A USER'S GUIDE TO
SCHOOL FACILITIES

©2008 Fred Tepfer
1380 Bailey Avenue Eugene, OR 97402
non-commercial use freely granted
 

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INTRODUCTION TO THIS PAGE
This structured reading list in school facilities contains articles written by Fred Tepfer, as well as links to other web sources, for use in EDLD 636 School Facilities at the University of Oregon. My students are free to use this information in whatever way they want. Others are welcome to read and link to items at will, but reproduction (in print or electronically) requires my permission (freely granted for non-commercial use).

WARNINGwork in progress: road crew sign

You will notice that some of the readings written by me aren't yet linked. That's because they haven't been written yet. This is a work in progress, so some pieces will be in outline form, some are even just lecture notes or a series of images sometimes used in class. I will also continue to add links to external sources. Check back frequently! Items listed in bold or green are underway and should be available soon, at least in draft form.

Feel free to send comments, corrections, suggestions, and other sources to me via e-mail. I'm always on the lookout for improvements. For example, if you think making all articles available in Adobe Acrobat format or on CD would be useful, let me know. If there is some interest out there, I'll make it happen.


INTRODUCTION TO SCHOOL FACILITIES
Interest in school facilities has increased dramatically in the past decade as the rate of school construction and renovation has increased. There are many current themes in the literature, but the hot topics coalesce around effective educational environments, health and safety of building occupants, and operating costs, and environmental issues such as sustainable design and climate change. There have been significant advances in each of these areas during this period:

Lurking just out of sight are some emerging issues: classroom acoustics, building envelope design (rainscreen), rapid construction cost escalation (more than 35% from 2003 to 007), disaster planning and mitigation (in the Pacific Northwest, earthquakes in particular). Other issues may or may not emerge, such as school size, building longevity, classroom flexibility, universal design, and changing demographics.

It is easy to disappear under the waves of technical information that roll over this field. However, my preference, and my recommendation to you, is to focus your thinking on core issues for students, faculty, and administrators, and communities:

Keeping your core values in mind (which may be different from mine) as you learn this material is essential to separating the important from the trivial, separating the signal from the noise.


ARTICLES

General Articles

Annotated Bibliography
Educator's Dictionary of Building Terms [coming soon!]
Sustainable Design/Environmentally Friendly Buildings


Building Operation and Management: An Introduction

  1. Sustainability in operations
  2. Custodial staff management
  3. Contracting out
  4. Elementary school transportation dilemma
  5. Safety in operations (also listed below under Planning and Design)
  6. Preventive/predictive maintenance systems
  7. Evaluation of existing buildings
  8. Space management introduction
    - Managing Space at Small Colleges, Facilities Manager Sept/Oct /99 (relevant to school districts)
  9. The Strategic Assessment Model (SAM), an assessment tool for facilities management organizations, Association of Physical Plant Administrators
  10. Accessibility: The ADA, 504, and accessible programs, activities and services
  11. Landscape and site maintenance

Building Systems: An Introduction

  1. Green Buidlng Systems
  2. Intro to Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
  3. Finishes: a guide for non-professionals
  4. A roofing primer add patterns: inspection, quality materials and installers, competitive bidding (non-proprietary) ESD case study?
  5. Computers and networks
  6. Acoustics: introduction ADD patterns, review mark-up (and get re-crit)
    Classroom Acoustics: my favorite classroom acoustics article (from the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse web site)
    NCEF and other articles on acoustics:
  7. Fire engineering, fire detection, and fire suppression
  8. Lab Safety, Planning, Design, and Management
  9. Instructional technology and presentation media
  10. Structural systems

School Planning and Design: An Introduction

  1. Green Building Design
  2. Educational Specifications and Architectural Programs
  3. Getting Started: Master Planning and Strategic Facilities Planning
    NCEF article by Day
  4. Sustainable/High Performance schools
    Greening America's Schools ( G. Kats, October 2006)
    CHPS Best Practices Manual, esp. vols. 1-4
  5. Community , Staff and User Involvment Techniques
  6. Advanced User Involvement Techniques
  7. Facility Audit: Evaluation of Existing Building (also listed above)
    - NCEF links: Facilities Assessment:
  8. School Site Selection and Community Planning and Development
    - basic concepts: compact growth, growth of facilities on site, athletics & land, outdoor ed (various sorts)
    - site size
    - sustainability: transportation, orientation, stormwater, solar access, etc.
    - proximities
    - ties to local goals, planning
    - personal safety
    - landscape design (& maint. costs)
  9. School Size
    - NCEF links: School Size
    School Size, School Climate, and Student PerformanceNW Regional Educational Laboratory meta-study by Kathleen Cotton is the best all-around article on small vs. large schools.
    CEFPI article on school size: Gross Square Feet per Student
  10. Design for safety and security (also listed above under Building Maintenance and Operation) add patterns
    - Safer Schools Through Environmental Design (Schneider via ERIC)
  11. Spaces for Education: School Space Standards
    Classroom design, building block of a school
    Corridor size: Design Share discussion on non-programmed space, add example from bethel
    Child development and the design of school environments
    Outdoor environments: classrooms, recreation, athletics
  12. Build or Renovate? articles at NCEF site
  13. Project Cost and Budget Management, intro
  14. The Americans with Disabilities Act, Accessibility, and Universal Design
  15. Contracts, contracts, and more contracts
  16. NCEF: Hiring Design Professionals links
    - "Seeing the Light", B. LePatner, Architecture Magazine, article on architect contracts
  17. General design guides

other interesting links still being incorporated above:

update 12/05

RESPONSE FORM

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