School

Electric school buses are hardly front page news these days, but GreenPower has charged its way onto our radar with the Mega Beast – a purpose-built 40-ft-long young people carrier with a monstrous battery bank.

Heatherwick Studio has been hired to create its first school. Responding to a cramped site in Tokyo, it has designed a greenery filled building with an unusual layout that will provide outdoor learning areas and generous playground space.

The BIG-designed Robert Day Sciences Center is an eye-catching new addition to California's Claremont McKenna College. It will take the form of Jenga-like stacked timber rectangles and will be topped by solar panels, reducing its draw on the grid.

Commissioned to design an education campus on a challenging coastal site that's buffeted by wind and waves, BIG has conceived an angular greenery covered building. It will shelter a park area, while maximizing daylight and views inside.

According to non-profit Thinking Huts, Madagascar is in dire need of new schools. To try and address this issue, the organization has created the first in a planned series of 3D-printed schools for the country, and possibly beyond.

Plans have been revealed for a $350 million Frank Gehry designed extension for Los Angeles' Colburn School. It will expand the campus with a partially transparent building that allows passersby a glimpse of the dance lessons within.

Diébédo Francis Kéré has won the 2022 Pritzker Prize. The judges highlighted the architect's ingenious approach to sustainability, which embraces passive techniques like natural ventilation to provide comfort in challenging conditions.

Chinese automotive giant BYD has unveiled a battery-electric bus with a 155-mile range and innovative bi-directional charging tech that could help reduce the carbon footprint of the schools it services.

Over the past few years, 3D-printed architecture has matured from a hobbyist novelty to being used to create everything from offices to affordable housing. The latest stride in this area concerns a plan to create the world's first 3D-printed school.

BIG has been commissioned to design a new student center for Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland. Named The Village, it's conceived as an oversized living room and will feature a timber structure and a roof covered in solar panels.

Half of US teenagers sleep less than 7 hours a night, affecting everything from general health to academic performance. A study following students across 5 high schools for 2 years has found later school start times increase overall sleep durations.

A new study offers one of the first investigations into how effective school closures are in slowing the spread of infectious disease outbreaks. The study also asks when, and how, schools can reopen considering this pandemic may last a year or two.