Question 5) Is student involvement in the design process a desirable strategy for educational facilities designers?
Who better to involve in a school design charrette than students? Students understand as well or better, how to use the school building for a multitude of purposes, both academically and socially. In our experience, authentic student participation in the charrette gives architects an unvarnished view of the school that can be very helpful in shaping the direction of the school design. Authentic student participation implies a high degree of cooperation and trust between the design team and their most direct clients. This type of relationship also implies a degree of humility on the part of the architect to listen to and respect student suggestions as legitimate. The rewards for student participation in the design process are worth the effort on the bottom line and in creating good school design that works.
Besides the beneficial effects of student participation on the design process per se, this type of real world involvement by students gives them, in many cases, life changing experience on both their academic and civic development. This aspect of student involvement in school design will be discussed in more detail in other responses.
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