Designing schools to make them more earthquake resistant and protect children from the catastrophic collapse of the school building is discussed in this videotape. It reveals that 44 of the 50 U.S. states are vulnerable to earthquake, but most schools are structurally unprepared to take on the stresses that earthquakes exert. The cost to the…

This 10-minute videotape digitally describes a North Carolina prototype high school designed to serve as a model for the 21st century schools. Design emphasis is placed on providing an educationally equitable facility that is secure, efficient, and flexible for multiple uses. The two-story building is composed of core academic and learning…

Three architectural firms propose possible solutions to the problem of integrating daylight and artificial light in a library/media center. Illustrations are provided. (DCS)

This CD-ROM presents a virtual visit to the School of Environmental Studies, located on the grounds of its major community partner, the Minnesota Zoo. This 11th and 12th grade high school was opened in 1995, and in 1999 it was named a New American High School by the U.S. Department of Education because of its new, innovative approach to learning.…

An audiotape explains an Iowa rainforest project that promotes experiential learning for children, and explores the effects of the physical environment on the brain. The project is a one-of-a-kind private/partnership that has created a fully integrated, seamless educational facility that combines a public school (prekindergarten through fifth…

A 6-minute videotape shows ways that one newly-built high school (Century High School, Rochester, MN) accommodates the needs of people with disabilities. Various building and room designs are detailed showing both poor and good design provisions. The accessibility and usefulness of the auditorium control room, emergency exits, elevators, science…

The classroom environment is a factor in the instructional process and student performance. In this 60-minute videotape, acoustics, energy, education, and building design experts discuss alternative solutions and ideas used in new school construction and renovation projects. Schools in New York, North Carolina, and Washington, DC, that have been…

This 7:50-minute videotape describes the architectural design and structure of the Roy Lee Walker Elementary School, illustrating why the school is considered the most energy efficient and environmentally sound school ever built. The videotape highlights the sustainable, award-winning design features such as the innovative use of daylight to…

This videotape highlights the extent to which school buildings are deteriorating in America and the problems this causes for teaching and learning, describes the Energy Smart School campaign, and details the factors needed in building an Energy Smart School. To build schools that last and to recoup some of the building expense, it suggests…

In Canada today, more than a million children spend a large portion of their preschool years in child care outside the immediate family. The design of a child care center's physical facility has a major impact on the quality of interactions that take place within it. Intended to assist design and child care professionals who are building a new…

Text and small black and white photographs reproduced in this booklet outline a slide presentation of the significant design directions that influence the character of school facilities. The locations and names of the schools and the architectural firms accompany the pictures. Energy conservation factors are illustrated by schools of passive or…

The economic and physical realities of an energy shortage have caused many educators to consider alternative sources of energy when constructing their schools. This book contains studies and designs by fifth-year architecture students concerning the proposed construction of a zero energy-use elementary school in Albany, Oregon. "Zero energy…

Faced with increasing enrollment and state legislation requiring more laboratory work, this school system hired an architectural firm to devise a cost-effective "District-wide Science Facility Master Plan." The process of developing that plan and some of its conclusions are described here. Illustrations are provided. (DCS)