Solutions / Design Approach

Culture Design for Collaboration & Openness

This clear vision, strong culture and thoughtful analysis of the district’s needs drove the planning for a renovated Education Center. The design is focused on the greater good of the team and the district. Inefficient, wasted space has been reconfigured to create better-shared spaces, such as conference rooms for planned meetings and collaboration zones for spontaneous conversations. The hallways are brighter, with widened corners and open intersections that encourage people to pause and connect, as well as interior windows and glass doors that allow natural light to flow through each space. A bright and centrally located kitchen and dining space gets people up from their desks to socialize. Enclosed spaces now feature solid walls, not partitions, with improved sound control as well as power and data.

Individual offices provide a balance of privacy and transparency with frosted glass and flexible furniture, specified by Indianapolis-based Business Furniture, a Steelcase distributor and key collaborator on the project. The Superintendent’s office features lounge furniture to represent approachability over formality. Where open workstations are employed, they’re more comfortable and inviting, including drop-down panels that ease connection with colleagues. And while some might consider that their personal office space has been reduced, especially at the senior level, each individual gains from the overall improvements to the building as a whole and from the ability they now have to choose where and how they work best.