Designing schools for tomorrow’s learner
Vicki Hyland, OPN’s K-12 Specialist and Planner, recently sat down with Cedar Rapids Community School District’s podcast, SKOOLD!, to share OPN’s approach to designing K-12 schools for “tomorrow’s learner,” a term that plays off of Cedar Rapids Community School District’s motto that every student needs to be “future-ready” and OPN’s belief that every school building needs to be “learner-ready.” In the episode Hyland discusses OPN’s design process and the opportunity presented in the planning for the ever-evolving delivery of curriculum in schools.
OPN is working with the Cedar Rapids Community School District on the design of a new elementary school at the site of the current Coolidge Elementary. This is the first step in the implementation of the first phase of the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s Facility Master Plan, which was approved by the School Board in 2018. In its current form, the plan calls for construction to begin on the first impacted school, Coolidge Elementary, in the year 2020, with a new elementary school project undertaken each subsequent year over the course of 15 to 20 years.