Presents K-12 and college multipurpose rooms considered outstanding in a competition, which judged the most outstanding learning environments at educational institutions nationwide. Jurors spent two days reviewing projects, highlighting concepts and ideas that made them exceptional. For each citation, the article offers information on the firm,…

Discusses how classrooms are distributed by size on a campus, how well they are used, and how their use changes with faculty and student needs and desires. Details how to analyze classroom space, use, and utilization, taking into account such factors as scheduling and classroom stations. (EV)

Describes one school district's plan for constructing new facilities. Preparing the community for the project and attendant costs is essential. Tips are provided for choosing an architect, selecting financial advisers, gaining community acceptance, choosing a construction manager, meeting the construction deadline, and involving school staff. (MLH)

Discusses the development of a camp design brief that clarifies the specific priorities and criteria for building or expanding camp facilities. Presents three situations in which camp directors accurately diagnosed their facility problems but changed their building plans over time because of financial, operational, or locational considerations.…

Experience with the frequent change in spaces used for design studios at the University of Pennsylvania's undergraduate Design of the Environment program illustrates how the need for efficient space utilization can lead to a creative process of uncovering unforeseen possibilities in teaching, learning, and living together. (MSE)

Examines changes in the traditional school dining hall and the prevailing trends in food-service design. Explores dining-hall space flexibility and multi-functionality and the need to cater to student preferences for brand names and choice. (GR)

Describes one Texas high school's efforts to obtain funding for a new music facility and the planning process behind its design. Acoustics and storage space considerations are discussed. (GR)

Discusses indexing in large text databases, approximate text searching, and space-time tradeoffs for indexed text searching. Studies the space overhead and retrieval times as functions of the text block size, concludes that an index can be sublinear in space overhead and query time, and applies the analysis to the Web. (Author/LRW)

Today, many art and music teachers struggle to teach and inspire their students in inappropriate or outdated facilities. Many must settle for "art on a cart." New or modernized facilities can make a vital difference in building enthusiasm and appreciation for the arts in young children. Spacious, flexible music and art rooms of schools in Florida…

Describes the direct effect between the way school grounds are designed and managed, and the behavior and attitudes of the pupils. Discusses several countries' initiatives regarding school grounds, the "Learning through Landscape Trust" program of the United Kingdom, and findings from a conference regarding the importance of school grounds in…

The organization of space profoundly affects learning. Students feel better connected to a building that anticipates their needs and respects them as individuals. Built in 1971, Crow Island School, in Winnetka, Illinois, is a prize-winning facility that has provided generations of children with windowed classrooms, skylights, adjacent workrooms,…

This article brings attention to decision-making in the world of state financing for higher education. It reflects on the origin of this field and the system builders in the 1960s and 1970s, who needed to figure out rational ways to both justify funding requests to the state and distribute resources among institutions. The article highlights one…

Although the learning environments at various institutions are by no means exactly the same, they do share similarities. Without exception, the campus community is the strength of the institution, and the physical environment supports the community and fosters its uniqueness. The following model for envisioning and navigating the design process…

Creative achievement of teams is increasingly recognized as an organization's most valuable production. With dramatically advancing technology producing an almost unlimited amount of available information, the crucial challenge to many corporate and government organizations is how to use that information most creatively. While little expense is…

When attempting to locate guidelines for designing school nurses' offices, one finds there are minimal resources that address this need. In an effort to solve this concern, the authors were instrumental in writing an article for "The Journal of School Nursing" published in April 1997. The current article is an updated perspective that defines…