Skip to main content

Why is it designed that way?

Why is it designed that way?  It can be a common question when touring facilities on assessment or in a recent case during an interview. Still I wonder why more people do not ask that question on a day to day basis. 

I do.  It is common fascination when touring facilities.  Looking a strange cabinetry and realizing the room was originally for a sewing class or once in Mexico, showing a whole group of guys that you need to pull a pin out to release the spare tire from under our stuck vehicle.  Designers normally do not place things willy nilly yet understanding the function of a design can be elusive. 
No matter the effort in programing and design, new users are always present for when the building opens, who don’t know why decisions were made on the placement of switches and amenities or arrangement of spaces.  On the operational side, including servicing heating and air conditioning and cleaning finishes, there are manuals that are created, but, on the functional side, users are left to wonder.  Even in a school that had only been open for a few years, I was asked, “Why did they do that?”  Sometimes I can tell by careful investigation, but, other times, I have no answer. 

Let’s make an answer.  Consider requesting a simple user guide for users of the spaces like there are manuals in the commissioning documents for equipment and maintenance.  Some places are moving in this direction.  Stanford in one classroom building has diagrams posted on the wall of each classroom with furniture arrangement options.  If you have ever looked for a new home you know how this goes; you walked into a room and say, "what in the world is this used for?"  Let’s prevent that question, especially when pushing the envelope in learning spaces. 

No design and construction project on the horizon?  That is ok, look around and ask yourself, why was this designed this way?  One of the most common things we are challenged with in education, like fashion, is everything is cyclical.  Well there may be hidden gems in your closet and at your school
Courtyard between pods of classrooms
if you just look at things with a fresh eye.  I often take my son on wagon rides through a high school near my home.  It was designed with pods of six classrooms surrounded by center workrooms.  In-between a set of pods are courtyards.  Well look at the staff collaboration and break out space potential of that design.  Still, they don’t seem to be used that way.  Installing additional outdoor tables (and maybe blackboard or whiteboard paint if you are really daring) and cleaning out center sections could go a long way with a little money to update.  

Are there places where you wonder why they are built the way they are?  Tell us about it!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Changing an Icon

Changing an Icon I draw. Little doddles cover cards and note pads at large and small gatherings. It was a note taking technique I was taught and gratefully adopted early in my career. The reason, beyond my lack of spelling talent, is really to distill the spoken word into the most basic pictorial concept because when gathering information from so many, it needs to be contained and expressed in the most condensed form. The smallness allows all input to be displayed at once. Most of the drawings are well accepted icons to today’s texters, our culture’s emogies. These symbols hold strong association. A “house” is often drawn with gable roof and two symmetrical windows on either side of the door in the middle. We faithfully hold that image in our head even though very few, if any, have ever lived in a house that looks like the icon. We have many of these connections imprinted on our brains. Think of trains, building types, flowers and genders, which all have the easy mental imag...

Window Pain

At just another regular day of meetings at school district office, I (Ellen) just had to laugh.  Even with well-informed architects in the building, there was one room with the heater on and another room with the door open and the air conditioner pumping away.  Yap, we have a problem.  It brought flashbacks to a day I met with the facilities staff at a school district. They told me, in no uncertain terms, there will be no operable windows in the District. What no operable windows?!? We are in California.  Fall, spring and lately half of winter, big savings could come from using what Mother Nature is providing by opening a window.  They added, not so jokingly, if only we could control the doors too. At the time I was beside myself.  Today, however, on some level, I understand. This is not the first meeting I have been in where doors and windows are open with the air conditioner on and it is hotter outside than in.  Still, I don’t think tota...

Deeper Thinking with the Microwave Generation

While at a Kiwanis event this past weekend I (Ellen) ended up sitting at a table with all educators except for me and one other person, who asked how are kids different these days?  One of the educators replied with, “they are part of the microwave generation , zap and here is the answer.”  It is interesting to ponder a group of people, who for all their life, when presented with a question had the ability to just ask Google .  One of the educators went on to say that it is hard to get her students to work into the depths of a problem.  Of course, that is exactly where you want them to go, deep into a problem because Google is there for everyone, right?  So, what does going deeper into a problem look like in a classroom?  What tools and what environments provide support to the “microwave generation” to move beyond the quick answer?  Access to the internet only gives them Google…. At a workshop, I also attended recently, a STEM ( STEM  ...