Modular Classroom Makeover
New designs for portable school buildings make improvements that are more than cosmetic.
This course is no longer active
Learning Objectives:
- Discuss the reasons portable classroom buildings have proliferated at schools across the country and describe some of the environmental shortcomings of typical portable classrooms.
- Explain how designers are improving portable classrooms' indoor air quality, lighting, acoustics, thermal comfort, and energy efficiency.
- Explain how a classroom delivered with a component building approach differs from that of one made of larger modules.
- Describe some of the contractual roles architects play in projects involving modular construction.
Credits:
1 AIA LU/HSW
The mention of “portable” classrooms—or any similar term—puts fear into the hearts of parents with school-age children. Regardless of whether you call them portable, modular, or temporary classrooms, they conjure up unwelcome images of shoebox-like structures with few windows, stuffy air, and noisy and ineffective mechanical systems. But now several design firms, nonprofit organizations, and prefab building companies are developing improved portable classrooms that address these problems and allow schools to expand quickly and sustainably. Click here to read about it »
Photo © Laurel McConnell
Originally published in Record
Originally published in January 2014
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