Committee on Architecture for Education

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ALBION DISTRICT LIBRARY BY PERKINS + WILL IS A 2018 COTE TOP TEN RECIPIENT. IMAGE: DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

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The Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) is a Knowledge Community of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). We are a large and active group of over 10,000 architects and allied professionals concerned with the quality and design of all types of educational, cultural, and recreational facilities that promote lifelong learning in safe, welcoming and equitable environments. The CAE’s mission is to foster innovative and collaborative design of educational facilities and to heighten public awareness on the importance of learning environments.

  

Reflections from New Orleans | AIA CAE Conference Recap

By Royce C. Bixby AIA posted 11-10-2015 10:59 AM

  

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.

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