The annual DesignShare Awards program (focused on the design of “innovative learning environments” found around the world) kicks off the jury review process in a week.

Going into this year’s jury review process, we have a chance to push on the underlying issues that make the design of learning environments about something deeper than just the ‘look’ of the building/campus.

To that end, we’ve asked all the jurors to share their answers to the following questions to remind us what the awards program is really about at the end of the day:

1. Why does ’school design’ matter TO YOU in terms of its impact on learning and communities?
2. What trend (or trends) are catching your eye today in terms of the creation of ‘learning environments’? What trend(s) do you think will matter most in the coming 5-10 years once new designs are up and running?
3. What is one thing that you’d like to learn more about this summer by virtue of collaborating with this group of professional/international jurors? Why?
4. Share one thing about your own experience as a child/student in school spaces that made an impact on your current adult/professional life. If you’d like, you may also add a quick experience that impacted the adult lives of one of your children/siblings/friends as well.

We thought we’d ask you how you’d answer these as well. And what impact they might have on your own projects:

How would you answer these — whether you have an architectural mind or not — with an eye on fostering a deeper conversation about the future of learning?

And how would you want a design professional hired by your school or district to answer these, given the influence they will have on students, teachers and the community?

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Note: Photos are of the 2006 Honor Winners (clockwise from upper left): Nus High School of Mathematics & Science (Singapore); Kindergarten #911 (Argentina); Feather River Academy (California); Chugach Optional Elementary School (Alaska)

In case you’re just learning about the annual Awards program, here’s a little back-story on how everyone works together even though they are living/working around the world all summer:

We use a private Wiki tool so that each jury member can add to the on-going conversation throughout the months of June and July. This includes first impressions based on small teams, debates across all projects, and ultimately making decisions as to which projects deserve attention for excellence for the impact of design on learning and community.

Check out the jury members here. Some of them you’ll definitely recognize. Some will be new, but well worth keeping on your radar. A pretty amazing group to be working with and learning from this summer and beyond.

Note: To read more about the 4 projects shown above, and the other award-winning projects from 2006, check out the following links. They include:

1. Edutopia magazine article and slide-show video
2. School Construction News magazine article
3. SchoolsforLife magazine (UK)
4. the DesignShare commentary itself