Page 62 - ANAHEIM 2019

SESSIONABSTRACTS continued...
In 2017, a large Canadian school district saw a conference presentation on research which caused them to pause
and consider a large secondary school project at the last hour. The team’s big picture goals were in motion and construction was almost complete – yet they saw a vision based on this new knowledge and had the courage to stop and change course with their furniture selection and interior design methodology. How often does that happen and how could interiors better support our vision of Next Generation Learning? This story and how it unfolded involves the school district team members (new principal, director of capital projects, and director of procurement) and their partnership with an architecture and interior design firm and research consultant to rethink and thus redesign the experience for the educators and the students. A panel discussion will: (a) tell the story, (b) share the process and the research insights guiding that process, (c) the design outcomes and reflections on timeline implications, (d) the challenges and lessons learned when working across the border, and (e) the next steps working towards a Research- Guided Design Principles protocol.
Learning Objectives
OBJ #1 Develop an appreciation for how the research shared impacted the decision-making process and established a new vision.
OBJ #2 Understand the risks taken by the school team’s leadership to change course at the last minute when they
saw a new vision impacted by research, and the recognize how the implications at varying steps of the design and construction timeline could impact the final learning environment.
OBJ #3 Recognize how a fast-paced solutions were identified and executed by a fully integrated team with one goal: to make the learning experience for students and educators fit the realities of a Next Generation Learning Environment. OBJ #4 Holistically articulate the impact of interior design, research, and FF&E on teaching and learning in order
to facilitate a dialogue that uncovers the unique needs and long-range goals of an educational institution and its stakeholders.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm
From Large Scale to Human Scale: Learning from Neuroscience to Enhance School Experiences
for all Users
Boris Srdar, FAIA, LEED AP, Design Principal, NAC Architecture / Page Dettmann, PhD, ALEP, Chief Education Evangelist, MeTEOR Education / Garden 1 / AIA CEU: 1.0 LU HSW /Primary Core Competencies: Design of Educational Facilities / Secondary Core Competencies: Educational Visioning
In many areas across the US, and especially in dense urban areas along the West Coast, we are seeing the pressure to build schools of a much larger scale than before. Fear of larger schools is appearing among many educators and community members alike. It has become a clear challenge of our times to seek a human scale architectural experience regardless of the overall size of a new building or campus. Of utmost importance is the teaching and learning process to authentically engage students and maximize the opportunities afforded by the environment.
To address this challenge we should use knowledge from other disciplines, notably from the neurosciences, about the way we learn and experience our environment. There is a growing body of research explaining our brain and bodily cognition of our surroundings. It is not our brain only that perceives everything but it is our body that reacts to the space and sends signals to our brain as well. As we treasure the value of a multi-sensory experience, we should renew our awareness of rich spatial organizations. In this day and age we should be more sensitive to the needs