Skip to main content

Why is it designed that way?

By
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!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Changing an Icon

By
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
Post a Comment
Read more

How did we get here?

By
Our blogs are often inspired by questions we are asked.  When conducting community meetings, this questioning is just a daily part of the job. Some questions are popular, like this one, "How did we get here?" and going unstated is "with so many schools that need so much work?" This is a very common question, especially in California. The question refers to the current state of the school facilities.  Normally, this is followed by our school facilities are unacceptable, deplorable, inadequate, unsafe and out of date.  We have heard these descriptors from so many community members, administrators and teachers in every district that we conduct meetings.  Can we answer this question? As in every problem that has taken our society decades to create, a complex system of circumstances and hard choices lead to our run down, out of date and generally uninspiring school facilities. Although every school district has unique factors that contribute to the condition of t
Post a Comment
Read more

Is a Teacher Appreciation Day enough?

By
What would assessment photo selection be without a Gnome? Ever place has one. So we are coming up on another end of the year, for school districts at least, and it got me thinking of all the places we have been and people we have met.  Some of the best parts of what I do is meeting so many inspiring people and seeing so many creative ways to use and personalize space. A programmer learns a lot about people, what their goals are, how they work, who they work with and what they store. Skeletons anyone? It is fascinating! The fashion model in one department. We heard he/she changes outfits for every season! I never think enough thought is given the work that our civil servants do for the betterment of our society.  Granted there is a teacher day and secretary day  and I guess even bosses day but does that really cover it?  Sometimes it is the janitor or the maintenance worker who is the most beloved by the kids at a school.  Social worker and metal heath specialist at coun
Post a Comment
Read more