Examines an Albanian suburban school design whose structure is intended to meet the community's present and changing needs, and to stimulate learning. Examines design planning, the school's role in the community, and project costs and includes a drawing of the school's ground floor plan. (GR)

Presents awardees of the Netherland's School Building Prize: those schools that have shown they can embrace new directions in school building design while adhering to budgetary limitations. Highlights general findings of the judges on school design and construct as presented by the 41 participating schools. (GR)

Reports on how OECD Member countries are rethinking their school labs with a move toward more flexible approaches in areas such as incorporating new technology, design, safety, and classroom flexibility. Switzerland, France, Ireland, South Australia, and the state of Maryland are covered. (GR)

Presents brief site-visit reports of three Paris (France) public schools to study the planning and use of each school's library. Observations from an elementary, middle, and high school include the overall library design, book classification and access systems, technology use, budgeting, and librarian role. (GR)

Examines the planning and development process for building a new secondary school close to a busy commercial center in Geneva, Switzerland. The use of a two-stage architectural competition to help meet the proposal's challenges is described. Geneva's need for a new school, traditional school designs, and educational trends are also discussed. (GR)

Explores three ways students are taught environmentally-sustainable design within an eco-school system: the passive example of the present school premises; the use of architects-in-schools schemes, and student environmental assessments of the school premises. Examples are provided of how each method addresses sustainable design and how they may be…

Discusses the Netherland's approach to help students meet the basic competency requirements of employers and tertiary institutions. The new pedagogical approach, called Study House, integrates a nontraditional curriculum delivery that fosters students working in teams and setting their own tasks with an innovative classroom design. (GR)

The poor condition of many schools and other educational buildings is giving rise to increasing concern in many countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation. The disparity between concern with deterioration of educational buildings and the failure to fund improvements and/or maintenance is referred to as…