An outline of some of the alternatives and procedures for effective utilization, modernization, and renovation of existing space for academic use. (Author/MF)

Extra space was found in existing structures and remodeled for use as a student center in New York, an art academy in Pennsylvania, and history department office space at Stanford University (California). (MLF)

Describes the design of the DeKalb Alternative School in Atlanta, Georgia, located in a renovated shopping center. Purchasing commercial land and renovating the existing building saved the school system time and money. (EV)

School facilities can be restructured for changing educational programs at minimal cost. (DW)

Reclaiming readily available government, commercial, and other facilities for school use can help solve many of the present and future school housing problems. (Author/MLF)

A three-step plan identifies unused space and puts it to work to handle growing enrollments in static facilities by: (1) comparing with other schools; (2) analyzing space needs; and (3) finding usable space. Photographs illustrate space reclaimed at three schools. (MLF)

Describes the design of Wildwood School, an urban prep school in Los Angeles that reclaimed a warehouse, including the educational context and design goals. Includes building plans and photographs. (EV)

Community education's greatest future potential may lie in the conversion of existing school facilities to community schools. (Author/DN)

School systems in urbanized or built-up areas have difficulties locating suitable sites for new buildings. Examples of the use of space in alternative locations include the Parkway Program in Philadelphia; the Work Place School in Alberta, Canada; the Metropolitan Learning Alliance in Minnesota; and the Schoolhouse Boat in Vienna, Austria. (MLF)

This book is a guide to setting up playgrounds from junk materials--used tires, cable reels, inner tubes, and railroad ties, among others--that are child-oriented rather than created primarily for the convenience of adult superintendents. Interwoven with many photographs and plans showing how to use the materials is the author's commentary--part…

This study explores some experiences in recycling buildings for schools and suggests a background to use in planning and evaluating this approach to school space acquisition. Such factors as educational program, physical environment, building codes, cost and financing, legal issues, administrative processes and time, and political and social…

This report illustrates how people with purpose and resourceful imaginations have transformed the discarded, overlooked, and inexpensive spaces or objects of an abundant and sometimes wasteful society into useful places and things for child-oriented learning. The document is organized into (1) Types of Places, in which illustrations demonstrate…

This conference report is divided into two main sections: one covering the team planning approach to remodeling and constructing school facilities; the other reviewing the idea of deliberate planning for functional school use. A public school superintendent, a sociologist, and four architects shared their experiences with the conference…

The literature reviewed here indicates that all environments are occasions for learning and that the open plan approach to school design can best provide for fluid interaction between the child and his physical surroundings. The idea of enhancing a learning process through enhancing the physical environment is not new. What is new, however, is an…

The use of many public school facilities now closed due to declining enrollment could generate substantial savings for new federal construction projects. Responses to a questionnaire sent to all 50 states by the General Accounting Office (GAO) show that there were 2,493 vacant schools in 19 of the 23 responding states at the beginning of the…