“I want to go to there”

In my role as an editor and writer for American School & University, I have reviewed thousands of education projects that have taken part in the magazine’s school design competitions over the years, including the 2021 Architectural Portfolio featured in this issue.

As I look at the modern facilities that are being designed and built for today’s K-12 and higher education institutions, I inevitably find myself contrasting these new projects with the buildings and classrooms where I spent my (long ago) youth.

Those buildings were a monument to the double-loaded corridor style of school design—first grade on the north side of the first-floor hallway, second grade across the hall; third grade on south side of the second floor...you get the idea. The wooden floor had small, filled-in holes, varnished over, to mark the time when desks were nailed to the floor. Elementary grades had newer desks, but In the junior high classrooms, students made do with “vintage” desks outfitted with inkwells. Other buildings were old enough to have “Boys Entrance” and “Girls Entrance” chiseled into separate entries (no one adhered to that guidance) or had stairwells semi-permanently closed because they could not withstand the daily traffic of several hundred students.

Compared with those dark days of yore, the education facilities that schools and universities whose projects are part of the Architectural Portfolio are providing 21^st-century students with innovative and inspiring learning environments.

After perusing the projects in the pages that follow, I kept thinking of the catch phrase notably uttered by Tina Fey’s character Liz Lemon on 30 Rock: “I want to go to there.” I want to go to a school like the James L. Capps Middle School in Warr Acres, Okla., built along a creek with a mix of indoor and outdoor learning opportunities. (It received the William W. Caudill Citation as the Portfolio’s top K-12 design.) I want to go to classes in a facility like the Chandler Center for Environmental Studies at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., which has incorporated numerous sustainable strategies and uses the design and construction elements of the building to teach students about energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. (It received the Lewis I. Kahn Citation as the Portfolio’s top postsecondary design.)

I want to go to the dozens of other education facilities represented in the Architectural Portfolio where architects and administrators have collaborated to provide innovative student-focused spaces.

Four jurors—a mix of education administrators and architects—evaluated the project entries in early September before coming together via video conference call to decide which projects stood out from the rest. Over several hours of deliberations, they determined that nine projects merited citations.

Thanks to the school systems, higher education institutions and architectural firms that have stepped forward to present projects that provide a glimpse of the best in school design. Perhaps an education architect or decision-makers at other schools and universities may see something inspiring in one of projects and say, “I want to go there.”