3 minute read
Growth
Letter from Sloan Harris, VLK Partner
“Without continual growth and progress, words such as achievement, improvement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin
This could not ring truer than in the experiences at VLK in the past year. Those of you reading this with whom we have been fortunate to partner in our work know that our firm has been celebrating growth for the past several years. While that growth can be seen in our employees, projects, and clients, those quantities only come with deep, meaningful growth in our practice, knowledgebase, personal development, and experiences with our peers and clients. We have built our practice from exemplary service, consistency, and stability. From those things, we are grateful to have so many public school districts we have served for years and years, and several for decades. But growth equals change. You cannot get better if you are not always changing and improving. Innovating. I started writing this with a focus on innovation when I quickly realized that was my message in the last Experience Magazine. Wow! How innovative to keep writing about innovation! But, the fact is, that is who we are. Innovation is change. It is qualitative change that has a positive effect on how we practice architecture, and the results it provides our clients. It is improvement, it is a change-agent, it is disruptive, it is provocative, and it advances relevance. We will never finish with innovation. This past year, we have continued our research and development in how our designed environments impact student engagement and learning. This is VLK | EDGE®, which contributes best practices to the educational cannon and informs our own learning as educational design professionals. We have further developed VLK | LINK® that guides school districts through deeply engaged processes with all stakeholders to develop long range plans in order to deliver their students the best schools possible. We have continued optimizing VLK | LAUNCH®, our charrette process that engages districts’ students, parents, staff, and administration so that we deliver on their visions for schools in their communities. We have further developed our Experience Design Studio that brings to life the concepts we design for our clients, and captures their experiences and reactions to those designs. We have developed VLK | PIXEL that works with our clients to brand their environments in order to celebrate the culture of the district and its community. And, we have continued to invest in cutting edge technology and resources throughout the firm so our clients know that we can deliver beyond their expectations, and that they are partnered with true thought leaders in educational design. VLK thrives on continual growth. Growth defined by improvement, continued learning, and real innovation that improves the experiences and services our clients receive. Can’t stop. Won’t stop.
VLK CURATION®
The thorough process of action research, an inquiry focused on teaching and learning used with clients to scaffold our understanding in order to inform all aspects of design.
“One unique aspect of our project partnership with VLK Architects is the involvement of an Educational Planner who deeply understands the dual nature of student learning and the structural design of learning environments.” Jennifer Wilhelm, Assistant Superintendent of Learner Services, Allen ISD
