Don Honorio Ventura

Technological State
University
Bacolor, Pampanga
Department of Architecture

REASEARCH DESIGN

SARMIENTO,LOUISE ANGELO A.
BSAR4A
K to 12 school
One of the most important milestones in a child’s life is learning to ride a bike. It’s a skill
that, once acquired, is never forgotten. It doesn’t take a classroom lecture on
technique, balance, and physics. It takes good old-fashioned trial and error. In other
words, “practice.”
So, what if classrooms were more like this? Would instruction be more effective if
students spent less time passively listening to lectures and more time actively learning
through activities, discussions, and group work? Studies show that active learning does
increase student performance in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics).

When we think about the “new reality” of commercial and institutional buildings, where
security and safety threats come in so many heinous forms, a deeper level of
integration is needed to safeguard the occupants of our nation’s schools, university
campuses,offices, andand other government buildings.

school and a four-year college or university.

BUILDING ATTRIBUTES
Like elementary schools, secondary school buildings have the potential to enhance
or undermine the learning process. They need to be comfortable, healthful, safe,
and secure.

Community colleges and high schools, often intended as joint-use facilities for other
community programs, must provide accessibility, flexibility, and durability. Because
of year-round use, it is particularly important to manage operational costs, and that
requires life-cycle cost analysis.
While all K–12 schools today need to accommodate computers, secondary schools
have greater need for integrated technologies that support more sophisticated
curricula and performance arts. Secondary schools are more likely to be used for
community events, from public meetings or performances in the auditorium, to
athletic competitions in the gymnasium, or the natatorium.

Fundamental space types for secondary schools include, but are not limited to:

 Administrative Offices
 Auditorium/Performing Arts
 Art Facilities
 Cafeteria — In secondary schools, the cafeteria often doubles as the
auditorium, aka "cafetorium."
 Classroom
 Common areas/courtyards
 Gymnasium
 Health Services
 Lobby — Schools often showcase team trophies in the foyer.
 Media Center — Schools are changing traditional libraries into media
centers, adapting to new technology, as well as to other issues such as
comfort, flexibility, and maximum use of space.
 Multipurpose Rooms
 Music Education
 Restrooms
 Science Facilities
 Swimming Facilities

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

1. ACCESSIBILITY

 Design spaces to meet the specific needs of students and teachers with
disabilities.
IRR of BP 344
“AN ACT TO ENHANCE THE MOBILITY OF DISABLED PERSONS
BY REQUIRING CERTAIN BUILDINGS, INSTITUTIONS, ESTABLISHMENTS AND PUBLIC UTILITIES
TO INSTALL FACILITIES AND OTHER DEVICES.”

 Design for future flexibility, which enables spaces to be easily modified.

2. AESTHETICS

The importance of the physical appearance of a public school should not be

minimized. A school building that is attractive and responds to and is consistent with
the design and context of the neighborhood, builds a sense of pride and ownership
among students, teachers, and the community. The exterior should complement
the neighborhood and reflect the community's values. The interior should enhance
the learning process.

 Bring the community into the planning process through an integrated design
process.
 Provide an interior environment that is visually comfortable and stimulating by
providing ample natural light and incorporating colors that stimulate or
soothe, depending on the space function.
 Design for diffuse, uniform daylight throughout classrooms.
 Avoid glare and direct-beam sunlight.
 Use daylighting analysis tools to model the interaction of lighting and
materials that reflect or absorb light.

3. COST-EFFECTIVE

School districts typically separate their capital and operating budgets and
therefore have little incentive to factor in the long-term cost of a building when
making decisions about its design and construction. However, to reduce the total
cost of owning a building while ensuring its quality, it is necessary to balance the
initial design and construction costs with the cost of lighting, heating, cooling,
repairing and otherwise operating and maintaining the facility.

 Select building elements on the basis of life-cycle cost analysis—Mirror the

lifespan of projects and systems with the expected lifespan of the facility.
 Consider the recyclability of materials.
 Specify materials and products that are easy to maintain (balance this with
their impact on children's health and the environment).
 Utilize life-cycle cost analysis tools.
  Commission the facility to ensure that it operates in a manner consistent with
design intent.
 Use energy simulation and analysis tools to optimize energy performance
(integrate daylighting systems, high-performance HVAC, energy-efficient
building shell, and high-performance electric lighting)

4. FUNCTIONAL

To foster students' sense of community and individuality:

 Cluster classrooms around common areas.

 Connect spaces visually with colors and patterns.
 Provide platform spaces for gathering, sitting, and presenting and alcoves for
reading and studying.
 Decentralize administrative spaces to encourage active leadership and
maximize interaction with students.
 Provide a "home base" for each student and teacher.

To ensure flexibility and adaptability for changing programs and enrollments:

 Use operable walls to increase the efficiency of large, multipurpose spaces,

such as the cafeteria and gymnasium.
 Accommodate technology upgrades.

5. HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Historic school buildings—those that are 50 years of age or older—typically were the
centers of their communities and were designed to optimize natural ventilation and
daylighting. Communities should study the history of their schools and become
involved in the planning of new schools in order to make wise decisions regarding
renovation versus new construction. All of the pros and cons of renovating an old
school should be weighed, such as:

 Structural integrity
 Community access
 Building orientation—solar access
 Daylighting opportunities (i.e., large windows) and possible barriers (multi-
story buildings)
 Other features that enhance or hinder visual/thermal/acoustic comfort
 Potential to upgrade for energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety and
security, and technology
 Aesthetics
  Community landmark; historic significance
 Proximity to residential neighborhoods (potential for walking/bicycling to
school)
 Site preservation vs. disturbance

6. PRODUCTIVE

Secondary schools should enhance the health and productivity of students,

teachers, and staff.

 Make daylighting a priority, especially in classrooms. Daylighting is

the controlled admission of natural light into a space. Glare and hot spots
can undermine the learning process. Studies show a positive correlation
between daylighting and student performance.
 Integrate daylighting with high-efficient electric lighting and controls to
optimize visual comfort.
 Use natural ventilation when possible. (This and daylighting also provide a
connection to the outdoors.)
 Ensure acoustical comfort. Poor classroom acoustics are more than merely
annoying, they can disrupt learning.
 Ensure superior indoor air quality. Young adults typically are more sensitive to
indoor air pollutants than adults and more likely to suffer ill effects such as
allergies and asthma. See the EPA's information on healthy school
environments Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids. Consider displacement
ventilation systems
 Ensure thermal comfort. "Right size" HVAC systems to keep humidity in the
comfort zone. Give teachers control over the temperature of
individual classrooms.
 Embrace the concept of the building as a teaching tool (aka a 3–D textbook
or living lab).
 Connect the indoor environment to the outdoors by providing operable view
windows in classrooms and easy access from classrooms to gardens and
other outdoor areas that can be utilized in the curriculum.

7. SECURE / SAFE

 Providing safe schools should be a high priority.

 Maximize visual access to corridors and school grounds.
 Increase occupants' sense of ownership and "territoriality" by providing
comfortable, not institutional, rooms and by clearly defining the school
boundaries.
 Control access to the building and grounds by individuals and vehicles.
 Use durable, non-toxic building materials.
  Provide shelter in cases of emergency. See BIPS 07 / FEMA 428 Primer to
Design Safe School Projects in Case of Terrorist Attacks and School
Shootings and FEMA Safe Rooms and Community Shelters Case Studies.
 Accommodate safe egress from the building in case of emergency.

8. SUSTAINABLE

 Use energy, water, and other resources efficiently.

 Integrate renewable energy strategies, including passive solar design and,
where appropriate, solar thermal and photovoltaics.
 Integrate high-performance mechanical and lighting systems.
 Conserve and protect natural areas.
 Incorporate materials and products derived from sustainable-yield processes
and/or are manufactured locally.
 Provide opportunities for safe walking and bicycling to school.

9. EMERGING ISSUES
Like elementary schools, the challenge in secondary school design is to incorporate
high-performance design features and technology cost-effectively. But high schools
and community colleges have even more sophisticated technology needs. Some
school designs are featuring wireless hubs instead of computer labs. Network
reliability is critical. Media centers will have more information technology and fewer
books.
Joint-use facilities are more common. Opening schools to the community
dramatically decreases the development footprint because communities are
constructing and maintaining fewer buildings and parking. This conserves land,
building materials, energy and other resources, and enhances the value of civic life.
In high schools, grouping and separating spaces for public functions facilitates
access, improves security, and allows for HVAC zoning to control energy costs.
Community-shared spaces also require upholstered, comfortable seating. Visitors
need convenient, well-lit parking areas. Color coding serves a useful purpose in
secondary schools as well as elementary schools, but signage is particularly
important for public events.
Consider security screening technology for secondary school students in addition to
visitors. Sufficient entries are needed to prevent congestion but these must be
supervised. To counter crime and vandalism, facilities should integrate technology
with security-based design strategies such as appropriate landscaping and Crime
Preventing Through Environmental Design .
Scientists, planners, design professionals, public officials, school administrators,
parents, teachers, and students are informing the current dialogue about optimal
school design:
  Scientists who study the "neuroscience of learning" are finding that certain
lighting, acoustics, and spatial relationships support or hinder the learning
process.

 Planners and designers are involving community stakeholders in their design

decisions and spurring the development of joint-use facilities that are centers
of the community. School districts are serving communities that are
increasingly multi-cultural and multi-lingual.

 Concerns about safety and security (within the school and within the
community) are more acute than ever, prompting innovative thinking about
design strategies that minimize the impact of natural and manmade hazards.
Schools with back-up, off-grid, renewable power systems can double as
emergency shelters.

 State and local officials are recognizing that school facilities-the physical
buildings-are important to their programmatic success. Several states have
established new design guidelines and requirements for "high-performance"
schools whose features promote student/teacher health and productivity,
cost-effectiveness, and sustainability.

 School administrators, parents, teachers, and students are focused on

meeting new testing standards, which calls for an enhanced learning
environment with state-of-the-art technology and comfort control systems

Additional Design consideration

 Lighting.
The lighting requirements specified in WAC 246-366-120 (ligting intensity) are applied to student areas
based on the planned use of the space.
 If an instructional space will be used for normal classroom instruction and occasionally used for art,
science experiments, or CTE, the space must meet the more stringent lighting requirements specified in
the regulation. This also applies to rooms like auditoriums that may occasionally be used for classroom
instruction or testing.

 The lighting in all areas of each room must meet the minimum requirements outlined in the regulation.

 Noise levels.
The noise level requirement specified in WAC 246-366-110 (noise control) are applied to student areas
based on the planned use of the space. All instructional spaces must meet these requirements when the
ventilation systems are on. Rooms with shop equipment must meet these requirements when the
exhaust and dust collection systems are in operation. Miscellaneous.

 Stairwells inside buildings and on school grounds should be designed with handrails, support posts and
banisters that discourage climbing.

 If landscape features such as large rocks, rockeries, and pillars are added to courtyards and other areas
of the school grounds they should not be climbable.

 Emergency eye washes and showers.

 Emergency eye wash and shower stations for science areas and shops are required based on the
chemical inventory list and the information in the Safety Data Sheets (SDS). DOSH Directive 13.00
Emergency Washing Facilities outlines the criteria for this requirement.
 Ventilation.
 Rooms used even occasionally for art, science, laboratory experiments or CTE may need additional
ventilation, dust collection, or both if the curriculum activities in these rooms produce fumes, vapors,
smoke, or particulates. Other requirements may also be applicable, including emergency shutoffs,
local exhaust ventilation, operator use zones and non-slip flooring.

Standards and requirement of a school building

First: general provision:
1- General site plan showing the gross area of the land.
2- Horizontal view plan for the ground floor showing the areas and
dimensions of the rooms (architectural plan).
3- Horizontal view plan for the first floor showing the areas and
dimensions of the rooms (architectural plan).
4- A table indicating how labs are used.
 5- The school building must be only used to serve the purposes of the
educational phase specified in the license application, and must not
be used for any other purpose except education.
6- The educational facility should be equipped with the appropriate
furniture and equipment such as: chairs and tables appropriate for
the age of the students, white boards, teaching aids, labs, etc.
7- The minimum classroom should be 2 square meters.
8- The minimum space per student for playing purposes should be as
followings:
a. 5 square meters per KG student.
b. 7 square meters per elementary school student.
c. 10 square meters per preparatory and secondary school
student.
9- The maximum class size should be 20 students for KG phase, and
25 students for other phases.

Second: School site requirements

1. The minimum space area for KGs should be 1250 square meters.
2. The minimum space area for primary schools should be 2750
square meters.
3. The minimum space area for preparatory and secondary schools
should be 3500 square meters.
4. The minimum space area for the campus of primary, preparatory
and secondary schools should be 8500 square meters.
5. The location of the school must not be adjacent or close to noise
sources, commercial or industrial sites, and hazardous locations
like petrol station that might affect the educational process.
 6. It should be in an appropriate, easily accessible location, with
entrances not close to highways and main roads. It should also
have adequate parking spaces and school buses, and be away form
anything that might endanger the safety of students.
7. The school building shall not be used for residential purposes to
accommodate school staff and workers. A maximum of two guards
can stay in the premises during night shifts.
8. It should have parking area that is safe and large enough to
facilitate easy movement of cars and buses. .
9. The school must obtain a certificate form the Prevention
Department of the General Directorate of the Civil Defense stating
that the building meets the safety and security regulations.

Third: school building requirements:

1- The school premises should consist of one building and not
more than three buildings in the same site including rooms for
all purposes. Buildings built for residential purposes like flats
and villas, and those consists of more than three buildings
cannot be used for educational purposes.
2- Elementary schools should have a minimum of six classrooms,
a science lab, art room, gymnasium, praying room, nurse / first
aid station, principal office, staff room, storage room, reception
area, guard room and toilets.
3- Preparatory and secondary schools shall have three labs
(biology, physics, chemistry).
4- Classrooms and educational services halls should be
quadrilateral with four parallel sides to allow for good view for
all students.
5- Using wooden structures for educational purposes is prohibited
except those with permission from the General Directorate of
the Civil Defense.
6- It should have activity rooms and halls appropriate to the
educational phase.
7- The number of administrative staff in the school should be
proportional to the number of students. A separate room should
be allocated for each of the principal, vice-principal, secretary,
storekeeper, and the social worker.
8- All classrooms, administration and activity rooms must be
clean, appropriately lit, well-ventilated, and air conditioned.
9- Adequate drinking water coolers should be provided for
students away from toilets – one cooler for every 50 students.

10- The building should have adequate, well-ventilated toilets that

are built in accordance with health regulations, and should be far
from classrooms.
11- It should have a 15x15 m sunshade made of appropriate
material.
12- There should be more than one emergency exit.
13- It should have a large praying room to accommodate the
students.
14- Fully equipped cafeteria.
15- A suitable outdoor waiting area for students.
 16- A minimum of one outdoor sport court (with legal dimensions)
for volleyball, basketball, or handball.
Fourth : Required equipments and facilities
1. Each school facility should be equipped with one telephone system (at
least), fax and e-mail.
2. Each school facility should be equipped with fire-fighting equipments
(fire extinguishers).
3. Schools should have nurse room. The room should be equipped with
first aid equipment.
4. School and kindergarten should provide air-conditioned buses with
comfortable seats.

Fifth : Requirements of KG or school building:

1. Each educational facility (KG or primary) should have a garden of
minimum size 20.2 m2.
2. Toys should be made of non-metal materials and comply with safety
and security requirements. To be maintained regularly.

3. Schools’ play grounds should be cover with soft tartan.

4. Each KG building should have an air-conditioned room for games .
5. Each primary or preparatory school should have one science laboratory
and drawing room. (famine education for girls schools).
6. Each girl's school should have three rooms for science lab, drawing and
ICT laboratory, and an additional room for famine education for girls
school.
7. There should be (at least) one library, and should be supplied with
reference books.
8. School buildings should be made of concrete, not wood rooms and to
meet Civil Defense Department requirements.

Sixth : the Requirements of the new educational facilities

 1. The width of hallway should not be less than 2.5m if the class is
located from one side, and 3.5m if it's located from both sides.
2. The school building should be characterized by simple design and
ease of movement and enable for control and oversee of exits and
entrances.
3. Classes and activity rooms should be quadrilateral to allow for
good view for all students.
4. Provision of accommodations required for students with special
needs (e.g. toilets, ramps, drinking water fountains, lifts and
emergency exits…etc).
5. Provision of parking area for cars and buses.
6. There should be a minimum of 2m2 usable space per student based on
international standards.

Seventh: Table shows the minimum acceptable spaces

The minimum number of rooms available in rented school buildings
Standards Number Number per stage
No Name of the room space
of space of users KG Primary Prep. Secondary
1 Principal’s room 1 20 1
2‫م‬5per
2 teachers’ rooms 12 60 1
teachers
Administration-
supervisor-
2‫م‬5per
3 accountant- 3 15 2
employee
secretary

4 Meeting room 10 30 1
5 store 20 1
6 clinic 15
7 Students toilet 1 per class 6
8 Spin-off room 2‫م‬5 25 125 1
 student
2‫م‬3.3
9 library 25 82.5 1
student
10 ICT lab 25 50 1 1 1 1
2‫م‬2per
11 classroom 25 50 6 6 6 6
students1
2‫م‬2per
12 Since Lab 25 50 - 1 2 3
students
2‫م‬2
13 Drawing room 25 50 1 1 1 1
teacher

14 cafeteria ‫م‬1.2 75 90 1

15 hallway - 10 30 1
playgrounds
16 Security room 1 12 1
per 2‫م‬5
17 Outside play areas 150 750
student
per 2‫م‬2
18 Assembly area 150 300
student
19 Car parking area 20 20 20 20
20 Buses area 3 3 3 3

As per Civil Defense Department instructions, it is prohibited to use

wooden structures
Eighth : Requirements of air-conditioning system in school
building
1. Schools should use split units or central air-condition system in
classes and other activity rooms.
2. In case split units are installed, the external unit should placed on
concrete foundation or metal base with circuit breaker near each
unit.
3. Making concrete foundations and mental cover for water pumps.
4. Air condition pipes should be combined together and to be linked to
the nearest drainage point.
 5. Providing water coolers with three taps, and allocating one cooler
per 50 students, to be placed on iron base with a basin to collect
dropping water and to be linked with drainage system.
6. Water coolers should not be placed inside toilets according to the
Ministry of Health preventive instructions.

Ninth: Requirements of electrical system in the school building

1. Power supply should be provided by a main source (government),
not a generator.
2. In case the school uses a backup generator in addition to the main
source, it should be of a muffler type and placed into a closed and
safe room and away from students.
3. All electrical panels should be placed inside ventilated closed rooms,
or inside key-locked cupboards away from students.
4. All electrical supply panels should be labeled for easier maintenance
and repair in case of emergency or disconnection of power.

5. All the lighting units used in bathrooms and kitchens as well as in

the building and those units used outside the building or at wall or
any external lighting units exposed to weather conditions in addition
to electrical switches, should be all weather proof .
6. All electrical wires outside the building that are exposed to weather
conditions should be placed into GL PIPE.
7. Electricity room should not be used as a storage area as to avoid
catching fire that will result from short circuit in the panels that are
placed inside the room.
8. It is required to follow Kahramaa instructions regarding the selection
of electricity room and the wiring or installations works in school
building.