The Importance of Classroom Design

by Joel K. Sims, AIA

Peter Lippman, Assoc. AIA,  serves as an Educational Resource Planner with JCJ Architecture. He also teaches architecture at the City College of the City University of New York and is a frequent conference presenter. Peter recently shared his insights and thoughts on classroom design.

Sims: What have you observed lately regarding classroom design? 

Lippman: I just came back from a two-week trip to Australia, where experts are re-thinking how to improve their learning environments. This trip confirmed for me that we should be designing schools around the notion of how people learn rather than the egg crate model. It is unfortunate that there are many places in the United States where designers are content to simply provide a box for a classroom, where the teacher stands at the front of the space providing students with information, rather than knowledge. This isn't the best strategy for designing classrooms.

Teachers and students need an opportunity to meet as a large group and then be able to break into smaller groups, as well as work independently. Classrooms should be designed to support this style of learning, where smaller areas may be created routinely in the instructional spaces. These areas in which the small groups and individuals work are defined as activity settings.

The classroom that we've been working with is an L-shaped or modified L-shaped classroom, which provides the opportunity for students to break into smaller groups. The culture of this classroom community may be described as learner-centered. These places encourage students to fully participate in appropriating knowledge for themselves.

Sims: What are some proven classroom design elements?

Lippman: Several things come to mind. First, you want windows for natural light to filter in. Research has shown that people work more efficiently when exposed to daylighting and, most importantly, people feel connected to the outside world.

In addition to natural lighting, artificial lighting must be thoughtfully considered. In a conversation with a leading lighting manufacturer, I learned that they uncovered that, when teachers control the lighting, classrooms are more energy efficient than when they use sensors. Instead of allowing the technology to drive the design of the space, this finding places control of the technology in the hands of the teachers. With this information, we need to re-think what an energy-efficient building is. Consideration must be given to how to use artificial lighting properly.

Whether a teacher is lecturing or assisting in collaborative learning, he or she is still structuring the environment. Depending on the activity, furniture mediates and assists the structuring of the social and physical environments. What's proven from my research is that classrooms need durable furniture that can be routinely moved, in order to create large group and small group learning spaces.

When I conducted my research, the door to the classroom was always left open. This allowed natural light to spill into the corridor. Furthermore, this allowed students walking by to see the activities taking place in the classroom. It also provided a form of informal surveillance or security. If leaving the door open is not a preference, then glass should be provided in the design of sidelights in the door frame, lites of glass in the doors or even lites of glass in the interior partition walls.

Overall, when you build a school, you're building a community. The open door and transparency from glazing encourages community.

Sims: Why is building community so critical?

Lippman: Learning happens socially, within a physical place; and the physical place reinforces the desired culture. The physical environment provides the opportunity for people to connect. No matter how big it gets, it is a community first and foremost.

Community is teachers who are invested in their students and students and teachers who are able to build relationships with one another. The research indicates that smaller schools or, better yet, learning communities, foster a sense of community.

However, a sense of community is lacking in many educational facilities. It's lost when you build 90,000-sq.-ft. to 100,000-sq.-ft. schools. When the community gets too big, you can't control what's going on. Current literature indicates that creating a sense of community can be established by planning neighborhoods within a school, where the neighborhoods share certain facilities like science labs, resource/media centers, the gymnasium, and cafeteria. Neighborhoods may be organized around grade levels or themes (small learning communities). Furthermore, they may be planned around clusters of classrooms that share a common area. While the facility is planned around these small learning communities, the overall learning environment may be understood as a Learning Community of Practice.

Another benefit of Learning Communities of Practice is that teachers may communicate and work together within their shared spaces. This sense of community can extend throughout the entire facility, including the administration.

Sims: While some people have been designing eduational facilities with this criteria in mind, we still have a long way to go in improving the quality of schools around the world. We are thankful to Peter and many in the Schooldesigner.com community who are, in fact, making a difference in school design.