Date/Time: October 30, 2025 | 1:30 – 2:30 pm

Room: 157-158

Audience: Architects, Engineers, Educators, Facility Personnel, Contractors / Suppliers / Manufacturers, Consultants

Call to Action:

1. Understand the specific steps a team should take to empower students by providing a ‘safe space’ to authentically engage in the facility design process resulting in a greater sense of ownership and belonging.
2. Glean from the economic and budget-friendly design ideas and interventions with heightened user impact.
3. Understand what impact vulnerability and genuine curiosity play for the design team and how that authentic approach connects directly with the larger school community resulting in actual impact on program and curriculum.

Abstract: How can space play an active role in learning? How can students develop a sense of pride and ownership in how their space is shaped? What is the lasting impact and meaning developed as a result? In this session we will share the results of an out-of-the-box approach to renovating spaces that puts students in the driver seat, enhances creativity and remains within the confines of a tight budget. Our presentation explores how the entire school community, led by school leadership, addressed an unprecedented challenge of opening up a temporary school campus by balancing the goals of a larger school network’s brand with the unique priorities and characteristics of their own local staff and community. Our presentation will focus on how a simple act of asking for student input early on and carrying those ideas through to fruition within the facility design, not only contributed to the students’ sense of ownership and belonging, but connected with their ability to author ideas that truly impact the school. The iterative process of ideation, feedback and critique from a professional in-house design team, provided students a safe space to explore, make mistakes, and take chances. Not only did the students learn through this process, but the entire school community and even the design team were able to experience a profound shift in their preconceived ideas and viewpoints. The design process itself modeled how all voices are important in how we shape safe and equitable spaces at our school. By including students in the design process, we showed our greater community how all voices are respected and validated. By engaging in such a deeply collaborative process we built spaces where students not only felt “protected and safe” but also empowered. Students not only were left with a sense of pride but took on the role of ambassadors for the school and the spaces.

Learning Objectives:

1. What role does the design of a school and teaching space play in providing safe, inclusive environments for students to thrive?
2. What does it take to transform a limited budget and timeline into a better space design than previously conceived?
3. How can the collaborative design of a teaching space provide students with a greater sense of ownership, meaning and purpose?
4. What is the impact of user input when harnessed and employed strategically within the design of a teaching space?