled or replaced by ones providing greater flexibility.