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BLUEPRINT FOR LEARNING – PITTSBURGH, PA by Sarah W. Dirsa, AIA, LEED AP, NOMA, SEED, Principal, KG+D Architects
Reimagine America’s Schools (RAS), a project of the National Design Alliance, works in partnership with educators, technology experts, and design professionals to create new models for learning environments. The program works to leverage public funds invested in school construction and modernization to support new ways of learning in our educational facilities. In 2020, in response to the pandemic and social and racial upheaval, Reimagine America’s Schools engaged in conversations on how these disruptions might change public schools and how the design of the learning environment must also evolve to support these changes. Prior to this, RAS was a “boots on the ground” organization, hosting design charrettes across the country. When circumstances allow, RAS will continue their in-person work to promote their mission to reimagine what is possible for our educational spaces.
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n 2019, Reimagine America’s Schools partnered with Pittsburgh-based Remake Learning to host the Blueprint for Learning grant program. Through this program, sixteen organizations and agencies in the western Pennsylvania region each received a $50,000 grant to redesign a portion of their space in support of Active Learning, Learner-Centered, and Next Generation learning initiatives. The sixteen groups—members of the Blueprint for Learning cohort —were comprised of school districts, after-school organizations, libraries, museums, and other community-based educational programs. Each cohort team had to demonstrate the values of their organization related to learning and how a new
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Human Services Big Idea - The design thinking process started with soliciting the motivation behind the teams desired transformations. Creating the big idea for each space before design solutions were created was a key to achieving successful design concepts. Image courtesy of Reimagine America’s Schools.
space might directly support those values; how students and other project stakeholders might be involved in or influence the design of the space; and who was the motivation behind the desired transformation. Additionally, each grant recipient was required to create a plan to become a hub of professional learning as a resource to other organizations, either in their geographic area or based upon the types of programs and content their organizations facilitated. To assist the cohort members in creating a vision for their space and to provide them with practical design strategies for
