“…the Jury was challenged to look further than ‘the image’ to award projects that focus on learning…”

Awards programs–regardless of industry–provide an opportunity to reflect on the state of practice, the year’s innovative trends, and key projects deemed to be the best-of-the-best. The 8th Annual DesignShare Awards Program pushes the concept one-step further by combining two disciplines–education and design–to focus on designing innovative environments for the future of learning.

The 2007 winning projects include:

The collective projects submitted to the Eighth Annual DesignShare Awards Program represent a dynamic spectrum of typologies, from urban to rural, new facilities to reconstructions, conservative to progressive, modest to elaborate, and cover a range in student groupings from pre-school to higher education (and even one church). Interestingly, the winning projects also represent 9 countries, providing an excellent snapshot into both educational and design practices across the United States and around the globe.

The DesignShare Awards program recognizes projects that–by design–support the learning process, anticipate change, and inspire unimagined possibilities. For the jury, the selection process has proven to be a rewarding experience. As the team shared professional ideas and discussed projects, informative and fascinating conversations among educators and architects revealed that some projects were important to educators, while others caught the attention of the planners and architects. The projects that ultimately received awards, captivated both sets of professions. Each sparked lively conversation and highlighted the importance of collaborative conversations among architects and educators during the planning and design process.

In the evaluation, the Jury was challenged to look further than ‘the image’ to award projects that focus on learning, learners, as well as built environments designed to enhance the educational experience. Likewise, teams of educators and architects submitting projects were asked to describe ideas that enhance learning, and what innovations in planning, programming and design facilitate the educational ideas.

In other words, the Jury asked: What was the positive result of the creative dialogue between both educator and architect?

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Sections:

1. Introduction
2. Summary of 2007 Program
3. 2007 Patterns of Innovation
4. 2007 Honor Awards – Full Description
5. 2007 Merit Awards – Full Description
6. 2007 Citation Awards – List only
7. 2007 Recognized Value Awards – List only
8. 2007 Jury Team
9. 2007 Jury Conversation #1