By Katie Weeks

What will the future K-12 classroom look like? Contract's Future of Design showcase, sponsored by KI, reviews industry submissions and discusses forward-thinking concepts as to what will define classrooms of the future

What can we learn from today's learning environments to better design the classroom of the future?  Such was the core question behind Contract's inaugural Future of Design showcase, focusing on the K-12 realm. With this concept in mind, Contract invited the industry to submit ideas and proposals for forward-thinking learning environments. We then took these ideas to a selection of industry professionals, who in turn were tasked with examining the concepts individually before discussing the concept of the classroom as a whole as well as how facility design can better assist educators and students.

The overwhelming consensus of our panel was that the typical boxy classroom that is most conducive only to lecture-based teaching is a concept that should be relegated to the history books, as it benefits neither students nor educators. "If you have a teacher that stands at the front of the class, the kids in the back don't get as much attention or contact with the teacher and they're going to shut down," says Andrea Cohen Gehring, AIA, LEED AP, partner at WWCOT in Santa Monica. What if instead of providing rows of desks that foster this front-back mentality, designers and architects crafted classrooms that had no true front or back? On a larger scale, consider this query: If A+ students sit in the front row and C students sit in the back, will eliminating the traditional back row give all students the opportunity to be A-level learners?

In discussing this possibility, the panel—which in addition to Gehring included Bradley Lukanic, AIA, LEED AP, associate principal at Cannon Design in New York and Nancy Huvendick, DC program director at the 21st Century School Fund in Washington, D.C.—was drawn to Lilypad, a submission from Douglas Hassebroek, AIA, studio director at Butler Rogers Baskett in New York. Inspired by nature, it is a desking system comprising leaf-shaped components. Main Lilypad units featuring touch-sensitive LCD surfaces and adjustable legs can be joined as needed with connection tablets featuring magnetic edges. The system also includes under-desk storage units that are on castors for added mobility. The goal is to create a fluid classroom set-up that can evolve over the course of a day.

"When you look at the patterning, it translates the way kids may sit on the floor up to a desk level. If you told kids to go into an empty room and sit down and talk among themselves, they would sit in groups with perhaps one or two people out on their own. This system translates that irregular pattern and breaks down the box, which could help stimulate group thinking," notes Huvendick. It would also be easy, she notes, for teachers to move among clusters and students.

Providing spaces that foster natural student behavior was a key concern for all panelists. Consider how children are increasingly technology-savvy multi-taskers. Spaces must be wired not only for technology, but also for increased power supply as students will need to plug in their individual devices. "Wireless technology is going to happen, but power is another issue. Battery life is going to be a big issue as is the ability for a child to plug in their personal device or laptop anywhere and everywhere," Huvendick says.

The plugged-in student also impacts how a teacher conveys information, further moving away from the static lecture format of classrooms past. While a teacher may be speaking about a concept, students may be Googling an answer on a PDA or laptop. Says Lukanic: "The interesting thing about Google and technology is that teachers (and also librarians) may not only be teaching students how to look for something, but also how to be good editors and how to filter valued content from garbage. As a result, the space has to be less about tutor-led or instructor-led learning and more about individual learning."

"The classroom of the future is less about the architecture and design and more about teaching and learning and allowing teachers to put the information out there for kids to receive it in whichever way works best for them," Gehring says. In terms of space, this means crafting flexible environments. In one regard, this translates to providing adjustable furnishings and technology. It also means altering the traditional rectangular box of a classroom to provide spaces that support large group activities as well as smaller alcoves that can host smaller team activity.

Along these lines is Metcalfe Architecture & Design's plans for the Springside School's ViDCAST Studio, au audiovisual computer lab in Philadelphia. "There's a definite attempt to think outside the box," Gehring notes, where the teacher becomes more of a resource librarian in between individual working stations and team stations. "This truly support project-based learning and getting students together to discuss a topic versus instructional learning," Lukanic adds. Encouraging interaction in the larger context, the ViDCAST Studio's open plan is centrally located across from a dining room to draw students into adjacent social spaces. Oversize windows also aim to pique the curiosity of passersby.

This was also the challenge for New York-based Marner Architecture in renovating and adding to The Chapin School, also in New York. Harking back to the issue of personal technology, Marner outfitted classrooms with movable desks small enough to allow for efficient layouts but large enough to support individual laptops and textbooks. In addition, smart boards, projectors and integrated AV equipment helps change the traditional classroom, and certain rooms contain adjustable height tables or chairs to support different age groups throughout the day. The focus is spontaneity. In the language lab, for instance, students can work at perimeter custom carrels or spin their chairs around to face a common table for an informal conversation or less formal instruction. "In terms of layout and flow, it's somewhat traditional, but the nice thing about the desks and chairs is that you can move them around, giving teachers the ability to create the typical classroom or teaming stations," notes Gehring.

Classrooms must also be equipped to handle disabled students, a discussion point that came up in reviewing the Marklund Center at Mill Creek in Geneva, Ill., a submission from De Stefano Partners. "It's a matter of not only making schools accessible to physically handicapped children, but also to children who are otherwise handicapped and may be coming in with an aide," notes Huvendick. "We don't have plans for how a classroom will function with a teacher as well as several aides." Classrooms in the Marklund plan are larger with more room to maneuver and the cafeteria features a non-rectangular shape, which was a hit with the panel.

With a focus on durable materials with recycled content, Marklund also raised the issue of sustainability, a topic that no classroom can afford to ignore. In fact, students are now demanding it. "What interesting is when you meet with the children, in some cases they're even more sophisticated than the administration," says Lukanic. "Sustainability isn't an if. It's a how." For some administrators, however, sustainability also remains more of an economic concern than a social one, and the panel agreed that this provides an opportunity for architects and designers to become educators themselves, guiding their clients along the path to sustainability.

Learning environments also increasingly have to work overtime, supporting not only students during the day (who may be coming into a facility in shifts), but also adult learning and community functions at night. "Every single school we're designing is also designed for community use," notes Gehring. Such was the thinking behind Lewis and Gould Architects' submission, which studied a ground-floor warehouse space in lower Manhattan that could be used for a variety of learning scenarios. The learning environment comprises easily transported units that act like building blocks.  These components—donut units, cubby units, benches/bookcases, panels and sink units—are on locked castors and can be combined as needed. While this modularity might not be ideal for younger students who need more supervision, it seems tailored to adult learners who may be used to more business or office-like environments.  "These buildings are being asked to do so much more than just teach," says Lukanic. "Classrooms are having to do a lot more because the populations are using them more during the day."

So what can we learn from today's environments to better design the future K-12 environment? That lesson, it seems, is continually underway.