HMFH 50 Forward: Learning Forward

Learning Forward

Learning Forward

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Introduction

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Reimagining the Library of the Future

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The Shape of Learning

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Shedding Light on the Future of Learning

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Nurturing a Connection to Nature

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Child-Centric Design

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Schools as Community Centers

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The Evolution of Project Learning Spaces

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50 Forward: Sustainability

Learning Forward

In 2019, HMFH celebrated its 50th anniversary and five decades of educational design.

We have always believed in the power of design to support learning, and we take great joy and pride in creating schools that are also innovative, strengthen their communities, enhance teaching, and are sustainable. To assure that we continue to break new ground and broaden our expertise in the design of learning environments, we reflected on our own history and peered through the lens of current research to help inform our future practice—a yearlong effort we call “Learning Forward.”

We want to share with you what we have learned as we explored facets of school design that have and continue

to shape our evolving practice: the shifting role of media centers, the impact of physical environments on student wellbeing, the relationship of lighting to learning, the benefits of natural connections, the importance of child-centric design, the impact of dynamic community relationships, the changing needs of project learning spaces, and the imperative to design for resiliency and sustainability. This exploration has imparted lessons on what endures, and how the design of high-quality educational spaces continues to evolve.

We hope that you will learn as much as we have. As we reach the culmination of this milestone year, we look forward to another 50 years of designing spaces that help learning flourish.

Reimagining the Library of the Future

A school library is no longer just a quiet repository for books. It has become a hub, offering students all manners of access to learning and resources. They’re still essential, central spaces, but over the years the library’s function has changed. What was once a place for a class to go learn how to use the card catalog is now a multimedia hotspot serving students throughout the day. And while the ubiquity of technology has reshaped how and where students access information, research also tells us that a variety of spaces and furnishings helps students learn. Education is changing, and the design of the school library is changing with it.

For the past 50 years, we’ve designed libraries to be the center of schools, academically and socially; looking forward, the library will be more essential than ever, not only as a place to access information, but as a learning environment flexible enough for students to produce content, develop information literacy skills, and build community.

“We had this notion of a continuum with active social spaces, where students could work together, as well as quiet spots where individuals could concentrate. There’s visual connection, but you’re divided acoustically.”

L AU R A W E R N I C K | Senior Princ ip al, HMFH Arc hitec t s

HMFH Architects

When we designed the award-winning Brewster Elementary School four decades ago, it was a cutting-edge example of how a school library could be both a symbol of literacy, and a critical, everyday player in learning. Airy, open, and at the center of the school—now called Stony Brook Elementary—the library garnered recognition for its use of light and space, which created a welcoming, integrated learning environment. The multi-functional space, which was used for reading, storytelling, and events, was designed to be flexible and accessible, and it was a nod to the school’s philosophy that learning is everywhere for everyone. “Over the years the students have become very excited about reading because the library has such a presence,” says current librarian Elisa Bucci.

The library’s openness fostered collaboration and creativity, but it also meant the space was loud and social, which Bucci says made it hard for some students to concentrate. Over time the school sectioned off areas to give students quieter spaces and added a computer lab.

Efforts to make spaces more flexible raised the question: how do you create libraries for all kinds of learners and activities?

Like Brewster’s library, the Roeper Learning Commons, which opened in September of 2018, is at the center of the school. We were engaged to convert a former empty, three-story courtyard into an integrated space that housed dining areas, work spaces, and the library, and which also functioned as a communal social space where everyone felt welcome. By taking lessons from projects like the Brewster

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Roeper Learning Commons/ Continuum

“Some kids really need to be alone, some kids thrive in social situations, and if you’re stressed or uncomfortable or unwelcome, it’s hard to learn.”

L AU R A W E R N I C K | S e nior Pr i nci pal, H MFH Ar ch ite cts

Reimagining the Library of the Future

library, talking to the Roeper School students and administration about their needs, and incorporating new philosophies on flexible learning spaces, we repurposed the courtyard into a multi-purpose gathering space and hub for learning and connection.

To accommodate and support all sorts of uses, we designed an open, lively first floor, geared toward group projects and dining.

The Commons accommodates quieter activities as students move up levels: on the second floor there are rooms for small group work, a distance learning classroom, and technology labs; on the upper floors there are quiet pockets where students can study individually.

The Commons is fluid and connected, but acoustics, furnishings, and light were employed to designate different uses.

Roeper’s success is a manifestation of the principle that all students learn differently, and that well designed and differentiated space can help them do so. Using tools like acoustic treatments and natural light can help delineate space, which is particularly important in libraries, where librarians and teachers are challenged to give students tailored multimedia learning experiences in the same spaces where they once solely checked out books.

Going forward, the library will continue to evolve and look entirely different than it did several decades ago. We’re looking at designing spaces that feel welcoming for everyone, and that help all students connect and learn. Libraries were always important, but now we’re seeing that they need to do so much more. They’re integral parts of a creative learning environment. The library of the future will be a flexible space that can transform into what educators and students need it to be: a podcast production studio, a makerspace, a digital classroom, a place for librarians and teachers to coach students on how to access information, or a cozy nook to curl up with a book.

LEARNING FORWARD

HMFH Architects

5.

The Shape of Learning

Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us,” and recent research has proven just how true that statement is—and how much a building’s design impacts us as individuals. Our brains are highly tuned to the relationships of the buildings we look at and the spaces we inhabit, and that in turn can shape how we learn.

Colin Ellard, a University of Waterloo professor who identifies as a “psychogeographer,” measured people’s physiological response as they viewed different buildings and found that simple and monotonous facades are a turn-off and can be disturbing.

“People respond positively to complex and interesting buildings and environments that provide an understandable variety, and the responses are strong.”

So, what does this have to do with school architecture?

A lot. We know that learning improves with social and emotional engagement. We know that stress caused by crowding, confusion, disorientation, or lack of comfort can diminish a student’s ability to learn. We know that students do best when they’re engaged with their teachers and with the subject matter. And we know that students engage best when they feel safe, comfortable and welcome. Over the years we’ve learned to address these environmental responses into our design process for learning environments.

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50 years ago, when we designed our first new high school, we understood that architecture provokes an emotional response, but we didn’t know what we now do about how the brain responds to buildings and how that response impacts learning. Our design of Charlestown High School is an early example of the “school within a school” concept of flexible and smaller learning communities to foster engagement and ownership, based on some innovative thinking within the Boston School Department.

But the client was focused on “hardening” the building’s exterior as a response to neighborhood violence and vandalism at that time, which presented a design challenge to make the building welcoming in spite of its solidity and windowless ground level.

On the interior, the colorful graphics, surprising amount of daylight, and interesting views out to the harbor contribute to students’ feeling of comfort and familiarity in the large, five-level school.

Today when we design a school, our priorities have shifted and we want our buildings to show their students, even before they get inside, that they are in a safe, familiar and welcoming place where they can explore, take risks and learn.

The Shape of Learning

HMFH Architects

At the Woodland Elementary School, in Milford, Mass., every classroom has a bay window and each one is designed or colored differently. We combined the bays in various ways to create both interesting patterns on the façade and inviting alcoves in the classrooms. And if you look closely, the windows appear to fold back, much like an opening book.

Project Manager Matt LaRue explains how the exterior color and variation helps to orient the students in the large school.

“The slice of color keeps little kids from feeling lost. They’re able to look up at the facade and find their classroom. You recognize the yellow bay, see where your classroom is, and feel a sense of orientation and engagement with the school.”

In Winthrop, Massachusetts, our design of a new middle/high school acts as a showcase for student achievement and community pride.

At each of the school’s entrances, important program pieces pop out of the building volume, both to draw attention to the entrance and to highlight programs important to the community such as the fine and performing arts.

As we design today and look to the future, we see schools physically expressing their purpose: as welcoming institutions of knowledge and community.

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Shedding Light on the Future of Learning

The Harvard School of Public Health’s recent report, Schools for Health: Foundations for Future Success, which pulled from 200 research studies, found that lighting, along with other environmental factors like noise and air quality, has a significant impact on learning. The authors state:

“The evidence is unambiguous — the school building impacts student health, thinking, and performance.”

Since the 1890s, when schools were designed with ceiling-height windows, architects have been attuned to the importance of natural daylight. Over the last century with the introduction of artificial light, we’ve learned more about how to control light and how the quality, timing, and color of light impacts our health. The growing canon of research about lighting and learning is pointing to new ways that school design can enhance academic outcomes and improve the health of students and educators.

HMFH Architects

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Light quality, and when it comes, matters. At the Capuano Early Childhood Center in Somerville, in the early 2000s, we put in skylights in classrooms to ensure deep even lighting, and we used physical models to test how the light would bounce around the room.

Now, to ensure the appropriate light levels and the best mix of artificial and natural daylight, we use daylight modeling software to simulate and test different design solutions. Whether that is studying glare, point in time illumination or analyzing daylight autonomy to understand the percent of time that a space meets a determined light level, technology is critical in optimizing educational space design.

“The hope is that this ability to adjust the lighting more selectively will offer more nuanced learning environments for the students and will assist the faculty in their efforts to work with the students.”

G A RY B R O C K | A s s o c i ate , H MFH Ar ch ite cts

Not all light impacts us in the same way. The presence of blue lightlike that found in sunlight and emitted from electronic devices – can trigger internal circadian rhythms contributing to one’s state of mental alertness. The Harvard study found that appropriate use of blue light can improve academic performance by up to ten percent.

However, too much blue light or exposure at the wrong time of day can disrupt our natural circadian rhythm and may affect hormone levels.

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Shedding Light on the Future of Learning

With awareness of this research, we’re now designing schools that allow for greater control of light temperature. At the new Saugus Middle/High School, classrooms that serve students with behavioral or cognitive challenges will each have tunable white light, which allows staff to change the color, duration, and intensity of the lighting in the space, bringing in energizing blue light, or calming warm light, depending on students’ needs.

Designing schools requires a clear understanding of the impact that the built and natural environments have on children’s health and their capacity to learn, and by using new tools to design spaces that harness natural brightness, we’re lighting the way to better learning environments.

“Technology is now a key to using light for learning, both in terms of how spaces are designed to use natural light, and how artificial light can be incorporated. We’re spending a lot more time and resources on analytical processes and illustrating to the clients what the impact of light might be, and how to implement cost effective solutions.”

D E B O R A H C O LL I N S | Senior Ass oc iate, HMFH Arch i t ec t s

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HMFH Architects

Nurturing a Connection to Nature

Scientists call it biophilia—the human innate tendency to seek connections with nature. New research shows that those connections can have highly positive impacts for students, reducing stress and improving self-control and self-discipline.

Why Nature Is Important Active engagement with the natural environment increases a child’s ability to focus and enhances cognition. For instance, as shown by Li and Sullivan in their 2015 research on the topic, even window views of nature can increase attention span and reduce stress. Simply bringing natural materials and patterns or imagery based on nature into school buildings can also have calming and focusing affects.

Based on this recent research HMFH strives to bring students into closer contact with nature in our schools, even in the most urban settings.

We intuitively understand that connections to nature can improve mental health and overall outlook, but research indicates it can do much more. The American Institutes for Research, for instance, in their 2005 research on children and outdoor education programs found that kids who are exposed and connected to nature over time have improved test scores as well as having a more empathetic long term response to nature.

“We always try to create visual connections throughout a school.

We don’t ever just make a stairwell; it is always a place to see and connect to the outdoors.”

LO R I C O W L E S | Princ ip al, HMFH Arc hitec ts

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Nurturing a Connection to Nature

What We Are Doing There are several ways we use design to bring nature into schools: strong physical access, plentiful visual connections, and naturelike elements in-doors that recall the out-of-doors. They all apply differently, but each helps foster a student’s readiness to learn.

Physical Access In the Winthrop Middle/High School we incorporated openable garage doors in a PE space and a vocational fabrication space for the school’s Viking Longship program to provide easy access to the outside. At Dover High School we designed a courtyard accessible to the cafeteria, to project areas throughout the school and created outdoor work areas for the art classrooms as an integral part of the courtyard. In good weather students walk through the courtyard to travel from class to class. In each instance nature is an active partner in the learning experience.

We are also particularly cognizant that natural elements and access to the outdoors is more critical in urban areas, where students might not have ready access to nature. At the Clark Avenue School in Chelsea, MA, where students had previously congregated on

“It’s about learning in general, but we also want to make our schools places where kids grow up to be good stewards.”

L AU R A W E R N I C K | Senior Princ ip al, HMFH Arc hitec t s

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HMFH Architects

sidewalks because there was no other outdoor space, we were able to reduce the school’s footprint and carve out space for a new courtyard on the constrained site. The trees and planting will provide shade in the summer and some respite from the extensive hardscape in the surrounding neighborhood. This public space is now a valued community and school resource used for play and group activities and performances.

Understanding Natural Systems Coolidge Corner School, also on an urban site, has an elaborate rain garden that abuts the cafeteria windows. The rain garden is part of the site’s storm drainage system, but it is also an active teaching tool both inside and outside of the school.

“The kids can put their noses up against window and look at what the rain garden is doing. While it’s downpouring you can see the water collecting and cascading, gathering in stone.”

P I P L E W I S | Pr i n c i pa l, H MF H Ar ch i te cts

Even when they can’t be outside, students still can see the rain garden system and better understand the process of stormwater runoff and infiltration. The rain garden is one component of the school’s varied natural areas, which include a planting zone, outdoor classrooms, pollinator garden, and boardwalk all constructed of natural materials and all integrated into the school’s curriculum.

Biophilic Design Whether or not there is a strong connection to nature at the site, we also incorporate design elements that take cues from nature into schools. The Woodland Elementary School has a wooded site with wetlands. We took context as inspiration and designed the school to reflect the students’ immediate ecosystem. The lowest floor is terrestrial, the second floor is canopy level, and the third floor is clouds and sky.

Natural materials, like wood and local stone, inside and outside help create another layer of connection to nature. An outdoor classroom is carved into the site overlooking the wetlands and every classroom has a special bay window with a window seat for looking out at the trees.

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Nurturing a Connection to Nature

“We’re incorporating lots of visual connections, so people can see what’s going on, and we try not to build fortresses. We want teachers and students to feel safe, but not locked in.”

LO R I C O W L E S | Princ ip al, HMFH Arc hitec ts

What Will The Future Look Like?

We’re designing more and more learning spaces that allow students and educators to easily transition from indoors to outdoors. We’ve found that educators are much more likely to use outdoor space when that transition is easy. As research confirms the importance of bringing students close to nature the demand for these types of spaces is rising.

While creating strong connections to nature students and teachers also need to feel safe. Today a major concern in school design is security and control, so balancing planning security with a sense of openness is critical.

We are careful and creative in how we balance the outdoor connections with the safety concerns. The Arlington High School will have a green roof, and the Bristol County Agricultural High School will also have an accessible green roof with a weather station. We think that schools of the future will carve out more of those spaces providing access to nature in a very safe context.

Human beings evolved as part of nature. Is it a surprise that children learn better when they are close to or actively engaged with nature?

As a firm we are committed to doing everything we can to strengthen children’s connections to nature through our schools and their sites.

HMFH Architects

“Students can grow things, dig, climb, but also just look at nature. We’re bringing the natural elements as close to the building as possible.”

P I P L E W I S | Pr i n c i pa l, H MF H Ar ch i te cts

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Child-Centric Design

“When I went to school, my classrooms were so boring.

Because of that, in the back of my mind I’m always gathering information and thinking: how can I design this school to make it feel like a place I want to be, like a place a child would want to be?”

M E L I S S A G R E E N E | As s oci a te, HMFH Arc hitec ts

HMFH Architects

We call that kind of thinking child-centric design because it focuses on the student’s needs and interests, and it’s critically important in the design of environments for children. As designers of schools, we’re always thinking about children and how they move, think and play. We want to make sure students’ physical environments are emotionally engaging, supportive of their learning and their creativity. That critical concept travels through all our design decisions. This means we spend time understanding the students’ daily activities within the school or classroom and anticipating how the spaces might support those activities and we talk with educators and students to get their input and to make sure our choices support their goals.

For instance, we think a lot about designing to the scale of the child.

Windows, cubbies, lockers and seating areas are carefully designed and scaled so that students know the spaces are specially created for them. Particularly for younger children, we build in whimsy and fun through playful use of color, form, and pattern; and the unusual juxtaposition of design elements sparks a student’s curiosity and inspires creativity.

At HMFH, designing child-centric spaces also means keeping up to date with neurological research on learning and understanding the implications of that research on the spaces we design. We are seeing clear themes in that research that reinforce our current design ideas but also point to new ways of thinking about the design of learning places. For instance, research is telling us that students learn more readily when emotionally engaged in the subject matter. We know that stress reduces the ability to learn because the thinking lobes of the brain’s prefrontal cortex shut down when we are stressed.

Conversely, creativity is fostered when students feel safe, supported and free to explore their interests. We know that neural connections are strengthened, reinforcing learning, when students are exposed to the same ideas through different types of learning activities. We also know that physical activity reduces stress and has a positive impact on a child’s cognitive performance. So what does this all mean for how we design schools?

At the Thompson Elementary School we designed the school to be a joyful and supportive learning environment. To minimize any stress associated with students’ first school experience, we made sure it was a welcoming place for their families. The design draws the families into a colorful and light-filled lobby space and then provides a clear path to special transition spaces outside of classrooms where students can spend time with their family members before or after school. This is a place where the students know their whole families are welcome and supported.

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Child-Centric Design

For older students the first step towards creating a warm environment is to break down the traditional institutional feel of school.

“We do this by getting the students engaged in the design process.

At the Bristol County Agricultural High School, we had individual conversation threads with the students about the new building and how they would like to use it.

The students asked for connections to outdoor areas, and a community space that really f lows between the outdoors and indoors. That connection to nature was important, but they also valued the option for f lexibility and to shape their space over time. Those elements were key to creating a comfortable and welcoming place for them.”

B O B BY W I LL I A M S | Senior Ass oc iate, HMFH Arc hi t ec t s

“At the German International School’s Early Education Center, which isn’t very big, we used colors to articulate the corridor and section off projects areas, quiet reading nooks, and a range of areas for individual and group activities within and outside of the classrooms. We make it easy for teachers to set up and for small students to test out different activities and build confidence in different ways of learning.”

A L E X A N D R A G A D AW S K I | H MFH Ar ch ite cts

HMFH Architects

We also bring spaces for a range of activities close to one another, so it is easy and natural for students to explore different types of activities with any learning experiences.

For older kids, we include break-out zones for activities like individual study, collaborative projects, social conversations, or crafts, so that students have space to develop their own interests, and to feel creative within a larger school setting. Such project spaces are now a regular component of our school designs. We want to design to the scale of their ideas.

No one likes to sit still for long; physical activity is important and has a positive impact on learning. We are building in opportunities for movement at all scales, from wonderful new types of seating allowing students to wiggle and squirm without disturbing others, to spaces for project-based learning that allow for movement while building stuff, to creating connections from the out-of-doors to learning spaces so students can move in and out easily. Even providing different types learning spaces allows student to take a break and reengage by simply moving from one place to another.

All of these techniques are child-centric. Whether providing a small child with a small nook to curl up in to read a book, or carving out a small group area off of a corridor for teenagers to perform a skit they have written, every design decision should help support the student socially and emotionally as well as cognitively.

At HMFH we design spaces that will resonate with the students and help them understand that they are important and that learning is important, and that their school has been designed for them. Spaces have the power to re-awaken thinking, provide comfort and support academic growth. That potential is at the core of why child-centric design is so powerful.

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Schools as Community Centers

“When you get community members involved during the design process they take ownership and stay involved. At the Dover High School and Career Technical Center in Dover, NH, parents and other community member were actively involved during early visioning sessions where they articulated goals for the future of the school. Dover residents spoke of the opportunity for the new high school to foster relationships between students and adult community members. They talked about community events such as art shows and f lower shows, for adult education classes that might find a home in the new high school, and for other ways to make the school a center for the entire community.�

T I N A STA N I S L A S K I | Pr i nci pal, H MFH Ar ch ite cts

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HMFH Architects

“Nothing has the potential to bring people together more effectively than schools,” Scott Doyon from the urban planning firm PlaceMakers, states in his blog post, 7 Keys to a Strong Community.

“One of the largest resources schools have at their disposal is the sense of emotional ownership taken by the surrounding community.”

We know that communities benefit from strong schools and students benefit from strong communities. And to make sure that they do, we’re always looking for ways that design can support and enhance this relationship.

We have seen the positive impact of a dynamic school and community relationship, and in the best cases, like the new Dover High School, it starts during the design process.

By the end of the visioning sessions the outcome was clear to HMFH and to the participants: the new school would have at its core a “Town Square” where community members as well as students would feel engaged and welcome. The participants saw the new school not only as an educational opportunity for students but also as a way to strengthen connections across the entire community.

Today, that Town Square is becoming an active part of community life. The adjacent outdoor courtyard is an attraction for everyone.

Eighth graders view presentations in the Town Square as they prepare for high school and adults pass through in the evening on their way to classes. Residents of all ages interact with one another, learn from one another, and are appreciative of what their community has accomplished. They’re beginning to see the school as a resource for residents, a crossroads for meeting others and as an enhancement of their community.

“Residents already regularly attend athletic events in the gym and performances in the theater after only a year of operation. Lunch for community members will be served starting this fall in the dining area run by the Career Tech Culinary Arts program, hairdressing is provided by the Cosmetology program, and blood pressure checks will soon be available in the Health Sciences program, all of which are accessible directly from the Town Square. Meanwhile students study, eat, socialize and engage in intramurals in the Town Square.”

A L A N P E M ST E I N | HMFH Arc hitec ts

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Schools as Community Centers

Educators at Bridge Boston Charter School in Boston also described a clear vision for their school to HMFH when they started planning for a new facility. Bridge Boston serves many of the neediest elementary school students from across the City; 100% are low income. A substantial percentage are homeless or face challenges such as alcoholism or addiction at home, so Bridge Boston is the center of community for these families. Many of the students have limited access to doctors or dentists or social workers and don’t always have ready access to nutritional meals. In addition to education, Bridge supports the whole child, providing health and mental wellness services, nutritional meals, as well as many services for students’ families. The new school had to be a place where entire families felt safe and welcomed.

HMFH was inspired by Bridge Boston’s mission and was eager to design a facility that supported it. The existing building chosen to be the new home to the school presented challenges. A former community health center, the brick and concrete box of a building was divided up internally into small offices. The one potentially redeeming feature was a large atrium space.

We gutted the interior of the existing building to create classrooms, administrative space, and meeting rooms. A new gym, small classroom addition, and a playground helped bring the school to life, but it was the atrium and the adjoining open dining area that are proving to be the heart and soul of the school and its community.

The atrium officially serves as the school library, but this lightfilled space is much more than that. Catwalks shoot across to upper floor classrooms passing over the library and bridging different parts of the school literally and figuratively, allowing students to see and be seen by those below. Those catwalks also provide a place to watch the musical performances that regularly take place in the library. The space is used constantly for student drop-off and pick-up, for meetings, and simply for family fellowship.

“All of us are really focused on the families’ strengths. That we can all gather in a well-lit space filled with books is just like ice cream on a Sunday.”

J E N N I F E R D A LY | Pr inci pal, Br i d g e Bo sto n Ch ar te r Sc hool

Now, many schools are being designed with security as a design imperative. They focus on barriers and limited entry, often out of fear. To counter that, both Dover High School and Bridge Boston Charter School decided to create a different approach for their interactions with their respective communities. While securities measures are in place, the schools have focused on fostering connections with their communities as a means for both strengthening the learning experience and fostering a more vibrant community.

Having buildings with space where the community is welcome and where interactions among all community members is natural is a clear model for the future. In an age when we are frequently focusing on barriers to learning, these schools have found bridges.

HMFH Architects

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“The building was hardly an ideal starting point for a school that focused on the most underserved children in Boston but having an atrium at the core with catwalks running through the space sparked our approach from our first visit.

The school’s mission was to be a bridge to these students’ future; this space and its catwalks would be a metaphorical bridge connecting the different aspects of a student’s learning.”

JA M E S L I E B M A N | Ass oc ia te, HMFH Arc hitec ts

The Evolution of Project Learning Spaces

“We’re building spaces that are flexible enough to accommodate new technologies and learning philosophies: schools to serve the whole spectrum of effective learning modalities.”

P I P L E W I S | Pr i n c i pal, H MFH Ar ch ite cts

HMFH Architects

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“Younger teachers are engaged with the idea of ‘I’m not just going to stand in front of you and lecture, we’re learning and exploring together,’ they want flexible spaces that they can still supervise.”

Walk through a school these days, and you might be surprised to see a lot of students outside of their classrooms.

While traditional classrooms continue to serve the stand and deliver model of a teacher disseminating subject-specific information in front of seated students, project areas have emerged in response to a need for more adaptable and flexible space where students can apply that information. In the 60s and 70s shared break-out rooms and communal spaces for storytelling began appearing in our school designs. We now see a push for more places outside the classroom for a variety of student-centered activities like handson, interdisciplinary, and self-directed learning.

When we designed three new elementary schools in Concord, New Hampshire in 2009, visionary School District Superintendent Christine Rath understood how teaching practices were changing.

She articulated her philosophy that learning happens everywhere and not just in a classroom or library, and that more spaces were needed for collaborative work.

M E L I S S A G R E E N E | Ass oc iate, HMFH Arc hitec ts

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The Evolution of Project Learning Spaces

To accomplish this, our design re-distributed the traditional resources of the library into Learning Corridors that weave through each school with multi-use shared spaces outside each classroom.

The spaces were differentiated, with smaller, quiet places for small team projects, focused individual learning and research, or pull-out spaces for special ed purposes; and some bigger, where a whole class could go to do a science experiment, or to build projects that had to stay in place over time. Traditional book collections and learning resources as well as on-line resources are distributed among the shared areas.

We undertook a post-occupancy evaluation at the three schools to obtain useful feedback on what works well and not so much. With that information and with technology and teaching philosophies continuing to transform, our design of schools like the Carver Elementary School and the Woodland Elementary School build upon Concord’s Learning Corridors.

Like traditional classrooms, libraries have continued to evolve from being the singular center of research to a series of decentralized resource spaces. With seamless and integrated technology, students work independently on chrome books in project spaces while teachers can monitor what they’re doing. They produce podcasts and videos on their research, and work on group projects. Technology is interwoven into the process and the product, and project areas provide convenient space for students to come together. When we design Learning Corridors, the standard hallway becomes active and collaborative, where the process of learning is visible and engaging and students can show off the products of their learning.

HMFH Architects

As we develop designs for new middle and high schools in Weymouth, Saugus, and Arlington, we are incorporating feedback from educators and school administrators that the ideal school provides options and flexibility. The variety and continuity of spaces allows students to work in the ways that suit their needs, whether for hands-on paper mache projects and popsicle stick bridges for younger kids, robotics for older, or a quiet nook where a student of any age can focus. We’re designing spaces for project-based learning around common themes rather than a single subject area.

In the forthcoming Weymouth Middle School, academic spaces are organized by neighborhoods, in pods of multiple classrooms, with a diversity of spaces outside of the classroom. Each neighborhood will have a smattering of group spaces, as well as a collaborative space geared to presentation and coming together. The neighborhoods are tied together by the cafeteria, which we call the Town Square, and at the gateway into each neighborhood is an exploratory lab, arranged around specific scheduled classes like culinary arts, theatre arts, and a broadcast studio.

Weymouth provides one model of what project areas look like today: collaborative and interdisciplinary, with areas set aside for more structured labs and hands-on work. Each project reflects the unique educational program and needs of a community. However, one thing seems to remain constant – the idea that kids learn more effectively when they see the purpose of their learning and project learning spaces support that.

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“The ideal school, to me, provides all sorts of spaces for all sorts of learning. Kids learn more effectively if they’re engaged and seeing the purpose of what they are doing. A lot of it is just realistic problem solving.”

M E L I S S A G R E E N E | Ass oc iate, HMFH Arc hitec ts

50 Forward: Sustainability

Bristol County Agricultural High School

Sustainability has always been an integral part of our design culture.

From a passive design for a Boston police station in the ’70s to early natural lighting efforts at Martha’s Vineyard High School in 1980, and an ice thermal energy storage system at the Tyngsborough High School in 1991, we continue move our practice and our commitment to climate action forward as we look to the next 50 years. And today more than ever, clients are concerned about climate change and see their building project as an opportunity to make a difference.

We actively seek ways to create sustainable, resilient buildings and campuses with reduced carbon footprints. This means offering our clients the best options in energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, healthy materials, and the reduction of water use and waste.

HMFH Architects

A Fossil Fuel Free Future The existing Arlington High School is an iconic building, beloved by the community. From the initial planning, the community wanted the new high school design to respect the past and remain iconic into the future. One of the ways they hope to achieve that is by creating a fossil fuel free school that embodies and showcases the town’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The only fossil fuel emissions generated will be offsite at the utility plants.

Emissions are further reduced through robust energy efficiency measures, solar electricity produced on site, and any renewable energy purchased by the Town.

Designed for 1,755 students, the new Arlington High School will be a large complex that includes a daycare center, School District administration and special education Preschool and LABBB collaborative all on a tight urban site. The strategy for eliminating site-based fossil fuel consumption began early in design. First, we worked to get the building footprint as efficient as possible.

Next, we designed a thermally efficient building envelope. The more efficient the building envelope is, the more the heating and cooling load is reduced. But efficiency, while a critical goal, does not eliminate carbon use. That requires heating and cooling with renewable energy sources. Arlington’s goal is to use ground source heat pumps with 130 geothermal wells located in the athletic fields and under parking to eliminate the need for natural gas (a fossil fuel) to heat and cool the building.

All lighting and equipment within the school, from the science labs to the kitchen, are electric. The school will eventually have more than a megawatt of solar photovoltaic collection. The roof of the building has been designed and structured for enough PV to power 30% of the school. When the building opens, the town plans to purchase carbon offsets, and, over time, install more photovoltaics until fossil fuel free operation is achieved.

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30. LEARNING FORWARD

50 Forward: Sustainability

Protecting Our Limited Resources In designing the new 271,000-SF Saugus Middle/High School, which will open in 2020, the school administration was inspired by their own Saugus River. Through sustainability charrettes and our design process, a high priority was placed on reducing water use as much as possible. Limiting water use starts at the top; that is, the top of the building. The building’s green roof will absorb water for maintaining the plantings located in rooftop planters that serve as an educational tool. Students will grow varieties of vegetation based on curriculum, while the extensive green roof will provide evaporative cooling, slow the rate of stormwater run-off, protect the roofing membrane from UV damage and thermal stresses, provide some addition wildlife habitat for birds and insects, and be an aesthetic amenity for the building.

The water that lands on the roof and is not absorbed goes into rain leaders that carry the water to three 30,000 gallon underground cisterns. The water collected in one cistern is used for flushing all of the toilets in the building. In schools, where most water use is for toilet flushing, and can amount to 20 gallons per student per day, reusing rain water can be a major water conservation measure.

The other two cisterns are used for irrigating the planted areas

immediately adjacent to the building and the natural turf at the athletic field. The rest of the campus relies on drought resistant plantings and is not irrigated.

We did not stop there. Rooftop cooling units constantly drip condensate when they run in the summer, which is typically the season with less rainfall. We are looking at ways to collect and reuse the condensate from rooftop units, which will reduce water use even further.

While water use was a high priority, we also looked at how the school impacts the environment around it. There are rain gardens integrated into to the parking lot that slow and filter stormwater before it runs into the storm water system. This helps protect the surrounding resources from the oily run-off from cars and slows the flow which allows water to penetrate the soils more deeply and reduces the size and cost of installing underground stormwater detention systems.

HMFH Architects

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Materials Bristol County Agricultural High School is a learning lab for the community. The school’s environmental ethic is a key element of the curriculum and is reflected in how we approached the design of the campus. The project will be designed for energy efficiency and sustainability with green roofs, rainwater collection, alternative structural materials, and photovoltaics. Those are what we might call the flashy sustainability efforts and will allow students to learn about their environment.

Some of the subtler elements that also make the project a teaching tool include the materials within the building. We researched our material selections to incorporate low-carbon, recycled, local and healthy materials wherever possible. For instance, linoleum flooring was used instead of vinyl. Linoleum is primarily made from rapidly renewable linseed oil and jute, and renewable wood flour and can be cleaned with water. Vinyl is petroleum based and needs to be cleaned with detergents which is both an environmental and maintenance issue. The wood and heavy timber structure for three of the six new buildings at Bristol Aggie is primarily FSC-certified ensuring environmentally conscious forestry practices that protect the future of our forests. Wood stores carbon for the life of its use and in production, releases less carbon than steel or concrete.

Many small design decisions at Bristol Aggie make a difference in environmental sensitivity and resource management, but perhaps some of the most important are those that contribute to the health of the occupants. We have purposefully incorporated finishes such as paints, adhesives, and fabrics with low or no VOCs. These choices provide a healthier interior environment and are proven to have an impact on cognition. We make smart material choices by coordinating standard shapes of products to reduce field cutting and waste. We use durable materials like brick, stone, or metal roofs, which can last three times as long as asphalt shingles. Stone is locally sourced to reduce transportation impacts. Durable building design delays the need to build again, which ultimately is the best way to reduce energy and carbon impact.

We know reducing energy use, reducing water consumption, increasing our use of renewable energy sources and smart materials will play into sustainability for a long time to come. In looking at our next 50 years, we are designing buildings with smaller environmental impacts. This will assure healthier students, resilient and sustainable communities, and a more viable future for all of us.