How Renovation Can Transform Public Safety Facilities
Building renovations offer benefits far beyond practicality and financially responsibility By Joshua N. Mandell, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, Vice President and Principal at FGMA Public safety buildings are the backbone of emergency services — but many are aging, inefficient and out of step with modern building codes and today’s first responder needs. With construction […]
Leveling Up: Making Space for Esports
Esports, a form of competitive video gaming, has near universal appeal among young people as shown by a 2024 Pew Research Center study, which found that 85% of U.S. teens play video games and 41% do so daily. THE RISE OF ESPORTS IN EDUCATION Not surprisingly, esports are also thriving in education where students from […]
Informal Huddle Learning Spaces Increase Peer-to-Peer Learning and Reduce Stress
Informal huddle learning spaces are small, flexible and comfortable areas designed to encourage spontaneous collaboration, discussion, and peer-to-peer learning. Informal huddle learning spaces are an innovative approach to transforming the learning experience. By offering a flexible, student-driven environment, these spaces support collaboration, creativity, and peer learning. They foster important 21st-century skills such as communication, teamwork, […]
Red/Yellow/Green Fire Station Design: What Does it Mean?
Using NFPA Standards to Define Contaminant Control in Station Design By Katie Atwater, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Vice President at FGMA What started 10 years ago in a conversation after a long day of conference sessions is now the industry standard as documented and defined by its inclusion in multiple NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) […]
The Collaborative Learning Commons: Physical Space and Educational Philosophy
A large, open space for collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking in their school helps prepare students for success in today's world. The Collaborative Learning Commons is much more than just a physical space, it’s an educational philosophy. It transforms the way students learn by promoting collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. With its focus on student […]
Shelters with Purpose: How Jen Carlson is Shaping Safer, Smarter Schools
When severe weather strikes, there's little time to think — only to act. But for architect Jen Carlson, thinking ahead is the cornerstone of her career. With 17 years devoted to designing public buildings, Carlson has carved out a vital niche in creating spaces that not only serve communities but protect them, too. “I’ve spent […]
Designing Schools as Safe Havens
Safe, secure schools are places where learning and healthy development can thrive. School safety includes programs, behaviors, and risk reduction efforts that improve students’ well-being and help them succeed within a safe environment. School security is fundamentally about keeping people who shouldn’t be there out while ensuring that the people who should be there are […]
Holistic Station Design
Originally published in Fire Station Design’s Crackyl Magazine, Volume No. 1, pg. 36 Design Strategies to Support Firefighter Mental and Behavioral Health CRACKYL magazine's article Firefighter Syndrome: A Proposed Whole Systems Framework (Summer 2023 edition), made the point that “a career in firefighting involves regular exposure to chronic stress, lethal risks, and potential for a […]
Learner-Centered Spaces for Innovation and Sustainability
Student-centered learning can be supported by healthy, safe and sustainable environments that allow active participation, collaboration, flexible grouping, and tech integration. Learner-Centered Spaces Learning pedagogy is shifting away from the traditional “teacher-focused” classrooms. Those classrooms were designed to provide a prescribed package of knowledge where the teacher acts as the primary source of knowledge, essentially […]
Next Generation Learning Spaces to Improve Learning in Schools
Where we learn affects how we learn. School buildings and learning spaces can be (re)designed to foster collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication, citizenship, and wellness for 21st-century teaching and learning. How Has the History of School Planning Affected the Learning Environment? I helped Robin Accetta Riley when she was working on her dissertation at Virginia […]