As we approach the midweek of architecture week 2019, the subject for today is architecture. Education. architects in Michigan are capable of designing education projects. So that is public schools, private schools, universities, a parochial schools of churches. the architecture of education is a very specific design problem and when we use the term design problem, it’s not something that is a negative thing, but design problems require design solutions. We think of it scientifically or mathematically. architects in Michigan are design thinkers that create design solutions to design problems. Architecture education is, it is a large design problem that requires a complex solution. And
these days in architecture education are very different than the days of the practicing architects when they grew up. Right now the, the older generation grew up in a very different society and had different security levels for buildings and not to dance around the subject. But unfortunately today the security and safety of our, of our education buildings is of utmost importance. given recent school shootings and terrorism activities that have been associated with school buildings. And unfortunately this is a heavy subject on a mid week discussion, but it is something that needs to be said and keeping keep in the forefront of our minds as we design these solutions. architects in Michigan are well aware of the code changes and modifications based on safety and security measures for buildings in education. We are also working with legislators to enact new legislation to monitor and uphold the security measures required for buildings.
And this is something that we need to work together with. Our legislators, architects in Michigan, uh, have carefully looked through the codes for general building codes. But in terms of education projects, there’s very specific requirements in the code books for education facilities and certain security measures based off of the response to school shootings and lock downs and things like that. may or may not coincide with the life safety measures for education facilities in the event of a fire or other natural hazard emergency where people need to exit the building very quickly. It’s a very different problem than school shooting response where people are entering the building and you want to lock people in for their own life safety per to protect them from an intruder invading from the outside. So there are very specific measures that need to be done and architects in Michigan are working with our general contractors, our state officials, our state licensing officials are governmental officials at the state level, the local level and the national level in order to carefully put these new building prototypes together so that we can have completely safe buildings that uphold the current building codes as well as these new life safety measures in the event of a school shooting incident.
Architects are working with federal legislators to create funding to explore these prototypes. And when a school that is existing needs to be retrofitted for security measures, there also can be funding to pay your architects in Michigan to create the design solutions that meet these security measures as well as the existing codes. So if you have a school project that you are in need to upgrade or retrofit, please speak to an architect’s in Michigan today to find the best architect to help you create that solution for architecture education projects. another facet of architecture education is the change and then teaching environments not only at the grade school level but at the higher education level at universities and community colleges because of the overwhelming integration of digital technology and the Internet, there are virtual teaching environments and online education is growing in popularity and something that attract the interest of many students, especially those that maybe you’re trying to keep a full time job or part time job while being a full time student.
And online education is making that and you’re extremely easy proposition. More so than 10 years ago. And definitely more than 20 years ago when I was in my undergraduate studies, there were zero online classes. And if there were maybe a handful of those, I would have loved to have tried that particular education model out at that time to see if that could free up even a few more minutes to do some of my core curriculum studying for architecture. And so online education is a fascinating new area, where the virtual environment is equally as important as the physical environment of the educational facility. but because of this technology, architects in Michigan also have to design the on ground experience a little bit differently too. So that may change how dormitories are designed on campuses, how the classrooms are designed because you definitely need to integrate your technology into the classroom. So that changes the shape of the space. And architects in Michigan, have kept up with the trends of education facilities and exploring these more open environments. So children of today or the young adults of today are very socially minded and they love working together on projects. And the formal classrooms of yesteryear that had rows and rows of fixed seating may not be very conducive to the modern education role model or the modern model of education for students working today in a collaborative team settings. Architects can use their computer software to explore a vast array of design solutions that have a good mix of this modern open format teaching classroom and the formal traditional lecture hall classroom. So their campuses have a diverse mix of both teaching models as well as integrating their online education solutions. And so architecture week 2019 has a great subject for architecture education.
Some things in this twenty first century, modern world, that we live in are excellent for providing technological advancements. All of this starts in the classroom. Schools are places for students to learn and to explore concepts without fear of criticism and persecution. The design of schools need to constantly adapt to meet the changing needs of constituent students and families across the world.