Insights
Creating Supportive Learning Environments through Evidence Based Design
Evidence-Based Design (EBD) is a design approach that involves making design decisions based on scientific evidence, rather than relying solely on subjective opinions and preferences. When applied to educational environments, EBD can help produce better learning outcomes for students by creating spaces that support their physical, emotional, and cognitive needs. Some ways in which EBD can be applied in educational settings include the following:
1. Lighting: Adequate lighting is cruci....
Architectural design can enhance resident well-being
Architectural design can play a crucial role in enhancing resident security, community, and well-being in living environments, affordable housing, and community spaces in several ways:
1. Design for safety and security: Architects can design living environments, affordable housing, and community spaces with safety and security in mind, such as implementing secure entrances, well-lit common areas, and surveillance cameras. This can help reduce the risk of crime and promote a sense of s....
Merging Design With Construction: Design / Build Yields Faster, Better, More Cost-Effective Results
The design/build approach to building design and construction, led by Cordogan Clark, integrates designers and builders working together on the same team from the outset. This offers the following advantages:
1. Single Point of Responsibility: By working with a single firm that provides both design and construction services, clients have a single point of responsibility for the entire project. This means that any issues that arise during the project can be resolved more quickly and e....
Design for Sustainability Without Breaking the Bank: No and Low-Cost Measures for Sustainable Design
"What does sustainable design add to the overall cost?" This is an often-asked question by clients at the outset of a project. It is generally assumed green design comes at a premium: Often too, this is correct. Yet many of the most important sustainable strategies involve no additional initial cost. Some add more cost to initial construction but provide significant payback over the life of the building.
Green building is often perceived as an unaffordable option owing to misconcep....
Issues in Education
Thought Leaders Interviewing Thought Leaders
Issues in Education is a national thought leadership platform that provides a meaningful voice to the leaders who are bringing innovative ideas that are transforming education, healthcare and business. The program provides authentic and engaging content from leaders and innovators across the country. The rich content of this platform is subsequently edited into podcasts which can be accessed from our Knowledge Library.
From Sustainability To Savings
Sustainable design is good for the environment and great for our clients Cordogan Clark integrates sustainability, renewable energy, and energy efficiency into high-performance building design. Sustainable principles guide our practice. We have been at the forefront of sustainability for many years. Environmentally-conscious decision-making propels architectural innovation, cost-saving, and responsible practice. From improving user well-being through....
Guns and Schools: Hard or Soft?
In the wake of the Parkland shootings, the NRA has called for immediate hardening of schools, while NPR responded by saying they should be softened, and architects are caught in the crosshairs of the argument. Especially architects who are involved with school design must now choose how, or whether, to address guns in schools. Guns and schools don't mix. But it is currently doubtful that the strong gun control laws needed to help curb this problem will soon be enacted. Architects, as the profess....
"Make No Little Plans": Our proposal for a new Chicago lakefront
Daniel Burnham, the architect and urban designer responsible for the 1893 World's Fair as well as for helping preserve Chicago's lakefront as an open park free of commercial development, famously said, "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-gr....
Clinton Elementary School: Building for Community
The community of Clinton, Illinois overwhelmingly passed a bond referendum five years ago to build a new elementary school for its Unit School District 15. More than 70% of voters favored the bond proposal. The main program challenge for Clinton's new Elementary School, and the one that has also yielded the greatest benefits, was: How could Clinton's two existing, separate elementary schools be merged? Previously, elementary grades 2 and 3 were taught in a separate building from grades 4 and 5. ....
New 41st Street bike and pedestrian bridge
City officials and members of the Bronzeville community came together yesterday to formally break ground on a new bike and pedestrian bridge at 41st Street on Chicago's South Side. The long-discussed project is finally ready to begin its reach across Lake Shore Drive and the Illinois Central rail tracks to connect the neighborhood to Chicago's lakefront trails and beaches. Designed by Cordogan, Clark & Associates, the snaking bridge will utilize a double-curved arched mono-truss lay....
Library Makerspaces: A New Alternative Education Environment
Since 2013 when the American Library Association (ALA) announced the formation of its Center for the Future of Libraries, it has focused much of its work on identifying new emerging trend relevant to libraries, librarians, and their communities. Though we can't predict the future, we can identify trends. Understanding these "currents" shaping society can better enable us to envision the future.
ALA's Center is itself modeled on the American Alliance of Museums' (AAM) very successful ....
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