When the three-story 45,000-sf Constance and Miguel Fernandez STEM Center for Science and Math opened last September at the entrance of the historic Ransom Everglades School campus in Coconut Grove, Fla., it created a new quad with an outdoor theater and classrooms, art exhibition space, and an outdoor student green. But one thing the new building didn’t have was private offices.
Its designer, Perkins & Will, has seen shared meeting spaces replacing private faculty offices in several of its recent education projects. “This isn’t a trend; it’s here to stay,” says Pat Bosch, Principal and Design Director in P&W’s Miami studio. “We’re seeing it in public schools, too, around the country.
OLD DESIGN IDEAS MADE NEW BY CIRCUMSTANCES
Since the advent of STEM- and STEAM-focused curricula several years ago, schools have been taking their cues from the office and research sectors in terms of rethinking their spaces for collaboration, “with more collision points,” says Bosch.
P&W has a long history of advocating for outdoor learning spaces, and its clients of late are listening to pitches whose angles are about safety and wellness. The shift away from private faculty offices, however, still leaves room for one-on-one learning and communication. P&W’s kit-of-parts approach can include quieter rooms that Bosch believes are less intimidating to students than a teacher’s or principal’s office. “This actually enhances the bespoke educational environment,” says Bosch.
UTILIZING ‘IN-BETWEEN’ SPACES
The STEM center at Ransom Everglades School is the result of a design pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic. Essentially a big glass box, Its classrooms and labs are supported by more informal tech-enhanced “in-between” spaces where students and faculty can interact. An aquatics lab functions as a water feature at the front of the building, framed by the exterior student commons and an incubator that was designed to be the center for faculty, administrators, students, and visitors to exchange ideas.
Build by Shawmut Design & Construction, the STEM Center features 10 flexible classrooms with movable walls and furniture, as well as laboratories for earth sciences, biology, chemistry, and physics that integrate with fabrication and maker labs. Utilizing smart-building design throughout, the facility has wide staircases, tech-enabled educational spaces, an outdoor rooftop lab, multi-purpose conference room, and a reconfigurable 200-person auditorium.
Bosch adds that the design also ushered in better circulation for the entire school. “The pandemic propelled this, and now we have a proof of theory.”
Another P&W project that dispensed with private faculty offices is the K-5 St. Stephens Episcopal Day School, also in Coconut Grove, which last October completed a 23,000-sf Arts and Innovation Center and a 3,700-sf Ministry Building, located at its entrance. This $9.4 million pavilion, constructed by Skanska, is an example of STEAM education in early childhood development that showcases principles of design flexibility and adaptability, team-based learning, and project-based outcomes.
The design provides an array of informal learning spaces.
Related Stories
Education Facilities | Mar 3, 2020
Carisima Koenig, AIA, joins Perkins Eastman as Associate Higher Education Practice Leader
Perkins Eastman as Associate Higher Education Practice Leader
Multifamily Housing | Feb 26, 2020
School districts in California are stepping in to provide affordable housing for faculty and staff
One high school district in Daly City has broken ground on 122-apartment building.
Architects | Feb 24, 2020
Design for educational equity
Can architecture not only shape lives, but contribute to a more equitable and just society for marginalized people?
Giants 400 | Sep 4, 2019
Top 90 K-12 School Sector Construction Firms for 2019
Gilbane, Balfour Beatty, Turner, CORE Construction, and Skanska lead the rankings of the nation's largest K-12 school sector contractors and construction management firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 3, 2019
Top 140 K-12 School Sector Architecture Firms for 2019
DLR Group, PBK, Huckabee, Stantec, and VLK Architects top the rankings of the nation's largest K-12 school sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 30, 2019
2019 K-12 School Giants Report: 360-degree learning among top school design trends for 2019
K-12 school districts are emphasizing practical, hands-on experience and personalized learning.
Energy Efficiency | Aug 8, 2019
Florida’s first net-zero K-12 school opens
The building is distinguished by its rooftop solar array and its air-tight envelope.
K-12 Schools | Jul 15, 2019
Summer assignments: 2019 K-12 school construction costs
Using RSMeans data from Gordian, here are the most recent costs per square foot for K-12 school buildings in 10 cities across the U.S.
K-12 Schools | Jul 8, 2019
Collaborative for High Performance Schools releases 2019 Core Criteria Version 3.0 Update
The update adds credits to lower carbon footprints and to promote climate change resiliency.
Building Tech | Jun 26, 2019
Modular construction can deliver projects 50% faster
Modular construction can deliver projects 20% to 50% faster than traditional methods and drastically reshape how buildings are delivered, according to a new report from McKinsey & Co.