The present paper deals with a wide range of issues related to the environmental quality in learning spaces, such as thermal and visual comfort, as well as energy efficiency. All of these issues fall under the umbrella of the UN Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Upon reviewing publications of past studies, interviews were…

This article discusses why building commissioning for education institutions is needed. School facilities owners and operators should confirm whether their building systems are performing as expected. The more comprehensive the confirmation process, the greater opportunity there is for reducing operations and maintenance costs, and improving…

Many people narrowly focus on energy efficiency when defining a "high-performance" school--a school building that is economical with respect to heating, cooling, and electric lighting. That is certainly true, but in the broadest terms, a high-performance school is designed to minimize reliance on fossil fuels--and provide a comfortable, healthful,…

Occupational safety and health (OSH) in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) is being considered as an important program to measure employee and student welfare and well-being. During academic session, apart from attending lectures, laboratory works, tutorial and library search, majority of students spend most of their time in residential…

Public education is one of the central tasks of a democratic society, and the buildings that house this important task not only shape the way one teaches, but provide icons and symbols for the values people hold common as a society. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this context has placed school buildings squarely in a position of debate and innovation…

This paper reports on a literature review conducted in the UK for the Design Council and CfBT (Higgins et al., 2005) which looked at the evidence of the impact of environments on learning in schools. We have reviewed the available evidence regarding different facets of the physical environment and provided an analysis based on different areas of…

The objective of this study is to offer a view on the different environmental factors that affect health (sound, light, colour, temperature) in the design, planning and organization of school premises. To achieve this, the authors first outline the problems leading to unhealthy situations. They subsequently analyse all the building and planning…

This descriptive study investigated the possible effects of selected school design patterns on third-grade students' academic achievement. A reduced regression analysis revealed the effects of school design components (patterns) on ITBS achievement data, after including control variables, for a sample of third-grade students drawn from 24…

In recent years, more education administrators and designers have embraced the potential benefits of daylighting. They have been persuaded that using natural light to illuminate facilities enables schools and universities to conserve energy and provide a learning environment in which students perform better. For daylighting advocates, the…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare student achievement with three school design classifications: movement and circulation, day lighting, and views. Design/methodology/approach: From a sample of 71 schools, measures of these three school designs, taken with a ten-point Likert scale, are compared to students' outcomes defined by six…

When well-designed and integrated into a campus living or learning space, an atrium can function as the heart and spirit of a building, connecting interior rooms and public spaces with the outside environment. However, schools and universities should seek technological and HVAC solutions that maximize energy efficiency. This article discusses how…

THIS CASE STUDY WAS MADE TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF NONFENESTRATED CLASSROOMS ON CHILDREN'S LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT. USING GRADES K-3, OBSERVATIONS WERE MADE IN TWO SCHOOLS OF SIMILAR CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOGRAPHY. THE STUDY WAS MADE IN THREE SETTINGS--A YEAR IN EXISTING FENESTRATED CLASSROOMS, A YEAR WITH ALL WINDOWS REMOVED IN THE TEST SCHOOL AND…

Uniform illumination levels in the classroom and focused brightness on the "teaching wall" made good sense for students in Henry Ford's era. If you were training to take your place on the assembly line, you needed to focus on the work at hand and ahead to your supervisor, but the future no longer belongs to students who look only straight ahead.…

The learning environment is discussed in terms of environmental components or factors that should be considered by the architect. The design factors to be considered and elaborated on are as follows--(1) program, (2) function, (3)light, (4) color, (5) acoustics, (6) temperature, (7) humidity, (8) spatial conformation, (9) structure, (10) site…

Today, there is clear and growing evidence of the need to fundamentally rethink the planning, design and use of school facilities in a way that reflects changing educational demands and needs; takes greater advantage of new technologies and new insights into the nature of teaching and learning; and, perhaps most important, forges stronger bonds…