But there's more involved than bricks and mortar. A forward-looking design process unites the whole community. Late on a weekday afternoon, a school district conference room begins to buzz with conversation. They didn't get to hold the pencils in their own hands, but their words and ideas have shaped the images that architects have put down on paper. For the better part of a decade, Horenstein and his colleagues have been conducting design symposiums as a way to bring the community's perspective into school architecture.
Participants take their assignment seriously.
Indeed, at a time when the typical American school building is more than 40 years old and falling into disrepair, Vancouver is rebuilding its entire infrastructure. Since 1989, the district has moved forward with renovations and new construction in every corner of this fast-growing community in southwestern Washington. That metaphor rings true at Vancouver's Discovery Middle School, a school that practically sings. The facility was showcased at the National Symposium on School Design hosted by the U.S. Department of Education in 1998 and has been visited by a steady parade of dignitaries, including former Secretary of Education Richard Riley and Senator Bill Bradley. Discovery has won a host of awards since its completion in 1995, including the Learning by Design Grand Award bestowed by the National School Boards Association, the James D. MacConnell Award from the Council of Educational Facility Planners International, and the prestigious Shirley Cooper Award presented by the American Association of School Administrators and the American Institute of Architects.