AAF Convenes Texas School Design Institute II in Austin, TX

In early September, teams of superintendents, project and district architects, educators, and school board members from four of the largest school districts in Texas met in Austin for a School Design Institute. Each district came with a school design project and specific questions about their plans. AAF united them with eight architects from around the country. Together they tackled a range of school design issues that many rapidly growing districts across the U.S. are experiencing.

The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) recruited the districts and helped kick off the Institute. James Crow, Executive Director for TASB, remarked on “the fundamental impact the place we go to school has on a child’s life." The following morning each team presented and discussed their respective project plans while facilitators—two architects per team—drew out the concepts on drafting paper. Through this process, literally the visualization of educational and community goals, the teams experienced changes in perspectives.

At the conclusion, we asked all participants to tell us what surprised them the most about the Institute. Here were some of their responses:

• "I was very surprised by the care and concern our resource team put into our vision beyond the building itself. They challenged us on everything from technology to staffing. It was an amazing experience for me and my team.”
• "Level of collaboration very high!!!"
• "The creativity and willingness to innovate from everyone in the room."

The challenges faced by these four Texas school districts are shared by many suburban and urban schools. Do they sound familiar to you? If your school district would like to participate in an AAF School Design Institute, please contact us at gsbd@archfoundation.org. To read about the impact of institutes on other school districts, download the reports at http://www.archfoundation.org/aaf/aaf/Publications.htm

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