Redefining School Space

According to the American Institute of Architects Committee on Architecture for Education (AIA/CAE), more K-12 schools will be built or modernized in the United States over the next decade than were produced during the past 40 years combined. What will the schools of tomorrow look like? And how can architects partner with educators to transform schools to support the diverse learning needs of 21st-century students? 

This May, over 100 leading architects and educators from across the country traveled to Portland to explore these questions and to view area high schools. Peter Cookson, dean of the graduate school, and Stephen Dow Beckham, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor of History, were among educational leaders invited by the AIA/CAE to be keynote speakers and guides for the three-day conference.

“Our goal was to bring together national leaders in education and architecture to discuss learning, teaching, place, and space in a way that would open up both fields to new ideas,” says John Weekes, principal of Dull, Olson, Weekes Architects and cochair of the gathering. “It was an incredible, thought-provoking experience.”