The 2005 Awards

REVIEW TEAM Rodolfo Almeida International Consultant Montpellier, France Mariza Alves Professor, Urban Planning Group Lisbon Independent University, Portugal Victoria Bergsagel Educational Planner Architects of Achievement, Seattle George Copa Director, New Designs for Learning Oregon State University Randall Fielding Fielding Nair International Minneapolis Ann Gorey Department of Administration South Australia Peter Jamieson Higher Education Development Unit University of Queensland, Australia Bruce A. Jilk Atelier/Jilk Minneapolis Ulla Kjœrvang Danish Centre of Educational Environment Randers, Denmark Jeffery Lackney Dept. of Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison Frank Locker Vice President, Research DeJong & Associates Dublin, Ohio John Mayfield Educational Consultant Danton Services International Australia Prakash Nair Educational Facility Planner Fielding/Nair International New York Gavriela Nussbaum Architect Tel-Aviv, Israel Henry Sanoff Professor of Architecture North Carolina State University, Raleigh Susan Stuebing Educational Consultant Studio Utopo Netherlands Susan J. Wolff Wolff Designs, Educational and Facilities Planning Hood River , Ore.

The sixth international DesignShare Awards program challenges world standards and offers models for more learner-centered, cost-efficient and sustainable learning environments. Co-sponsored by School Construction News and the C/S Group, this assemblage of 42 projects is not a fashion show – as presented at DesignShare.com, it’s part of a comprehensive database of more than 300 best-practice case studies, and includes educator narratives, planning process summaries, construction data, photographs, floor and site plans. Ranging from early childhood centers to the university campus, the common ground is that each of the projects featured challenges current standards and shows a more effective solution.

The 2005 winning projects recognize five Honor, seven Merit Awards and ten Citation Awards – a selection from the 42 awarded projects published online at DesignShare.com. An international team of school and university planning and design experts selected the project submittals originating from Australia, Canada, Egypt, India, Israel, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain and the United States. Some highlights include:

• A river runs through it — nature as a unifying element

  While many campuses look like they were designed to serve the needs of cars, with "leftover space" for people, a more holistic vision is offered by the master plan for the University of Salamanca, Spain. The plan provides a framework for a walkable community, joining the commercial center of Villamayor and a new academic campus along the Tormes River, complete with an art garden, and botanical and scientific parks.

• More with less — blurring the lines between inside and outside

  School authorities that struggle to provide quality facilities at 150 square feet per student can take a lesson from the Paschalisschool in the Hague, Netherlands. The design blurs the line between indoor and outdoor spaces, classrooms and common areas, and creates a delightful environment with less than 100 square feet per student.

• Urban solutions — big schools, storybook learning gardens

  Singapore, with one of the densest school populations in the world, provides a model to balance large scale public areas, smaller reflective spaces, and play areas. The Zhangde Primary School elegantly steps between multi-story blocks and landscaped courts, creating learning gardens with a storybook appeal.

• A pattern for community-business partnerships and life-long learning
  

  Mawson Lakes, a new community near Adelaide, South Australia, integrates living, learning, working and play. Access to a wide range of educational services through university, civic and business partnerships is the key to this model of sustainable development.

The Review Process

The awards program is unique in many ways, one being that it focuses first on learning, second the learners, and then moves into how the built or natural environment provides rich learning opportunities. The uniqueness continues with the review process being virtual and conducted entirely via the Web.

The review interface includes the architects and educators narratives, facility data, products, plan diagram, and image summary from which we review, send comments to one another, and rate the projects – all anonymously. Names of projects, designers, planners and architects are withheld until after the ratings have been completed.

Applicants are asked to answer two questions. What exemplary ideas do the designs contain that enhance learning? What innovations in the planning, programming and design process supported the realization of those exemplary ideas?

Key principles include:

• Personalized Learning
• Social Interaction
• Real-World
• Community Involvement
• Accommodates Change
• Fosters Health and Security
• Technology enhancing
• Global Connections
• Sustainable, high-performance design

Randall Fielding, AIA, is the chairman and founding partner of Fielding Nair International, a school/university planning and design firm. He is also the editorial director and founder of DesignShare. He can be reached at fielding@designshare.com.

Recognized Value Award

P.S. 40 and P.S. 33 Macrae-Gibson Architects New York New Saline High School TMP Associates Inc. Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Allied Health Center, Los Angeles Valley College CO Architects (formerly Anshen+Allen Los Angeles) Los Angeles Manarat El Mostaqbal School Educational Projects Co. Cairo, Egypt Romeo Engineering & Technology Center Fanning/Howey Associates Novi, Mich. Kennebunk Elementary School Harriman Associates Auburn, Maine Heritage Middle School Innovative Design Raleigh, N.C. Millbrook Elementary School Innovative Design Raleigh, N.C. Hackberry Elementary School SHW Group LLP Berkley, Mich. School of Nursing and Student Community Center BNIM Architects Kansas City, Mo.

Nan Hua Secondary School CPG Consultants Pte. Ltd Singapore Gwinnett University Center John Portman + Associates Inc. Atlanta Lawrence High School Flansburgh Associates Inc. Boston Langston High School Continuation/Langston-Brown Community Center BeeryRio Architecture + Interiors Springfield, Va. Innisfail Middle School Group 2 Architecture Engineering Interior Design Red Deer, Alberta, Canada Silver Lake Regional Middle School Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc. Newton Centre, Mass. Bentley Park College Department of Public Works – Project Services Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Bowdoin College Cambridge Seven Associates Inc. Cambridge, Mass. Vellore Village Joint Complex MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Ltd. ZAS Architects Inc. Toronto Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School The Office of Michael Rosenfeld Inc., Architects West Acton, Mass.