Pedagogy and Design

PEDAGOGY AND DESIGN: Learner Centered Environments in K-12/ Higher Education

BY: YUKTA SATPUTE Under the guidence of KELLY HAYES MCLONIE

CONTENTS 01

How We Learn

02

Natural Systems: Lighting and Color

03

Natural Systems: Acoustics

04

Thermal Comfort, Temperature, Air Quality

05

Flexibility

06

Technology and New Teaching Styles

07

Spaces Outside Classrooms: New Space Types

08

Place Attachments

09

Design Standards

01 Week 2

How We Learn

“Neuroscience research shows that when you learn something new, there is a physical change in your brain. Some of your brain cells establish connections with other brain cells to form new networks of cells, which represent the new learning that has taken place.”

- Doyle, Terry, and Todd Zakrajsek.

The New Science of Learning : How to Learn in Harmony with YourBrain, Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2013.

INTRODUCTION: The important message for all learners is that new learning requires a considerable amount of practice and a meaningful connection to other information to become a more permanent part of memory. Learning takes energy.

We find ourselves exhausted at the end of the day when we learn much new material. Neuroscience researchers have also found that a practice typically needs to happen over extended periods to form lasting memories. Psychologists call this the distributed practice effect.

Literature Review Doyle, Terry, and Todd Zakrajsek.

The New Science of Learning : How to Learn in Harmony with YourBrain, Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2013.

Introduction, Pg 1-6; Chapter 1, Pg 7-20; Chapter 5, Pg 100-124 Sapna Cheryan, Sianna A. Ziegler, Victoria C.Plaut, and Andrew N. Meltzoff.

Designing Classrooms to Maximize Student Achievement

This new neuroscience research has led to an entirely new way of thinking about the teaching and learning process called learner-centered teaching (LCT). In this method, the teacher’s goal is to make students work more so that their brain creates more connections about the learning, which helps to convert the learnings into permanent memory.

At the neurons, establishing and then maintaining the trail is called long-term potentiation (Ratey, 2001). As a result of long-term potentiation, something that was at one time new, such as adding two to five, becomes routine. Longterm potentiation is a neurological description of forming habits and long-term memories.

METHODS OF LEARNING: Cramming Transference Connections to past learnings Patterns

Habits to optimize learning process: Learning | Nutritious Food | Exercise | Sleep

Impact of Architecture on Learning:

The Classroom’s Symbolic Environment

The Classroom’s Structural Environment:

• Objects and Décor Adding symbolic objects to a classroom can positively affect student performance. Objects in the environment can also influence students’ educational interests and choices.

Improving student achievement is vital for our nation’s competitiveness. Scientific research shows how the physical classroom environment influences student achievement. According to research, building’s structural facilities profoundly influence learning. Inadequate lighting, noise, low air quality, and deficient heating in the classroom are significantly related to worse student achievement.

• Classroom Layout According to various studies conducted it is observed that the furniture arrangement in the classroom influences how comfortable students feel and the amount of interaction with other students and with the teacher. Different arrangements may achieve these goals for different people. clustered arrangements can also lead to more disruptive and off-task behavior.

• Lighting According to research conducted by Edwards and Torcelli in 2002, Students exposed to more natural light in their classrooms perform better than students exposed to less natural light. Although incorporating more daylight into classrooms may be beneficial, it should be done carefully, to avoid visual discomfort and temperature increases.

• Acoustics According to Klatte, Bergstroem, & Lachmann’s study in 2013, Classrooms with greater external noise are more likely to have lower student achievement. Excessive external noise hinders learning.

Classroom Design

• Virtual Classrooms As the popularity of online education continues to increase, greater attention is being paid to the design of virtual learning environments. As the use of virtual classroom environments continues to grow, care should be taken in how these spaces are designed to create a virtual classroom culture that is welcoming to all students.

CONCLUSION:

• Temperature Based on the research studies, the optimal temperature range for learning appears to be between 68° and 74°.

• Air Quality Exposure to low-quality air is related to decreased student attendance and affects teachers’ abilities to teach well.

• Accessibility Ensuring adequate structural quality is important for all students and is particularly so for students with disabilities.

Brain Functions for Optimal Learning

• Learning a new skill is a critical task that involves continuous revising methods. Cramming does not help in remembering anything in long term.

• Having good health is very important to learn new tasks. Keeping yourself well hydrated is necessary.

Also, regular exercise, nutritious food, practice, and enough sleep are critical to learning a new skill.

• Architectural spaces have a psychological impact on the learning ability. The space arrangement, color of the room, opt natural light resource plays an important role in the ability to grasp.

• For students with physical disabilities, the symbolic aspect of the structural classroom may be especially important.

02

ARC 624 Pedagogy and Design: Learner Centered Environments in K-12/ Higher Education Week 3 Natural Systems: Lighting and Color

Literature Review Some Aspects of an Ideal Classroom: Color, Carpet, Light and Furniture (Edward B, Nuhfer (ed.nuhfer@csuci.edu), Director of Faculty Development, California State University of the Channel Islands) Learning, Lighting and Color Lighting Design for Schools and Universities in the 21st Century

By Randall Fielding, AIA Daylighting and the Environmentally Responsive School Stephen Dent Associate professor and former associate dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico

“Great learning environments exhibit similar characteristics as great cities and great landscapes. Some of the characteristics of great educational spaces are timeless, like a mature forest, and others change rapidly, like Times Square in New York City”.

INTRODUCTION: A wonderful characteristic of learning is that we learn when we feel secure and cozy, and also when we feel challenged. In fact, human beings are wired to learn to make connections and to recognize patterns in a wide variety of conditions.

Successful schools and universities are adapting their offerings to learner-centered, rather than teacher or curriculum-centered, modes of delivery. The paradigm is no longer about delivering information, but in nurturing a broad array of learning styles and experiences. Many of the environments for learning have not caught up with these approaches to educational delivery. However, an effective learning environment in the 21st century has little in common with the rows of classrooms and desks or child factories of the industrial or information age.

Rule of thumb: Its useful to distinguish between view window and daylighting windows. The higher the windows the greater penetration into the building. The rule of thumb calls for the depth of the room to be 1.5 X height of the window.

Patterns of Learning Activity and Design Identifying patterns of learning activity and design prior to laying out a building is a good way to ensure an effective solution—one that takes advantage of the full range of human capabilities.

Vistas, Movement, and Lighting Design Principles: Instinctively, we tend to move towards light and color. Designers can take advantage of the reflex to look up and out. Vistas can be designed to define and order movement, by leading first the eye and then the body through space.

Movement is a stimulus to learning, but paths that are confusing or counter-intuitive don’t make us feel secure enough to learn at our best. Designers can use movement as a positive design generator by choreographing scenarios in advance.

If a visual element at the far corner from a visitor’s starting point is highlighted, a person will be attracted to move towards it. The visual destination element may be a sculptural form, taller than the elements around it, or it could be a wall with a brighter color, and a higher level of illumination.

The lighting should vary to reflect the character of each space. The soft seating in the research and development (R&D) think tank might include low voltage pendants for soft, ambient light. The walls of the same space would benefit from directional track or linear fluorescents to highlight “tech art” and student work on the walls.

Direct/indirect pendant fixtures in the active lab space might reverse the percentage of up and downlight used in humanities spaces, with 60% or 70% downlight versus 40%.

Seven Myths about Lighting and Color in Educational Architecture: Myth # 1: Uniform brightness Level Myth # 2: Primary colors for children Myth # 3: Red incites aggression, green calming Myth # 4: Neutral colors are best Myth # 5: It’s best to use all the same lamps Myth # 6: It’s best not to use natural light in gymnasiums Myth # 7: Performance spaces should not have any windows

Wall/Ceiling Color: Pastel oranges promote cheerful, lively and sociable moods that are desirable in a college classroom. Pastel yellow has a similar cheerful effect. Greens and blue greens in pastels are calming and provide a good background color suited to relaxation into tasks that require concentration.

Floors: • A majority of the teachers listed carpet as the preferred classroom floor covering because it helps prevent falls, provides comfort, absorbs noise, and allows for flexibility in the classroom.

Light: • Full spectrum light improves room occupants’ color perception. Professional occupations, such as dentistry, where optimal color perceptions are important, increasingly demand such lighting.

• Classrooms and offices, particularly those without windows or those used at night, could well • benefit from simple changes in room color and conversion to full spectrum lighting.

• Light’s interaction with walls and ceilings can promote enthusiasm and concentration or can • produce glare that detracts from moods needed to engage material optimally.

Window Coverings: • Each window should have two window coverings to provide a range of light control and the assurance that if one device malfunctions, the teacher • If there are windows, they should be capable of being opened in the spring and fall.Sunlight shining into the room can wash out projection image.

GUEST LECTURE BY:

Susan Stando Mitchell Giurgola Architects LLP Kindergarten and Pre-K Learning Spaces Brussels American School

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: The case study for Kindergarten and Pre-K Learning Spaces, Brussels American School, presented by Susan Sandro. Following is my analysis regarding the presented project.

1. Furniture: The classrooms have glass doors as well as the glass partition separating it from the passage, which is risky for the kids. The collapsible partitions between the 2 classrooms feel difficult.

The furniture used in the passageway creates an interactive space.

2. Room Size analysis: The room sizes are big enough for receiving the natural daylight during Summer and Spring. The passages have windows on both ends, which gives it sunny.

3. Ceiling, Walls, and Floor: The walls and the ceiling are painted white which has a greater refractive index. The floor is not carpeted in the classrooms for cleanliness purposes.

CONCLUSION: • The color, furniture, window o`penings, flooring all such elements matter a lot while designing a school. The psychology behind it is the main goal that we achieve through this.

• Color Rendering Index maximum of indoor space is +/90 and Color Rendering Index of natural light is 100.

• Identifying patterns of learning activity and design before laying out a building is a good way to ensure an effective solution— one that takes advantage of the full range of human capabilities.

03 Week 4

Natural Systems: Acoustics

Literature Review Classroom Acoustics: What Possibly Could Be New? Peggy B. Nelson, PhD, CCC-A and Susan B. Blaeser Third Teacher. Chapter 1 Basic Needs pg 24-48 Van Reenen, Coralie, Karusseit, Catherine “Classroom acoustics as a consideration for inclusive education in South Africa.”

“5-year-olds can repeat fully audible words and sentences in quiet as well as adults; however, when the audibility of the words is reduced to 50% (still very easy for adults), children cannot understand most of what is said..”

- Stelmachowicz et al. (2000) Classroom Acoustics: What Possibly Could Be New? Peggy B. Nelson, PhD, CCC-A and Susan B. Blaeser

INTRODUCTION: Noise in classrooms is unwanted sound that is usualy caused by heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning equipment (HVAC), noise from outside the building leaking through windows and doors, and noise from adjacent rooms and hallways coming through walls and doors.

Reverberation is the persistence of sound after its source quiets and arises from sound reflecting from hard walls, floors, and ceilings. Reverberation time (RT60) is defined as the length of time in seconds required for the sound level to reduce by 60 dB once the sound source has been turned off.

CLASSROOM AMPLIFICATION: Why must we make rooms quieter, why not just make the teachers’ voices louder? The use of microphones, amplifiers, and speakers in classrooms has become popular in recent years, and many children with auditory disorders need personal amplification. Customized use of FM or infrared amplification systems can help many students and teachers. With these systems, the signal level is greatly improved because only the voice at the microphone, not the background noise, is amplified (Crandell & Smaldino, 2001, or Nelson).

Amplification systems are only a partial solution. Much of classroom learning is peer-based and active, and the teacher frequently serves as a guide to group discussions rather than a lecturer.

REASONS TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM ACOUSTICS: 1. All children need good acoustics to understand familiar words and learn new information. Noise and reverberation adversely affect typical young children more than they affect typical adults. Werner and Boike (2001) have shown that typically developing infants are immture listeners who don’t easily separate signals from background noise.

2. Children who have hearing loss, are learning in a second language, or have auditory or attention problems need even more favorable acoustics. Children with hearing loss are significantly affected by background noise. They require lower background noise levels and higher signal levels for understanding than do children who hear well (Crandell,1993; ASA, 2003).

3. Classrooms are frequently too noisy for learning, but we have the technology to make quiet classrooms. The most significant noise source in many classrooms is the HVAC system. In some schools, the HVAC system projects 65 dB into the center of the room, the same level as the teacher’s voice at a distance of one meter.

4. Reverberation complicates the noise problem. Excessive reverberation “smears” the temporal properties of speech signals when reverberation times (RT60s) exceed about 0.6 seconds.

5. Teachers sometimes suffer the most. Evidence shows that noisy classrooms require teachers to speak at vocal levels that cause vocal stress and fatigue (e.g., Smith et al., 1998) • Reverberation has a significantly worse effect on speech intelligibility for hearing impaired leaners compared to normal-hearing learners (Breitsprecher, 2011) and has also been shown to have a worse effect than noise alone.

• Speech recognition is influenced not only by the clarity of the auditory signal but also the visual signal clarity (Grant,Walden & Seitz, 1998). From this, it may be deduced that that a visually impaired learner would require increased clarity of the auditory signal to function optimally in the classroom.

PREFERRED LISTENING CONDITIONS: • According to the research by Ljung et al in 2013, There is evidence that noise has a significant effect on children with low working memory capacity while some studies considering the performance of ADHD or ASD children compared to typically developing controls show little effect of noise.

This may indicate that noise does not affect these types of learners; however, in most such studies, the floor effect is raised as a possible reason for this (Hygge, 2003; Russo, Zecker, Trommer, Chen & Kraus, 2009).

• It is thus evident that certain types of learners required different noise conditions to facilitate maximum performance. However, a careful reading of the research reveals that the type of performance being measured is also relevant.

• Verbal and non-verbal tasks are differentially affected by different noise conditions. Verbal tasks, such as reading and spelling, are most negatively affected by background conditions of meaningless irrelevant speech, whereas nonverbal tasks are more affected by a background noise condition of environmental noise combined with meaningless irrelevant speech (Dockrell & Shield, 2006).

When it comes to memory tasks, recall is more affected by noise conditions than recognition (Hygge, 2003), demonstrating the differential effect of noise on different performance types.

• Children exposed to aircraft noise, road traffic noise and background speech display a poor reading and comprehension ability (Hygge et al., 2002; Seabi et al., 2012).

GUEST LECTURE BY:

Eric Goshow Goshow Architects Ambient and Background Noise Reverberation Hostos Community College

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: • Amplification: 1. Sound-reinforcement systems will not solve classroom reverberation problems.

2. Sound -reinforcement systems will increase overall sound levels in the classroom.

3. If partitions have poor sound insulation qualities, amplified sound may become audible and disruptive to students in adjacent classrooms.

4. Amplification systems also create an additional level of complication for instructors, microphone placement & equipment operation at the expense of classroom engagement.

5. For the hearing challenged, specialized amplification will be required Reverberation.

• The time it takes for reflected sound to die down by 60 decibels from the cessation of the original sound signal (measured in seconds). Reflected sound tends to “build up” to a level louder than direct sound. Reflected sound MASK direct sound. Late arriving reflections tend to SMEAR the direct sound signal.

• Accoustically Treated Classroom: The addition of sound absorbing material reduces late arriving reflected sound, lowers reverberation time and improves speech intelligibility.

CONCLUSION: • Learners most vulnerable in poor listening conditions are those with hearing impairments (Crandell & Smaldino, 2000). Because of their low hearing threshold, hearing impaired children require the SNR to be at least +10 dB but preferably +20 dB. • It is evident from international guidelines, standards and research that classrooms should not be characterised by ambient noise level alone but that reverberation time and even listening distance are also critical aspects.

• The recommended reverberation time given in the DBE Guidelines (2012) of 0.6 s – 0.7 s is satisfactory for normal learners but according to the data, it is not ideal for hearing impaired learners and thus falls short of creating an inclusive environment.

04 Week 5

Thermal Comfort, Temperature, Air Quality

Literature Review A Sound Foundation? What We Know about the Impact of Environments on Learning and the Implications for Building Schools for the Future Author(s): Pamela Woolner, Elaine Hall, Steve Higgins, Caroline McCaughey and Kate Wall Pg 373-376.

Woolner, P., Hall, Elaine. Higgins, Steve, McCaughey, Caroline, & Wall, Kate. (2007). “A Sound Foundation?WhatWe Know about the Impact of Environments on Learning and the Implications for Building Schools for the Future.” Oxford Review of Education, 22(1), 47-70 “How to Design Game-Changing Learning Environments That Lead to Better Student Outcomes.”

The presence of viral pathogens is the hardest to measure and research is ongoing into COVID-19 transmission measurement strategies. ABM is closely monitoring the latest developments and is adhering to and following the latest recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

INTRODUCTION: Indoor Air Quality fundamentally refers to the types and concentrations of airborne contaminants found in buildings.

We can organize them into four main categories.

Particulate Matter Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Carbon Dioxide Carbon Monoxide Ventilation means regular air outdoor exchanges (exhausting indoor air out and bringing fresh air in). Ensuring proper ventilation rates is one of the best methods for maintaining good IAQ. Most everyone is familiar with the sensation of a stuffy room or the unpleasantness of lingering strong odors like burned microwave popcorn or someone’s overpowering perfume or cologne. Minimum ventilation rates are dictated by ASHRAE. Those rates based on the primary function of the space, the number of occupants, and the square footage.Maximum ventilation is equivalent to circulating 100% outdoor air and the resulting dilution effect is compelling. It often brings low-hazard source materials below the regulatory limits and reduces the likelihood of transmitting a pathogen. And while 100% outside air is more expensive to condition, the benefits to IAQ may outweigh the higher associated costs. IAQ reflects the complex interplay of a facility’s systems and structures, the conditions outside, and the people inside. These factors and their interactions naturally vary enormously by facility. There are three widely accepted ways to managing IAQ: ventilation (or dilution) to reduce the concentration of airborne contaminants inside; air cleaning and disinfection to remove or destroy these contaminants; and source control through filtration

Three key characteristics distinguish high-performance schools from conventional school facilities. They: • Promote health and productivity through increased attention to ambient elements such as acoustic, thermal, and visual comfort • Are cost-effective because they use energy analysis tools and life cycle cost analysis • Are sustainable because they use energy conservation techniques.Sixteen building blocks incorporate a whole building design approach to ensure a high-performance school Sixteen building blocks incorporate a whole building design approach to ensure a high-performance school: 1. Acoustic comfort Solutions that increase acoustic comfort in classrooms include configuring rooms and walls to dampen rather than magnify sound reverberation.

2. Commissioning This systematic process provides a checklist for all phases of the project from programming to POE to ensure that building systems (mechanical, electrical, and controls) deliver the proper results for the end user.

3. Daylighting One concept uses internal and external light shelves located high to reduce internal glare and not obstruct view, in concert with large expanses of exterior glass and interior partition openings.

4. Energy analysis tools Different whole building models can be analyzed with computer programs to determine annual energy consumption with accurate cost estimates to see which models are most efficient and meet the owner’s budget.

5. Energy-efficient building shell The term “building shell” is used to describe components that compose the exterior skin of a structure, including the walls, roof, floors, and windows. Three items to consider are highperformance glazing, shading devices, and light-colored surfaces. These techniques are easy for students to understand and for instructors to use as teaching tools.

6. Environmentally preferable materials and products Construct a facility with durable, nontoxic materials that contain a majority of recycled content and can easily be recycled after their latest use. Avoid materials that release volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

7. Environmentally responsive site planning One technique to minimize storm water runoff and control erosion is to reduce the number and size of hard surface areas, known as “heat islands.”

8. high-performance heating,ventilating, and air-conditioning A building’s HVAC system should use high-efficiency equipment, be sized properly for the estimated demands of the facility, and have controls that boost the system’s performance.

9. High-performance electric lighting Save energy and provide visual comfort for school occupants by installing pendant-type fixtures with up-shining indirect lighting.

10. Life cycle cost analysis The energy savings and fewer maintenance requirements over time, however, will often pay for the item in a short period of time.

11. Renewable energy The most common renewable energy sources are solar, wind, and geothermal. Wind turbines or propellers convert the kinetic energy present in wind into mechanical power and electricity.

12. Safety and security Less institutional-looking spaces and smaller, personal-scale spaces make a learning environment feel more like home. Use graffiti-resistant materials and finishes.

13. Superior indoor air quality Controlling the sources of building contamination, providing adequate ventilation, preventing unwanted moisture accumulation, and implementing effective operations and maintenance procedures will help provide superior indoor air quality.

14. Thermal comfort Hot and stuffy or cold and drafty conditions, especially between seasonal climate changes, can be improved by providing manually operated windows for fine tuning ventilation or configuring rooms and operable windows to take advantage of cross ventilation.

15. Visual comfort A good mix of design elements should provide a properly lit visual environment using daylighting effectively while reducing the need for artificial lighting.

16. Water efficiency School districts and individual schools can implement their own water conservancy programs to save water while offering instructional tools for students to learn about ecology and the environment.

GUEST LECTURE BY:

Luke Johnson and Amir Rezaei Cannon Design

The importance of an integrated approach in design (Thermal Comfort) Higher Education project - Hewitt Hall | K-12 education project - Seneca Valley

CONCLUSION:

An approach as simple as exposing structural and mechanical systems not only saves the construction cost of a ceiling, but also allows the students a view into the material makeup of their facility. Recycling programs, weather stations tied to local television stations, and water habitat projects are all ways to involve community access in schools. Attracting outside professionals and experts to schools is equivalent to having more teachers in the classroom.

Henderson-Hopkins School, Baltimore Maryland Architects: Rogers Partners Area: 125000 ft² Year: 2014

Lighting Designer: Flux Studio Acoustical Consultant: Spexsys Sustainability Consultant: Terra Logos: Eco Architecture

INTRODUCTION: The Henderson-Hopkins School is a holistic model for social and economic reform of urban neighborhoods via education and health. The school rebuilds the community from the inside out. The campus is designed as a “container” for teaching and learning that will adapt to changing pedagogical methods and the needs of a neighborhood in transformation. The architecture is configured to support progressive teaching methods and provide a great experience for students.

While most elementary schools are single buildings, the Henderson-Hopkins School is a cluster of learning pavilions or “houses.” This is a decentralizing strategy that promotes individual learning and growth, rare for public education. The educational campus is a series of five houses and an early childhood learning center that is flexible, adaptive, and above all authentic.

HEALTHY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT It facilitates Johns Hopkins’ innovative pedagogy with flexible spaces that can accommodate changing teaching methods. The interior spaces are modular and adaptable to any type of pedagogical program and conform to students’ varying learning abilities, habits, and ages. The open layout and ample circulation spaces encourage planned and impromptu interactions allowing educators to share experiences as well as supervise or see children and education in action. The “Commons” are central multipurpose spaces that provide a home base for nurturing students’ development.

Windows everywhere provide optimal sunlight in every building on campus.

The non-traditional design of the school and its teaching spaces enable the children to “emotionally possess” school, make it their own, and feel ownership.

LIGHTING The lighting solutions follow suit with a contemporary design response to match the architecture, while still providing the necessary robustness required to address vandalism and public safety concerns.

Inside, electric lighting solutions are coupled with daylight harvesting to create a bright, open environment and to maximize energy efficiency.

Specified in 2010, T5 and T5HO lamps were selected for the majority of the interior spaces in order to meet energy requirements and to establish an easy-to-maintain luminaire equipment list. Cable-mounted T5 luminaires with high-performance micro-prismatic lenses are used in the classrooms.

COLOR The diagram of the houses is compelling in its simplicity and organization of learning space (both formal and informal) and its connection to outdoor spaces. Interior spaces are well-scaled and use color as an organizational device.

ACOUSTICS For the acoustics, the baffles are highlighted throughout the ceiling in double height spaces.

The classrooms have glass partitions which are stron sound barriers as well as maintaining connection between indoor and outdoor.

NOTES • The Henderson and Hopkins School design is an ideal example of how well designed spaces can impact the students and the users of the building.

• The courtyards give the impression of village environment that adheres to the surrounding street grid and community scale and acts as a natural extension of the urban fabric.

• At the heart of the complex, a central mall acts as a public space for neighbors and an outdoor classroom for the students, completing the union of school and city, educational atmosphere and urban amenity.

Centennial Centre For Interdisciplinary Sciences (CCIS) Architects: Flad Architects; ONPA Architects Area: 52000 ft² Year: 2011

Lighting Designer: Acoustical Consultant: Mechanical Consultant: MCW Hemisphere Ltd.

INTRODUCTION The LEED Silver Certified Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science is a prominent feature on the University Quad and houses the Faculty of Science program. The total area of the project is 52,000 m2 which includes a variety of teaching and research facilities. Classrooms and laboratories inside the building serve approximately 3,000 students and 1,000 staff across six disciplines.

Constructing such a comprehensively large facility required an extensive amount of concrete, steel, and glass.

HEALTHY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT The intent behind this project was simple: create a world-class science research and teaching facility. Its architecture creates multiple potentials for the crosspollination of ideas and disciplines. The facility houses offices, classrooms, laboratories, lecture theatres, and gathering spaces. Its location formally completes and defines the northern edge of the campus’s main outdoor quad.

The quality of the labs and amenities provided is a key factor in the University’s attraction and retention strategy to engage the world’s best researchers and scientists to the University of Alberta. Embodying its nature as a teaching and research facility, lab spaces are organized around a public atrium to ignite interdisciplinary engagement.

LIGHTING Several environmentally conscious features are embedded into the design of the building. Roof-mounted sensors measure sunlight entering the building and then adjust interior lighting levels accordingly, and when a room is not occupied, the lights automatically switch off. Mecho Shade window coverings help control solar heat gain and glare, limiting the use of artificial lighting, heating, and air conditioning.

COLORS Public art is weaved throughout the building with a stunning Terrazzo Tile mosaic created by the artist Scott Parsons. Main concept of the flooring is the geometry of the planned built environment and the geometry of the research

environment. The design’s size and multiple passageways emphasize the transformational quality of education by offering a sense of journey and discovery. The gesture of connecting interior to exterior spaces is critical to the design ACOUSTICS • Acoustical Services Incorporated in the Building• Acoustical Optimization of Main Theatres • Building Services Noise and Vibration control (HVAC Systems, Pumps, Compactors, & Generators) • Acoustical Privacy Between Offices, Meeting Rooms, Lecture Rooms, etc.

• Noise and Vibration Control of large gathering Spaces (Theatres, Laboratories)

THERMAL COMFORT The mechanical systems are designed to serve 250 low flow, variable volume fume hoods with manifold fume exhaust systems, complete with energy recovery.

Additional energy saving design features included radiant cooling, an energy efficient process load cooling system that recycles chilled water, a dedicated instrument cooling water system, and a combination of glycol run-around and enthalpy wheels to maximize energy recovery and meet LEED energy saving goals.

NOTES • Double height spaces adds volume to the space, giving it a grandness.

These spaces are challenging in terms of the thermal comfort and acoustics. Adding adequate amount of the sound proofing elements and air conditioning is crucial to the design development.

• For Institutional buildings adding buffer spaces inbetween the classrooms or the offices, for gathering purpose.

05 Week 9

Flexibility

Literature Review Cornell, Paul. “The Impact of Changes in Teaching and Learning on Furniture and the Learning Environment.”

Furniture is both tool and environment. As with every artifact, it is designed and built with a purpose in mind. It is no different for learning environments.

INTRODUCTION: Rooms were rectangular or wedge-shaped and directed the focus and attention to the front, where the instructor exercised complete control of the pace, content, and sequence of activities. Teaching varied little, so the furniture was optimized and bolted in place. This educational system suited the industrial economy. It matched the economic, social, technological, and demographic needs of the times. A literate and competent workforce was provided for hierarchical and centrally controlled organizations. This workforce contributed to an unprecedented period of growth and prosperity in industrialized countries. Despite Maria Montessori and John Dewey’s research about better ways to teach, “stand and deliver” remained the dominant design for all educational environments from young child to seasoned executive.

Today, the industrial economy is history. Successful leaders realize they need learning organizations. Successful educators know they need to prepare a different breed of the citizen. In a sense, work needs to become more like school, where learning is an expected part of the job. And conversely, a school needs to become more like work, anticipating the kinds of skills and knowledge students will require for a happy and successful life. Work activity, or pedagogy in the case of education, has changed drastically. New methods require new tools and environments. Since furniture is a tool with a specific function, it too must change.

PEDAGOGICAL SHIFT: There is a lot of information available on how teaching methods are changing. The change is driven in large part by economic need. However, other contributing factors include improved understanding of cognition (Gardner, 1983; Reber, 1993), attitudes regarding the nature of knowledge (Davenport and

Prusak, 1998; Gardner, 1999), the role of context in learning and behavior (Brown and Duguid, 1997; Suchman, 1987), and the importance of social education (Ormrod, 1998; Wenger, 1999) to name a few. This research and its impact are too vast to review in-depth here but summarized in Table. This Table addresses the shift taking place in education today.

Emerging Paradigm of Teaching and Learning

USER- CENTERED DESIGN Most furniture design focuses on functional need, such as flexibility, mobility, and wire management. It focuses on helping the user achieve a goal, be it relaxation, entertainment, education, or work. In a user-centered approach, functionality is just one of at least four dimensions to consider. Another design objective is comfort, safety, and health.

The design should maintain if not promote well-being and quality of life. No design should be harmful. A third dimension is usability. The intended purpose and operation should be obvious to all users, hopefully with little or no training.

The intention is to prevent accidents and optimize use. And fourth, the design should have psychological appeal. The user should feel motivated to use the design over and over again.

Implications of User-Centered Design on Furniture All four dimensions are important to furniture design, but that is not the total story. The best solution is one in which furniture, architecture, and technology are designed to work seamlessly and harmoniously. McVey (1996) provides an excellent overview of how these three come together. In the following, however, the focus will be on furniture.

Comfort, Safety, and Health The intent of addressing comfort, safety, and health needs is to promote wellbeing and minimize distractions. The “stand and deliver” method required uninterrupted sitting for long periods. This can result in drowsiness and muscle fatigue, especially in unupholstered, nonarticulating chairs.

• The tension in the back should be adjustable to accommodate the large and small user.

• Upholstery with adequate foam—usually in excess of one-inch thickness will reduce pressure points on the back, buttocks, and legs. A waterfall front seat edge is better than a right angle for circulation and comfort.

Usability.

Clarity, ease of use, access, and control are all part of usability. A product may be tremendously functional and wonderfully ergonomic, but if it is not usable, if users do not understand how it works, then it is a failure. They need to understand its operation and feel empowered to use it.

Usability can be achieved in several ways. The best is to • follow industry standards or common practice (such as “rightie-tightie, leftie-loosie” or the P R N D L order of gears on an automatic transmission).

• If no such model exists, the design should be intuitively obvious. This is problematic due to the diversity of cultures and experience in our society.

Few things are obvious to everyone.

• Three factors contribute to the need for adjustability: task duration, posture activity level, and availability of an adjustable-height chair.

• Even when we sit, we should still be able to move. Chairs that have flexible backs are preferred because they allow greater occupant movement and positioning.

• A third course is to provide labels or instructions with the product.

Fourth is training. Especially with furniture, a quick demonstration is often all that is needed.

Unfortunately, furniture controls have Psychological Appeal Learning is a social process and is often informal. It is no longer about showing up at a specified time and place, it is about being at the right place at the right time. Networking and relationships are key to learning. Thus, more than ever, the environment must now serve as a magnet, drawing people in.

When people feel comfortable and valued they will come, stay, and return.

The Role of Furniture in Knowledge Age Learning Environments The purpose of a learning environment is unchanged, but nothing else remains the same. Society needs citizens who are not just literate but able to continuously learn and grow.

To accommodate these changes the physical environment needs to be bigger, more flexible, provide ubiquitous access to technology, promote interaction and a sense of community, enable formal and informal learning, and convey a sense of energy. The environment should be a place people want to be, not a place they have to be. They should be motivated by fun and enjoyment as much as by a desire to learn.

For its part, furniture needs to be more comfortable, adjustable, intuitive, reconfigurable, technologycapable, compressible, and attractive. When its design incorporates ergonomics, usability, and functionality, furniture will help teachers and students achieve their learning objectives.

GUEST LECTURE BY: Carisima Koenig, Perkins Eastman

How Pedagogy Shapes Space?

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY : TEACHERS COLLEGE

DESIGN & MEDIA & FURNITURE APPROACH

KATHLYN JOY GILLIAM COLLEGIATE ACADEMY ADVANCED HIGH SCHOOL FOCUSING ON COLLEGE READINESS DALLAS, TEXAS

06 Week 10

Technology and New Teaching Styles

Literature Review Cooper, Lori and Frantz Fry, Karen. “The Relationship Between Classroom Environment and Student Course Attrition and Perceptions of Engagement.” 2020 How Can the Historic Sense of an Agora Be Captured in Virtual Learning Spaces?

By: Yukta D. Satpute

“Traditional learning environments where students sit in rows and are expected to internalize knowledge that is conveyed by the expert through lecture would be a model often found in higher education settings, but is it the best way to help students learn?”

INTRODUCTION: The classical Agora is a void space (plaza) defined by its surrounding elements. An Agora is public and open, democratic and inclusive—it is a space you can enter and leave at any time: “The Agora, literally meaning ‘gathering place’ or ‘assembly,’ was the center of the athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life in the city” (Wikipedia, accessed October 2020).

“The name [Agora], first found in the works of Homer, connotes both the assembly of the people as well as the physical setting” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Much like the classical Agora, the physical experience of the Agora on campus is a sense of community and place (or places) that accommodates multiple users and needs in an open and serendipitous fashion, especially when compared to other modalities, such as a traditional didactic lecture or independent study tutorial. Such open and serendipitous experiences can be found in campus spaces like: • the academic or residential or campus quad, • the surrounding common areas, including the library, the student center, the food court, and the coffee shop, • the synchronous/frictionless shared spaces, including student clubs, tours/recruiting fair venues, and debate and seminar spaces, • the asynchronous shared spaces, like walls with posted flyers, or sidewalks with chalk markings, and • permeable spaces across campus, and the ability of the campus community to identify with and navigate these spaces based as needed. The contemporary Agora is the epitome of the campus experience, the collective third place that is harder to create during times of social distancing and virtual learning.

Traditional learning environments where students sit in rows and are expected to internalize the knowledge conveyed by the expert through lecture would be a model often found in higher education settings, but is it the best way to help students learn? While organizing a classroom with desks in rows or tables in formal lines can assist with movement in and out of the space, it can also demonstrate that the instructor is the only expert in the room worthy of attention. Also, areas organized in this fashion offer clear sightlines to the front of the room where an instructor shares information, but this format does discourage discussion and collaboration amongst students.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theoretical framework for this study lies in the work of Vygotsky and Sociocultural Theory (1978). Vygotsky believed that knowledge is culturally constructed through interaction with materials and social interaction with peers and instructors. The fundamental characteristic of human behavior, in general, is that humans personally influence their relations with the environment and through that environment personally change their behavior, subjugating it to their control.

ATTRITION Attrition is challenging to measure due to the varying definitions making it challenging to analyze. Another issue in measuring attrition is the difficulty in identifying why students leave a course, program, or institution.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT Student engagement is concerned with the interaction between the time, effort, and other relevant resources invested by both students and their institutions intended to optimize the student experience and enhance the learning outcomes and development of students and the performance and reputation of the institution Student engagement includes several components: “student feedback, student representation, student approaches to learning, institutional organization, learning spaces, architectural design and learning development.”(Trowler, 2010).

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT Learning communities are just one strategy for increasing student engagement.

Other techniques are often directly related to the classroom design itself, such as architecture and learning spaces (Trowler, 2010).

SENSE OF BELONGING Overall, students in each setting reported feeling a sense of belonging. Students in the Learning Studio reflected more positively on the classroom environment, as a contributor to the sense of belonging while students from the traditional setting indicated that the sense of belonging was not directly related to the classroom configuration, but rather, was dependent upon the instructor and the students in the class.

DESIGN QUANTITATIVE According to the results of this study, there is a minimal relationship between learning environment and course attrition. The inference from this outcome would be that students are not likely to remain in a course or drop a system based on the learning environment alone. The implication of this could be that institutions should consider Learning Studios for various reasons, but combating student attrition in courses is not one of them, based on this sample of students in higher education.

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT Classrooms that are designed to “encourage student interaction and facilitate active or team-based collaborative learning by including features such as round tables, movable chairs, student laptop connections for sharing work on overhead projectors and tableside whiteboards” have been cited as innovative and meeting student need. Students prefer the smaller class environment, which was noted to be more intimate and allowed for stronger focus and comprehension of the content

Davis Hall

Michael Salvadore Student Lounge University at Buffalo, North Campus

• Good Quality of Daylight • Visual Connection to Nature

• Good Acoustic Quality and Control • The only drawback is the thermal comfort in the space.

• Furniture Configuration Flexibility • Seating Comfort • Movement through Space

• Ample Amount of Daylight

• • • • •

• Electrical Power • Network Connectivity • Visual Displays

Work Surfaces Seating Comfort Transparency Access to Adjacent Informal Learning Areas Writable Surfaces

O’Brian Hall Classroom 108

University at Buffalo, North Campus

• Good Quality of Lighting in the space • No Visual Connection to Nature

• Good Acoustic Quality and Control for the speaker • No flexible furniture for group work

• Furniture Configuration Flexibility is not possible • Seating Comfort • Movement through Space is not totally sufficient

• Sound proofing element behind the brick wall texture

• Electrical Power • Network Connectivity • Visual Displays

• Work Surfaces • Seating Comfort • Transparency

07

STUDENTS DON’T FIND CAMPUS SPACES EFFECTIVE

Top-tier universities are putting class materials online using free, open-source platforms.

Libraries are also in flux, as reading and research move from the physical to the virtual catalogue.

Teachers and administrators are acknowledging the need for new teaching and learning models that match these evolving realities. Yet campus design has not kept up with these pedagogical aspirations.

Week 11

Spaces Outside Classrooms: New Space Types

Literature Review Cooper, Lori and Frantz Fry, Karen. “The Relationship Between Classroom Environment and Student Course Attrition and Perceptions of Engagement.” 2020

Across activity types very few students reported that spaces were effective (a rating of 4 or 5 on a five-point scale).

MOST ON-CAMPUS TIME IS SPENT WORKING ALONE

How Can the Historic Sense of an Agora Be Captured in Virtual Learning Spaces?

44% of on-campus time is spent studying or working alone, reinforcing the need for good focus spaces.

Students’ ranking of on-campus experience was highly variable. Two-thirds say campus design makes them proud of their school (a ranking of 4 or 5 on a five-point scale), while only one-third feel the campus connects them to the surrounding neighborhood. Only slightly more feel it encourages interaction with faculty outside the classroom.

Over the past decade colleges and universities have made concerted efforts to increase on-campus technology access.

High-speed Wi-Fi is nearly ubiquitous. High-definition televisions are situated in many buildings. These techrich environments certainly serve tech-savvy student bodies. When asked about the current functionality of campus spaces, students and educators placed support for technology at the top of the list—78% of lecture spaces support professors’ technology—while experiential measures ranked significantly lower—only 48% were “comfortable,” 29% were ‘‘inspirational,’’ and 27% were ‘‘attractive.’’

Many institutions of higher learning may have reached a tech saturation point. Adding more computers, flat screen televisions and other systems will cease to have a greater return on investment. As many students come to campus with their own tech devices—from smart phones to tablets and laptops—this trend is poised to increase. Provide those students with easy access to wi-fi and they’re set. What they don’t, and can’t, bring with them are dynamic, inspirational experiences.

STUDY TOOLS When asked what tools they use most, pen and paper ranked highest across all settings. Laptops and the internet were a close second and third.

HOW CAMPUS DESIGN CAN RESPOND TO CHANGING REALITIES. Current thinking about campus design is falling short of addressing the needs and wants of students and educators. Here’s what we think needs to happen in order to change this predicament.

PUT COLLABORATION IN THE CLASSROOM This will require changing how teaching happens, and the right spaces can lead the way. It takes a remarkable teacher to make a lecture hall a participatory environment.

Classrooms that provide flexible settings and support multi-modal, facilitated learning can assist in the change.

REMEMBER INDIVIDUAL SPACES Students prefer studying alone to group study by a factor of almost 3:1, and quiet is as much a prerequisite for effective studying as it is hard to come by. This time alone represents almost half of the time students spend on campus. Consider the provision of individual on-campus space in light of student preferences and needs.

DELIVER EXPERIENCES, NOT JUST TECHNOLOGY Balance investments in technology with investments in experiential qualities that make your campus shine. While wifi connections are important, environments that are inspirational and that also support different modes of learning and teaching are what will keep the physical campus relevant.

08

“Colleges and universities should never underestimate the power of special, transformational, and even sacred spaces on their campuses. Such spaces help create lasting relationships between students and institutions, but too often colleges overlook the influential role that campus landscape can play.”

Week 12

Place Attachment

Literature Review ` The Power of Place on Campus Learning Space for the Ethnically Diverse Undergraduate Classroom Morgan State University Center for the Built Environment & Infrastructure Studies Firm: Hord Coplan Macht Firm Representative: Jim Determan, FAIA Learning Spaces Collaboratory Roundtable: Spring 2016: Focusing on the Future of Planning Learning Spaces Georgia Institute of Technology

Without the ability and time to walk, talk, laugh, stress, and socially interact on campus, commuter students miss the collegiate experience.

It is the university as a place, and not a collection of buildings, that creates memories for students. And it is the connective tissue among buildings the campus landscape — in which we find these meaningful spaces.

Such transformational places with unique emotional resonance have an almost sacred nature. The word “religious” comes from the Latin verb religare, meaning to bind or reconnect. Thus, anything that reconnects us is, inherently, a deeply personal or spiritual experience that has great meaning — and the university campus is ripe with opportunities for people to reconnect. So where are these transformational or

sacred spaces on campuses, and how do we define them?

A true learning environment provides for both formal instruction and learning that takes place without instruction.

Informal learning touches more than just the cerebral — it combines the head, the heart, and the gut. For example, think about reading Thoreau in a sacred space rather than at ones desk in a dorm room. Imagine ad hoc outdoor classrooms designed near an English departments traditional classrooms.

Students returning to campus decades later will remember those moments and spaces where knowledge turned into wisdom.

MAKER LAB Space for prototyping, testing and redesign.

ROUND GROUP TABLES Students perceive the instructor as a co-learner. Space design defines the instructor’s role.

BREAKOUT ROOMS / GROUP STUDY Space for intense, extended, discipline-grounded interactions.

Sacred and meaningful spaces have great power. In a society in which so many of our institutions are in flux, colleges and universities have the opportunity — and the duty — to create such spaces. Higher education has a true opportunity to transform students, allowing them to touch and be touched by the stories, people, and spaces that contribute to a sense of place. After all, former students will continue to return to their campuses for decades after they have graduated — long after their favorite professors have retired, long after the libraries have replaced books with electronic portals.

STUDIO Self-directed learning in collaborative setting.

09 Week 13

Design Standards Active Learning Classroom The active learning classroom is a variation of the discussion or lecture classroom but is designed to allow for mix between lecture and small group work/ discussion at tables. The room often does not typically have a front and may contain multiple projectors or digital displays on various walls, being controlled by both the instructor and students. The room layout places emphasis on a multi-focal learning and teaching style, with a mix of small group discussion, reporting out, and lecture.

Individual Learning Spaces Capacity: 1-4 Students per booth Strategy: A booth system that can be located anywhere on the campus, giving a more individualistic study experience.

Active Learning Classroom Capacity 102 students Strategy: Breaking seating into a group of 12 for more interactive learning experience.

Active Learning Classroom Capacity 25 students Strategy: Creating an informal space where students and professors are more comfortable, unlike traditional classrooms.