Date/Time: October 31, 2025 | 8:30 – 9:30 am

Room: 162-163

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

Call to Action:

1. Implement a systems thinking approach in your next educational design project. Analyze the underlying structures and patterns influencing the space, and use this insight to create more effective interventions that foster lasting change across the educational ecosystem.
2. Incorporate biophilic elements and sustainable building practices in your next educational environment design. Focus on how these elements can enhance children’s social, cognitive, and emotional development while providing cost predictability for clients and building operators.
3. Develop a strategy to transform your next educational space design into a dynamic community hub. Consider how the space can be made flexible enough to adapt to evolving needs and support future learners, while promoting equity, inclusivity, and sustainability.

Abstract: In an era where educational environments are increasingly recognized as pivotal in shaping future generations, this session delves into the transformative power of sustainable modular educational design in creating spaces that nurture learning, community, and environmental stewardship. Drawing from innovative examples in the West Vancouver School District, British Columbia, we explore how diving below the surface of conventional design practices can unlock hidden potential at the intersection of equity, inclusion, and sustainability. By examining the underlying structures and patterns that influence educational spaces, we’ll demonstrate how a systems thinking approach can lead to more effective interventions and lasting change. We’ll explore how this approach addresses the complexities of implementing widespread cultural shifts that resonate throughout the entire educational ecosystem. Participants will discover how biophilic elements and sustainable building practices like modular systems can both accelerate and elevate educational infrastructure, creating sustainable child care and learning environments that enhance children’s social, cognitive, and emotional development, while providing cost predictability for clients and building operators. The learning spaces explored in this session transcend traditional definitions of schools or childcare facilities. Instead, they emerge as dynamic connection points for the community, flexible enough to adapt to evolving needs and built to support tomorrow's learners. By the end of this session, participants will gain insights into creating educational environments that not only meet current demands but also pave the way for a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable future for all.

Learning Objectives:

1. Conceptualize and articulate strategies for designing future-forward educational spaces that function as dynamic community hubs, demonstrating flexibility to meet evolving needs while promoting equity, inclusivity, and sustainability for future generations of learners.
2. Analyze and evaluate the integration of biophilic elements and innovative, sustainable building practices in educational environments, explaining how these approaches enhance children’s social, cognitive, and emotional development, while providing cost predictability for clients and building operators.
3. Apply systems thinking principles to analyze educational spaces, identifying underlying structures and patterns, in order to design more effective and culturally responsive interventions that foster lasting change across the educational ecosystem.
4. Design and implement effective community consultation strategies that foster a unique, inclusive community culture tailored to the specific needs and values of the population served.