When the three-story 45,000-sf Constance and Miguel Fernandez STEM Center for Science and Math opened last September at the entrance of the historic Ransom Everglades School campus in Coconut Grove, Fla., it created a new quad with an outdoor theater and classrooms, art exhibition space, and an outdoor student green. But one thing the new building didn’t have was private offices.
Its designer, Perkins & Will, has seen shared meeting spaces replacing private faculty offices in several of its recent education projects. “This isn’t a trend; it’s here to stay,” says Pat Bosch, Principal and Design Director in P&W’s Miami studio. “We’re seeing it in public schools, too, around the country.
OLD DESIGN IDEAS MADE NEW BY CIRCUMSTANCES
Since the advent of STEM- and STEAM-focused curricula several years ago, schools have been taking their cues from the office and research sectors in terms of rethinking their spaces for collaboration, “with more collision points,” says Bosch.
P&W has a long history of advocating for outdoor learning spaces, and its clients of late are listening to pitches whose angles are about safety and wellness. The shift away from private faculty offices, however, still leaves room for one-on-one learning and communication. P&W’s kit-of-parts approach can include quieter rooms that Bosch believes are less intimidating to students than a teacher’s or principal’s office. “This actually enhances the bespoke educational environment,” says Bosch.
UTILIZING ‘IN-BETWEEN’ SPACES



The STEM center at Ransom Everglades School is the result of a design pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic. Essentially a big glass box, Its classrooms and labs are supported by more informal tech-enhanced “in-between” spaces where students and faculty can interact. An aquatics lab functions as a water feature at the front of the building, framed by the exterior student commons and an incubator that was designed to be the center for faculty, administrators, students, and visitors to exchange ideas.
Build by Shawmut Design & Construction, the STEM Center features 10 flexible classrooms with movable walls and furniture, as well as laboratories for earth sciences, biology, chemistry, and physics that integrate with fabrication and maker labs. Utilizing smart-building design throughout, the facility has wide staircases, tech-enabled educational spaces, an outdoor rooftop lab, multi-purpose conference room, and a reconfigurable 200-person auditorium.
Bosch adds that the design also ushered in better circulation for the entire school. “The pandemic propelled this, and now we have a proof of theory.”

Another P&W project that dispensed with private faculty offices is the K-5 St. Stephens Episcopal Day School, also in Coconut Grove, which last October completed a 23,000-sf Arts and Innovation Center and a 3,700-sf Ministry Building, located at its entrance. This $9.4 million pavilion, constructed by Skanska, is an example of STEAM education in early childhood development that showcases principles of design flexibility and adaptability, team-based learning, and project-based outcomes.
The design provides an array of informal learning spaces.
Related Stories
| Jun 16, 2014
6 U.S. cities at the forefront of innovation districts
A new Brookings Institution study records the emergence of “competitive places that are also cool spaces.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Zaha Hadid's 'gravity defying' Issam Fares Institute opens in Beirut
The design builds upon the institute’s mission as a catalyst and connector between AUB, researchers and the global community.
| Jun 12, 2014
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects' design selected for new UCSC facility
The planned site is a natural landscape among redwood trees with views over Monterey Bay, a site that the architects have called “one of the most beautiful they have ever worked on.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Austrian university develops 'inflatable' concrete dome method
Constructing a concrete dome is a costly process, but this may change soon. A team from the Vienna University of Technology has developed a method that allows concrete domes to form with the use of air and steel cables instead of expensive, timber supporting structures.
| Jun 11, 2014
David Adjaye’s housing project in Sugar Hill nears completion
A new development in New York's historic Sugar Hill district nears completion, designed to be an icon for the neighborhood's rich history.
| Jun 9, 2014
6 design strategies for integrating living and learning on campus
Higher education is rapidly evolving. As we use planning and design to help our clients navigate major shifts in culture, technology, and funding, it is essential to focus on strategies that help foster an education that is relevant after graduation. One way to promote relevance is to strengthen the bond between academic disciplines and the campus residential life experience.
| Jun 9, 2014
Green Building Initiative launches Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors program
The new program focuses exclusively on the sustainable design and construction of interior spaces in nonresidential buildings and can be pursued by both building owners and individual lessees of commercial spaces.
| Jun 9, 2014
10 projects named 2014 AIA Small Project Award winners
Yale's funky new Ground café and a pavilion made from 53,780 recycled plastic bottles are among the nation's best new small projects.
| May 29, 2014
7 cost-effective ways to make U.S. infrastructure more resilient
Moving critical elements to higher ground and designing for longer lifespans are just some of the ways cities and governments can make infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters and climate change, writes Richard Cavallaro, President of Skanska USA Civil.
Sponsored | | May 27, 2014
Grim Hall opens the door to fire safety with fire-rated ceramic glass
For the renovation of Lincoln University’s Grim Hall life sciences building into a state-of-the-art computer facility, Tevebaugh Associates worked to provide students and faculty with improved life safety protection. Updating the 1925-era facility's fire-rated doors was an important component of the project.