iep2 - Pondering Facility Planning

A question that has confounded us for some time is the quiet war against windows.  A mound of research is piling up on the benefits of natural light and views to the outside.  It can improve moods, shorten healing time, reduce eye strain and help students focus.  If you are interviewing users in a building that currently does not have windows, it is one of the most passionate requests, "just give me a window and I will be happy." CHPS , the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, has both access to daylight and views as possible points in the Indoor Environmental Quality section. So why when we tour and assess schools are windows most often covered?  We go around the state, for that matter the region, and see this covering time and time again. High windows, low windows, north facing, south facing, interior, exterior... you name it, someone has covered them. In the attempts to understand this dichotomy of those who have windows, cover them and t...

I recently listened to “ This American Life ” radio episode on expectations.  The episode focused on the visually impaired and how societies’ expectation of what they can do is holding them back from what is really possible and it got me thinking how are our expectations of students holding us back from designing and implementing schools? I remember a programing meeting in particular, which one of the more common debates of classroom design was debated: visual connection.  I have always been fascinated by how this discussion goes because our standard structure for programming goes as follows: Meeting 1: Discuss overarching goals of the facility Meeting 2: Define in general each space needed and the size and quantity of those spaces Meeting 3: Prioritized the spaces to fit budget and arrange the “pieces” functionally to meet the adjacency needs of the facility Meeting 4:Define the specifics of each space such as the cabinetry, need for sinks, accessories and amen...