portableclassrooms.kubuildingtech.org

portableclassrooms.kubuildingtech.org

This website is a collaborative project by students in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Kansas.

It was compiled in the Fall of 2007 by students in Nils Gore's 4th year architectural design studio.

The purpose of the studio is to design better portable classrooms: school systems have used portable classrooms for decades, always operating under the illusion that they are "temporary" fixes to temporary problems. The problem is that they never go away, and they are (in general) poorly designed, poorly constructed, and difficult to maintain by even the most conscientious school districts. They are energy inefficient and create problems for the school campuses when they're installed. They are vulnerable to bad weather and offer less-than-ideal protection against other security threats.

Most of these problems stem from the illusion of temporariness, and hence, an unwillingness to invest in a better quality of construction.

The positive attributes have to do with flexibility in school planning and immediate delivery.

So this studio accepts the fact that portable classrooms are here to stay and that they should be designed as optimal learning environments for children. This website is a research tool so the students can understand the dimensions of the problem as they proceed in the design of better portable learning environments.

For more information contact Associate Professor Nils Gore, ngore@ku.edu.

9/2007