As summer approaches, the fallout from the pandemic is still felt in classrooms nationwide. While children from every demographic have been impacted, minority children, children with disabilities, and children from low-income families have been disproportionately affected. As designers, our responsibility to create comfortable learning spaces that promote equity, engagement, and belonging is more vital than ever. The following principles and strategies are my foundational guide to students’ ability and willingness to thrive.
Equitable Teams, Equitable Design
Diverse voices at the design table must be the first step when creating spaces, especially in the K–12 sector. As a Black woman in a historically white, male-dominated field, I am compelled to ensure that the next generation of leaders is inclusive and representative. I do this through recruiting talent from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, engaging in programs that expose minority students to the profession with organizations like the National Organization of Minority Architects, and mentoring high school students for Atlanta-based organizations such as Cool Girls. Diversity does not just entail skin color. Age, religion, personality type, culture, gender identity, and multilingualism are all factors to consider when assembling a design team because, ultimately, our work is an extension of who we are.
Design Strategies for Belonging
- Arrival: I begin with the arrival experience. No matter how a student arrives—by foot, wheelchair, car, bus—they should arrive on equal footing. ADA ramps should be directly adjacent to stairs. All students should enter at the same location, eliminating hierarchy and minimizing differences.
- Art: Art serves as a reminder that students are seen and heard. At Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, Ga., larger-than-life graphic art with inspirational quotes graces the walls. As students walk the halls, they are greeted with the faces and words of people who have made a difference in the world including Martin Luther King Jr., President Barack Obama, and Malala Yousafzai. As students look at these images, they may identify with someone who looks like them, reinforcing belonging.
- Tiered seating: Comfort and how it affects learning is often overlooked. In school, everyone is generally given the same seat. For shorter or taller students, this can be uncomfortable and distracting. When provided with tiered seating, students can choose seats that are comfortable for them and allow for maintaining eye contact with the teacher and improving visibility.
- Gender-neutral restrooms: In an exercise done by our team, we found that gender-neutral restrooms provide a positive environment for everyone. Individual stalls remain private; however, your hand-washing experience happens with peers. This helps reduce some of the discomforts that are typical in these spaces and minimize bullying, which often happens in school bathrooms.
- Asynchronous learning: Shifting to remote learning during the pandemic exacerbated racial, socioeconomic, and other educational inequities, as well as anxiety and isolation. Design can help alleviate these stressors by creating spaces “tuned” to the type of activity they support. For Global Impact Academy in Fairburn, Ga., this was expressed through flexible lounge spaces created by an expanded hallway that connects learning environments, helping students build relationships, work on group projects, or engage in independent learning.
This opinion originally appeared in the May-June print issue.
The views and conclusions from this author are not necessarily those of ARCHITECT magazine or of The American Institute of Architects.
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