Nussbaumer, Chapter 14

Fig. 1-This educational facility is
geared towards higher education. This
means more focused areas of education
are available, yet the whole area is public. 

Educational design is an area of commercial design. And the facility can be private or public. This can affect your design. Some educational centers that are public might be significantly more diverse than that of a private facility. A private facility can be catered to a certain kind of people (cultural dimension) or a certain topic of study (research facilities). (Fig. 1).

Designing an educational facility still requires special attention to the various aspects of human factors: proxemics (personal space, privacy, interactions), anthropometrics (size related to age groups), ergonomics (relationship between student or teacher and work), universal design, and diversity. People still need to have their privacy and collaboration as subjective individuals.

Fig. 2-This learning area clearly utilizes
the four realms of human experience because
of its open, bright, warm space; this
encourages individual and group work. 

Creating spaces for education may seem linear (determining the use, then designing for the activity). However, a more holistic approach -especially for educational design, but this method should be considered in all areas of design- would be to look at the four realms of the human experience. The four realms are: spatial, psychological, physiological, and behavioral. Each of one of these realms has  attributes. Some spatial attributes are intimate, open and closed, and bright. A few psychological attributes are soothing, safe, and a sense of community. Physiological attributes have more to do with how we feel in space; being warm or cool, cozy, and healthy would be physiological. Behavioral attributes contain: independent study, large group work, and presenting. All of these attributes, when considered, create a fulfilling space for people to study, work, and relax (Fig. 2).

Fig. 3- These chairs cater to a variety of learning
and teaching styles; they allow students to
easily change the setup of the classroom and interact
with classmates. 

Good quality environment is very important in an educational space. People need to be able to keep certain conversations limited and need to stay healthy.  Many different kinds of children spend most of their time in school, so it's best to think of sustainable options here. Indoor air quality and acoustics will be achieved easily with sustainable options. Materials with no VOCs and no off-gassing helps with indoor air quality and acoustics.

Fig. 4- This picture above shows a multitude of areas that
offer different sitting positions; encouraging different
techniques of learning and relaxing. 

Multiple learning styles and teaching methods also make quite a difference when designing a space (Fig. 3). Professionals need to aware of this since these diversity is a human factor, and need to learn how to design for multiple learning and teaching styles under one roof. A design professional should also consider how color and technology to help with styles and methods.

Fig. 5- This entry area to a school is colorful and
draws the eye to the doors. This space creates a
lasting impression. 

Points of educational design that should be highlights are the furniture and entry area. The furniture needs to be ergonomic and anthropometric, especially schools K-12. These schools have multiple different age groups in a shared space; the furniture must cater to each specific age and their sizes (Fig. 4). An entry must be well-designed because that gives first impressions to students, parents, and the public (Fig. 5).

Overall, the educational market is very rapidly changing and trends should be followed very closely. A design professional should always refer to the four realms of human experience for a complete space. A professional knows that there are very different people, who are are constantly growing, changing, learning in this space and that human factors cannot be ignored.