I want to say thank you to AIA CAE and EdSpaces for hosting an excellent conference in New Orleans! The conference was both a fun and engaging experience for me.
My time in New Orleans with other education design professionals provided a space to discuss the overarching challenges facing education in the United States. As I return to my work, resolving much more fine grain design challenges every day, I enjoy thinking of the educational implications of each line I draw.
While I would have been interested to dive deeper into the architectural implications of educational revitalization and reform in the focused sessions, the conference provided a broad discussion of current trends in educational furniture and highlighted emerging alternative educational models and programming.
My favorite portion of the conference was definitely the facility tours. I particularly enjoyed seeing the restoration of Ursuline Academy by Concordia Architects. The formal exterior provides a dramatic background for the experimental learning environments that exist within.
The double height studio space, which houses a puppet theater, art center, science lab, and motor skills area, is the kind of space I would expect to see in a children’s museum. The creativity of the design team was palpable as I entered the space. My imagination leapt from the vibrantly painted building systems, past the bins of art supplies, and through decorative wooden assemblages as I ducked into a dark cave-like theater space scaled perfectly for a class of kindergarteners.
This studio space, programmed to engage students’ imaginations in a free and explorative way, seams to embody a new spatial typology that could and should be present in every elementary school. Rather than designing the classroom of the future to arrest students’ attention with quietness, rigor, and control, I am inspired to capture their imagination with stimulation, extravagance, and design excellence.
Again I am truly thankful to have been selected for the Knowledge Scholarship and look forward to continuing my involvement with AIA CAE in coming years.