Prakash Nair recently published in Education Week

Don’t Just Rebuild Schools—Reinvent Them

With all the money being allocated for school modernization, repairs, and new construction, Nair encourages educators to attach “strict conditions to any support” for new facilities projects under the much talked-about federal stimulus package. “Those conditions should send a clear message to each community that facilities spending be leveraged to change the educational paradigm from the largely teacher-centered model now practiced everywhere to a 21st-century, student-centered approach.”

Read the full article here

Designing Schools for 21^st Century Learners

The Mobile Learning Institute’s film series “A 21^st Century Education” profiles individuals who embrace and defend fresh approaches to learning and who confront the urgent social challenges that are part of a 21^st century experience. “A 21^st Century Education” compiles, in short film format, the best ideas around school reform. The series is meant to start, extend, or nudge the conversation about how to make change in education happen. In this film, architect Randall Fielding demonstrates the connection between where and how students learn in the 21^st century.

Teams of educators and architects submitting projects were asked to describe ideas that enhance learning, as well as innovations in planning, programming and design that facilitate education. The DesignShare Awards program recognizes projects that– by design –support the learning process, anticipate change, and inspire unimagined possibilities.

Kudos to our fabulous Review Team. We appreciate your eye for design, your experience in the educational realm, and your thoughtfulness. Big thanks to the dynamic programming duo who designed the Review Team Portal, Tony Webster & Will Buckner.

Just as schools all over the world are reinventing themselves, so is DesignShare. In preparation for this evolution, DesignShare WILL NOT hold a 2009 Awards Programs. We appreciate all the submitters from 1999 to 2008. You have shown the world the best examples of how education and architecture are uniquely bound together.

You can read the full 2008 Awards Commentary here.

Honor Awards
Hazelwood School For The Multiple Sensory Impaired (United Kingdom)
The International School (Netherlands)

	Fielding Nair International: Architects and Change Agents for Education
	School Building Expo: The conference and expo on school design and construction.

ArchNewsNow.com
KnowledgeWorks Foundation
Great Schools by Design
EdVisions Schools
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
Schools for Life
Edutopia
School Construction News

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Dr. Walther Hetzer, Founding Director, St. Gilgen International School, Austria: “DesignShare quickly became my primary resource in recognising and applying concepts of modern school (and community) development. The site is of equal interest to educators and architects and always has student learning as its philosopical core.”

Vincent Oles A.I.A., MHTN Architects, Salt Lake City, Utah: “I enjoy sharing your research articles and school plans with our local school district planning groups as a way to start lively dialogue! Keep up this tremendous service!”

Josef Fradkin, Director of Development, Chabad Hebrew Academy: “DesignShare is a critical resource for any development team seeking to make a difference in their students’ future learning environment. We have received a tremendous volume of inquiries by school boards from across the nation after winning a coveted DesignShare award.”