This is a personal and selective list of publications in school facililities and services.
I'm continuing to read, learn, and add, so please send me references to your favorite
sources including clippings from magazines and journals. I have not included a couple of dozen other books on schools, school design, maintenance, and architecture
that I read and don't recommend. Maybe someday I'll put together that list. I also
haven't listed my extensive reference file of magazine articles.
General educational facilities references:
Graves, Ben, School Ways, Planning and Design of America's Schools
,
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993)
This is a good source of basic building planning advice, presented in an accessible,
non-technical format. It is particularly strong in the Introduction, which lists
major trends in school facilities, and Chapter 5, which has a useful summary of the
building design process (emphasizing the early phases of design). However, the specific
building data, of which there is not a lot, is getting a little old. Lots of building
examples are included, but not in useful ways. Jargon-light and accessible.
The following four sources share terse, pedantic language, an inability to separate
fact from opinion, and excessively complex process diagrams. However, each also
has a lot to offer.
Ortiz, Flora Ida, Schoolhousing
,
Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994
Ortiz's book has useful parts, but gets bogged down in very specific examples, most
of which are from a narrow time and place (California, 1980's). Jargon-heavy, and
not easy reading, this is probably the least useful of this group of four.
Herman, Jerry J., Effective School Facilities
,
Lancaster, PA: Technomic, 1994.
This is a book that is quite useful in spots but is seriously crippled by its use
of language. For example, one chapter subheading is "The Variance in Programs and
Instruction Deliery Methods Necessary to Accommodate Specialized Instructional Programs".
I believe that I understand what he's trying to say, but is it worth the effort?
I really like his chapters on relating facilities to teaching, on post-occupancy
evaluation, and on maintenance. Although published in 1995, the chapter on technology
is a hoot. It describes conditions and systems more appropriate to 1985.
Kowalski, Theodore J., Planning and Managing School Facilities
, New York : Praeger, 1989
This is the most recent in a series of books by Kowalski. They do contain useful
information, but in a terse form sometimes undistinguished from opinions. His process
diagrams can be interpreted to have meaning, but probably only for those already
familiar with these processes. This has probably the best of the four's offerings on school
maintenance issues such as preventive maintenance and air quality.
Basil Castaldi, Educational Facilities: Planning, Modernization and Management
,
3rd edition. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1987).
Similar in ways to Kowalski, but a source that I prefer in some areas due to better
coverage of design issues that relate to the actual learning and teaching experience.
A bit pedantic.
Council of Educational Facility Planners, International, Guide for Planning Educational Facilities
. (Columbus: CEFP, 1991)
A good general reference on school design and planning. Section C on planning is
particularly strong, with useful rule-of-thumb data. Unlike some other sources,
it contains process diagrams that ordinary human non-academic mortals can understand.
Beware of overly prescriptive or specific advice in some of the later chapters.
Greenman, Jim, Caring Spaces, Learning Places
,
Redleaf Press, 1988.
Jim is the
authority on design, construction, and management of early childhood environments.
His book is very applicable to elementary childrens' learning environments, and,
for that matter, to any building intented for human occupancy. This is a very good
book.
Architectural design references:
Alexander, C., et al,The Oregon Experiment
and A Pattern Language
,
Oxford University Press:
These two volumes (and others in the series by Alexander published by Oxford) present
an alternative approach to design and programming that was radical in the 1970's.
Since then, a part of these concepts has been incorporated into general theory and
practice, and some has been forgotten. I use Alexander's work extensively in my professional
work, and have found it essential to use his material as inspiration and resource
rather than as gift from on-high to be used without question. In my experience,
for example, the best patterns are invariably those written by the user group.
Brand, Stewart, How Buildings Learn
, Penguin, 1994, 243 pp: This fascinating book has a lot to say to the architectural
profession from an outsiders view, and much of it is very relevant to anyone who
uses or designs buildings. It's fairly inexpensive and a good read. Don't miss
Brand's concept of shearing layers which is critical to understanding why some buildings thrive
and grow and others are disfunctional from the beginning. Highly recommended, and
should be required reading for anyone building or renovating buildings.
Mace, R., Hardie, G., and Place, J., Accessible Environments: Toward Universal Design
:
Required reading for everyone on designing for diverse populations, and consideration
of all people's needs as a design challenge rather as than a code requirement. Should
be nailed to the door of all architect's offices.
Marcus, Clare C., Housing as if People Mattered
,
(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1986).
This is a classic in the housing field, with clear parallels for educational environments.
It's also a model of clear thinking and good research, without some of the pseudo-scientific
fol-da-rol that is becoming common in the architectural programming literature.
Pena, W; Problem Seeking
; AIA Press, 1987
This is one of the grandmommies of architectural programming (description of need),
many times updated and reissued. Although its rigidity of process (one fits all),
its somewhat dated attitudes, and its insistence on separation of programmers and
designers are frustrating, its space planning formulas and cost/budget planning chapters
are still the best (heavily excerpted in your packet). Worth owning and still in
print.
Places
, vol. 7, no. 4,
:
A whole issue of this wonderful periodical that is almost entirely devoted to the
University of Oregon's Science Facilities project. Required reading for anyone working
on a laboratory project or any other that involves large groups of people (such as
schools). Of special note:
Coffin, Christie J., "Making Places for Scientists", Places
(Vol. 7 No. 4) pp. 38-49.
Yudell, Buzz, "Building Community Through Participation", Places
(Vol. 7 No. 4) pp. 22-29.
Zeisel, John, Inquiry by Design
, Cambridge, 1981, 250 pp:
This is a book about design theory, and is a classic in the field. It provides by
far the best resource on many of the techniques used by architects to determine user
needs, and also a theory of programming within the design process that relatively
accurately reflects the methods of experienced designers and programmers.
ED ALLEN.
Building maintenance references:
Edwin B. Feldman, Building Design for Maintainability
.
(Atlanta: Service Engineering Associates, Inc., 1982). Although at times opinionated
(or maybe I just don't agree with his opinions), Feldman's book is the best that
I've seen for ensuring that construction pay attention to long-term cost issues,
especially issues related to custodial maintenance. It's not easy reading, but you can
skip to the checklist for the best stuff.
Poston, W., and Muther, Connie, Making Schools Work
, Newbury Park, CA: Corwin Press, 1992. This small book covers the huge area of management
of support operations, from the office through the kitchen out onto the athletic
fields and into the buses. By definition it is terse and to the point, so it is
very useful, but in some cases quite incomplete. This book is in most cases a great
place to start, and may give you enough on its own. For example, the two pages on
hiring architects are an effective summary of everything that I know about the subject.
Lufkin, Peter S., and Pepitone, Anthony, The Whitestone Building Maintenance and Repair Cost Reference
, Santa Barbara, CA: Whitestone Research (published annually). Published annually,
this is an expensive but useful resource in estimating or benchmarking maintenance
and repair costs in buildings. Its huge amount of information is not for the timid,
and its high cost means that most districts would probably want to borrow rather than
buy this, but if you are building a maintenance budget or trying to predict maintenance
costs for a new facility, this is a great place to start.
Keniry, Julian,Ecodemia: Campus Environmental Stewardship
, The Wilderness Society, 1995. This has good information on micro-chemistry and
other approaches to hazardous materials and teaching lab environments. It has many
other useful tips for environmentally-responsible practices in an education setting. Kaiser, Harvey, The Facility Manager's Reference
,
Kingston, MA: R. S. Means. Althugh oriented toward larger organizations, this hefty
tome does have quite a bit of useful data. However, it is more oriented toward corporate
facilities managers than toward educational environments. Worth consulting but, at least for most school districts, not worth owning.
Laboratory References:
Ruys, Theodorus, ed., Handbook of Facilities Planning, Volume I, Laboratory Facilities
, Van Nostrand & Reinhold, New Yord, 1990. This is a large, detailed guide to the
design of research laboratories. However, since there is not an equivalent volume
for teaching laboratories, it is an essential aid for the planning and design of
schools with laboratories. Probably not worth owning, but definitely worth borrowing.