Date/Time: November 6, 2026 | 9:00 – 10:00 am

Room: TAHOMA 3

Abstract: It is a common tenet in educational design that great spaces build great culture. The harder question is the one school leaders face every time a strong school community moves into a new building: how do you design learning environments that protect what is already working? How can a school community hold on to its identity, its spark, in an entirely new environment? Put another way, how does culture create design?

In this interactive session, two school principals and the lead designer of their new schools invite you to flip the usual script. Instead of asking how design shapes culture, we will explore how culture shapes design. Using two case studies and a guided hands-on exercise, participants will learn practical methods for translating identity into alternative learning environments that foster creativity, belonging, and “learning everywhere,” inside and out.

Hurricane Ridge Middle School, Port Angeles: When outdoor circulation becomes vertical and secure, how do you keep nature and culture in the daily path of learning?

Port Angeles’ only public middle school is deeply connected to place and to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, including learning grounded in culture and language. The existing one-story campus relied on outdoor circulation, while the new school required secure connections and significant program growth in a three-story configuration. This case study highlights design moves that keep culture and nature present in everyday experience, including corridors and flex zones that function as ambient learning environments, and experiential graphics developed through tribal collaboration.

International School, Bellevue: When students already claim a building as their own, how do you design a new campus that protects that agency and enhances a “learning everywhere” philosophy?

This 6–12 choice school built a culture of student ownership in an old building designed for a different use. Students turned corridors into learning space and repurposed underused areas for presentations. The replacement school design translates that ownership into a distributed set of flexible learning environments across the campus, shaped through engagement with groups across the school community. The case study also highlights how to integrate ambitious performance goals, including a net zero target, while protecting the culture that makes a school exceptional.

Your turn: a guided design sprint.

After the case studies, you will work in small groups to design a series of environments that make culture visible, usable, and adaptable. With coaching from the architect and administrators, you will develop a practical set of design strategies for circulation learning zones, flex spaces, and indoor-outdoor edges, including how materials, color, texture, signage, and wayfinding can reinforce identity while supporting comfort and well-being.

Learning Objectives:

1. Apply stakeholder engagement techniques that reveal cultural values and translate them into alternative learning environments that support creativity, innovation, and flexible use.
2. Identify common challenges when translating an established school culture into a new facility and select design strategies that preserve identity during major shifts.
3. Design effective “learning everywhere” zones, including corridors, commons, flex areas, and outdoor spaces, using considerations such as supervision, daylight, emotional well-being, and diverse affordances.
4. Integrate nature and local culture into materials, signage, wayfinding, color, and texture to create learning spaces that encourage exploration while supporting comfort and belonging.