Merrimack College in North Andover (Massachusetts) has reduced the cost of lighting its physical education center by over 70 percent; the new lighting system, which uses metal halide lamps, has also doubled the illumination in the building, attracting revenue-producing activities. (MCG)

Faced with deteriorating buildings, overcrowding, an inadequate budget, and government regulations, Columbia University needed data to support facility management decisions. After contacting organizations with similar facilities, the unviersity chose a space inventory database program developed by MIT for a consortium of academic, medical, and…

The form and structure of cultural space--the landscape--is in a constant process of change. The designer must understand the symbolic content and the cultural forces that compose the process of structural evolution. (Author/LBH)

This planning guide, reflecting recent changes in the educational system in Ireland, offers guidelines for designing primary schools that need to provide additional space for the growing range of teaching and support services. It addresses increased sizes of general purpose rooms, extra floor area provision for classroom storage, administration,…

Open education is a challenge for designers and manufacturers, too. Describes an architecture firm's research study on the furnishing of seven newly constructed open plan elementary schools in Boston. (Author)

The development of the field of environmental psychology and its research methods are reviewed. Trends in areas of study -- perception, space, personality, learning, and building design -- are noted. (KM)

Incorporating certain flexibilities into desk, chair, bureau, and bed designs encourages the use of the furniture in several different ways to better serve the normal and the innovative requirements of the student. (Author)

Schools are out of step with the real world by retaining the traditional semester organization of the academic year, the author says, and should adopt the quarter system to be relevant. (Editor)

A modern addition complements the original traditional design and provides more space. (MF)

Describes the way one urban campus used landscaping to solve the problem of balancing two opposing aims: to be part of their community while maintaining an identity of unique purpose within the urban environs. (Author/DN)

An investigation into the relationship between the architectural environment of a room and the patterns of seating preferences exhibited by library users revealed that readers locate themselves in order to avoid others and that the seat selected by the first person affected the choices of those who entered later. (8 references) (Author/SJ)

Study results indicate that individuals distinctly prefer one kind of arrangement over other alternatives and that group members interact in such a way that identifiable differences among participant groups are noticeable. (Author)