Letters from the Chairs

The Year in Review
Last year was a productive year for the Committee on Architecture for Education. Pam Loeffelmann, AIA, chair of the 2005 CAE Advisory Group, expresses her appreciation.

Challenges for 2006
The CAE's 2006 Advisory Group chair, Kerry Leonard, AIA, offers some thought-provoking questions for architects to consider. He challenges members to think beyond four walls. He notes that well-founded ideas based on an understanding of learning, meaningful engagement of school communities, and effective communication are the elements that lead to better use of resources and the creation of interconnected and sustainable learning communities.

Feature

Survey Examines School Design and Construction

The AIA Committee on Architecture in Education, in collaboration with New Visions for Public Schools, a New York-based education reform organization, recently launched a national survey on school design and construction. The impetus for the survey was the desire to explore national trends in cost and design processes in urban districts, to highlight and share promising practices in participatory design, and to learn from findings to promote possible cost and time efficiencies. Five areas of school design and construction were considered: cost of new construction, cost of gut rehabilitation, design timeline, participatory design process, and design and construction standards.

The survey was launched on the CAE listserv in August 2005. A total of 325 responses were received, representing a broad variety of firms from all over the country. Most of the respondents were from firms that dedicate significant portions of their work to school design and construction. More than two-thirds of the respondents represented firms that dedicate more than 40 percent of their work to public schools, and almost one-third of those respondents dedicated more than 80 percent of their time to public school work. The preliminary findings were discussed at the CAE conference in Hartford.

Findings

• Significant analysis remains to be done working with the cost data, including a more detailed analysis of large cities that are realizing cost efficiencies in both new construction and gut rehabilitations.
• More than one-third of respondents reported design timelines exceeding 12 months. Reviews and approval process were mentioned most frequently as the main reasons for delays. Other reasons mentioned were challenges of decision-making within the bureaucracy and budget and finance issues.
• Preliminary analysis indicates that while many districts have developed creative methods for involving schools districts and educators in the school design process, student and community involvement remains low. For cities of all sizes, participation in the school design process declined substantially beyond the central school district representatives.
• In the aggregate, respondents seemed neutral about how school district and state standards support the design of effective school buildings. Further analysis is needed, however, to determine whether their neutrality was a reflection of consensus or mixed opinions that appear neutral in the aggregate.

A final report will be released early this year. 

Programs and Events

Spring Conference Takes Place in Cincinnati

Mark your calendar for the CAE sping conference, Building a Language for Communication, to be held May 11–13 in Cincinnati.

Building a Language for Communication will focus on the need for educational vision and and an awareness of exemplary design at the initial stages of program and project planning. How does one facilitate good decisions and achieve high-quality outcomes within a framework that must deliver large numbers of projects on time and within budget—whether that context is a school district, a city, state, or university? Drawing from examples in the region, we will look at what lessons might be learned from a variety of approaches to larger scale planning at the district, university, city, and state levels, including

• Ohio State Facilities Commission's use of prescriptive standards for educational facilities
• The use of “star architects” to establish a perception of quality learning environments at major universities, such as the University of Cincinnati
• Other district, city, and state examples from the region.

Conference tours will feature a variety of K-12 and higher education learning environments. In addition, the AIA CAE 2005–2006 Design Awards, to be juried this winter, will be presented.

Resources

Fall 2005 Conference Summary To Be Available Online

The CAE fall conference, Implement the Dream: Collaboration Required, commenced with a reception and opening remarks on October 26, 2005. Bruce Bockstael, FAIA, state architect for Connecticut and the 2005 fall conference chair, and Pam Loeffelman, AIA, chair of the 2005 CAE Advisory Group, welcomed the diverse registrants from 22 different states to the conference, which was held jointly in Hartford and New Haven, Conn. A summary of the conference will be online soon. 

Finland To Host Educational Conference

The Finnish National Board of Education will host its conference, The School of Tomorrow—Learning Environment, Pedagogy and Architecture, in Helsinki, Finland, on April 24–25, 2006. The conference will feature presentations by CAE Chair Kerry Leonard and Vice Chair Cheri Hendricks, school tours on both days of the conference, and pre- and postconference tours of significant architectural sites. Inquiries should be directed to Carola Helle, training coordinator, +358-9-7747 7284, carola.helle@oph.fi.

Working with Allied Organizations

AAF Hosts National Summit on School Design

From the moment the 200 participants arrived, it was clear that the National Summit on School Design, hosted by the American Architectural Foundation (AAF) and KnowledgeWorks Foundation in October, would be much more than a conference in the traditional sense. Read on to find out why.

Building Our Knowledge Community

Past CAE Chairs Meet at Conference

The Past Chairs Group met during the conference in Hartford, Conn. The current compiled list of contact information for past chairs was distributed and ways to complete the list were discussed. Potential ways this group could provide ongoing support for CAE were then discussed.

Kerry Leonard, chair of the 2006 CAE Advisory Group, joined the group to suggest the group assist in the marketing the CAE to younger members of the profession. It was suggested that past chairs should start within their own firms and that senior members of the firms might need to be included to fund attendance at conferences. Dividing by region would be one good way to begin this project.

Other ideas included using the past chairs group for jury members and for liaison representatives to allied groups. Lee Brockway, the current CAE liaison to CEFPI, the School Building Association, was also present.

The book outline that was developed last year at the request of John Wiley & Sons Inc. was again distributed for comment. The agroup agreed the outline needs further review and modification. They noted that one approach to creating a book would be to engage a project editor/manager and then assign chapters to different members.

It was also agreed that the past chairs group should continue to meet at CAE conferences and that all past chairs should make an extra effort to attend and support these conferences.

CAE Seeks Liaisons with Other Organizations

As part of our continuing effort to develop strong relationships with other organizations interested in good school design, the CAE is identifying members to act as liaisons with those groups. We currently cosponsor an awards program with the Society for College and University Planning, provide jurors for the American Association of School Administrators and National School Boards Association awards programs, and have spent the last year working with CEFPI, the School Building Association, on a variety of program initiatives. There is opportunity to expand our involvement with these groups as well as develop relationships with other organizations. If you regularly attend CAE conferences, are active in another organization, and are interested in becoming a liaison, please contact Leadership Group member Tim Dufault, AIA, for more information.


Call for Contacts, News, and Best Practices from CAE Component Groups

Spread the word….CAEnet can be a resource to you in getting out the word on the good work you’re doing within each of your local component Committees for Architecture in Education. Please tell us what you are working on, what kind of information you’re sharing, who’s involved, the best practices and projects from your area, and who the primary contact person is for your local committee. Best ideas from the local components may be featured in an upcoming issue of CAEnet or at a national conference. Contact Leadership Group member Tim Dufault, AIA, to share your information.