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PRA Presents at the 2020 Digital EdSpaces Convention

2020 EdSpaces Presentation_Steven Kieckhafe_Nick Kent_Linda Moses

This year we are excited to have two teams sharing stories at the 2020 Digital EdSpaces Convention. Linda Moses and Steve Kieckhafer are hosting a session about harnessing community engagement to help inform interior design and showcase the cultural diversity within a community. The team of Deborah Kerr, Past Immediate Superintendent of the School District of Brown Deer, and Nicholas Kent will explore how transforming a learning community can take years but ultimately leads to positive educational outcomes. We are excited for the opportunity to share these stories with you and hope to see you there.

Linda Moses and Steve Kieckhafer – Building a Community Demonstrating Inclusion with Madison College’s Goodman South Campus

Date: Tuesday November 10, 2020

Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

In this 60 minute session, you will hear how the PRA assisted Madison College to design and build an educational facility to better serve an underprivileged area in Dane County, WI. Community members of that area were invited to participate in public meetings and interviews, which eventually contributed to the creation of the Goodman South Campus.  Public input was instrumental in confirming the location of the facility and the programs offered, and the resulting building interiors highlight the diversity of the surrounding community and tell the stories of the cultural groups in a variety of ways. The project was funded by private donors through an expansive fundraising effort initiated to avoid taxing those it sought to help. This case study will review the project process and how the diversity of the surrounding community is told through branding and environmental graphics. In this session you will take away:

  1. How to activate a space using cultural educational displays
  2. How engaging the community positively effects project outcomes
  3. How to integrate community input in a fast paced project
Nicholas Kent and Deborah Kerr: Transformation of a Learning Community

Date: Thursday, November 12, 2020

Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

In this 60 minute session, Nicholas and Deborah will explore how they helped transform the School District of Brown Deer into a vibrant learning space for students and the community that ultimately reinvigorated a declining district. The School District of Brown Deer and Plunkett Raysich Architects (PRA) have partnered for more than a decade changing the landscape of the their educational buildings. Together with the community’s help, they were able to develop facilities that recognizes the needs of grade levels, expanded curricular offerings, and provides facilities that support the individual and diverse needs of learners. This presentation will identify the issues of how community engagement impacted planning and review the physical response to the needs of today’s learners. In this session you will take away:

  1. How changing demographics shifts needs within a school community
  2. Discover how community engagement built support for a multi-phase school transformation
  3. Designing spaces that respect students positively impacts the culture of a school community
  4. How transforming a district may take multiple years