But now, instead of calling for fortified entrances and security features that can put students on edge, experts are calling for a more holistic approach – where architecture serves as a conduit for both physical security and for supporting students' mental health to prevent violence in the first place. — NPR
Responsive elements like magnet-locking classroom doors, “shadow zones”, and even bulletproof storm shelters have been popular design solutions for school districts such as Fruitport, Michigan, which just spent $48 million on a new building based on those and other, less visible concerns.
Architects must consider not only the immediate physical prevention of violence but also the positive impact on the psychological development of pupils their designs can have. This means the K-12 sector may be undergoing its largest change since the 1970s, when the movement towards large classrooms and open spaces engendered many of the challenges safety upgrade projects are tying to mitigate.
"They have these hallways and lockers, but there's no place to hang out, no place to socialize," architect Rene Berndt, who sits on the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) board of directors, explained to NPR. "And so, we're trying our best to create these moments, to use these areas to create some kind of social cohesion, to actually avoid the whole concept of some students being pushed so far out and so alienated, you know, that [they don't] really have a place to belong."
2022 was the deadliest for schools to date, with a total of 46 shootings affecting some 43,450 children across America, according to the Washington Post.
3 Comments
"Hey kids, we're too scared of the crazy gun cunts so instead of addressing the real problem, let's just make it slightly more inconvenient for the bullets to hit you. See, we're really trying hard to think about the children." - M'erica
Architects must consider not only the immediate physical prevention of violence.
No, we do not need to and it's pathetic that that responsibility is passed on while it should be dealt with at a political level.
You are half right. The problem is like a lot of things that have common sense solutions that the majority of people support. 15 states whose combined population is less than California have 30 Senators while California has 2.
This country is effectively ruled by a cruel and ignorant minority.
How can students and teachers alike attend such schools without being aware, at least subconsciously, their whole educational endeavor of the possibility of threat?
The point is too obvious. This should be enough to make us sick and reform our society. And it won't happen, rather, likely, will get worse.
And the irony is too obvious and painful. 2nd. Amendment "freedom," as it has been interpreted in recent years, supersedes and suppresses the liberating power of education.
. . . popular design solutions for school districts such as Fruitport, Michigan, which just spent $48 million on a new building based on those and other, less visible concerns.
I'd be curious to see salaries at the school, and wonder how salaries and school supplies will be affected down the road.
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