What are the benefits of design flexibility in educational settings?

In schools, flexible classroom spaces and supplemental areas allow faculty to utilize space in multiple ways to support several approaches to lesson plans. For instance, when a classroom can extend beyond its walls into a common area, classes can occupy more square feet to more easily facilitate small group learning or projects that require a lot of space.

Flexible learning spaces outside the classroom allow students to engage in concentrated solo work or to socialize without distracting others who also might be in a common area. These rooms can also provide a neutral meeting space for students and teachers when additional instruction is needed.

Flexible learning spaces, especially when visually connected, give students the opportunity to connect their lessons with the world around them. In fact, this concept was central to the Thatcher School’s mission and helped guide design choices, which included several flexible classroom spaces throughout the school’s Ojai, Cali., campus.

How doors can be key to flexible classroom spaces

Oversized sliding glass doors helped the Thacher School blur the lines between classroom and common areas, adding flexibility to both lesson plans and how students engage with information in and out of class. These doors allowed visual connection without compromising acoustic attenuation for a flexible classroom that supports both concentration and community.

Due to their space-efficient operation, commercial sliding doors also support flexibility in the classroom itself. Teachers have more possibility for desk and table arrangement since they do not have to worry about blocking the ability of a door to swing open. Because sliding doors like OfficeSlide™ from AD Systems can be finished with markable surfaces, students can jot ideas down or engage with information beyond the confines of their desk, further expanding the ability of a classroom to adapt to student needs.

These are only some of the many ways door specification can support more flexible classroom spaces.

Increase the number of flexible learning spaces on campus

Sliding doors can be useful beyond the classroom. Flexible learning spaces, like breakout rooms, can be crucial to creating environments that adapt to student need, whether that is over time or during a single day.

For example, Juanita High School in Kirkland, Wash., features transparent, flexible learning spaces using commercial sliding glass doors integrated into three-sided glass store fronts. The doors supported acoustic isolation while also preserving useable square footage within the breakout rooms and the common areas surrounding them. Their space-efficient design minimizes requirements for opening and maneuvering clearances, allowing designers to incorporate more features within the school’s space.

Sliding doors help make flexibility happen

When a school design seeks to create flexible classroom spaces or flexible learning spaces throughout the school (or both), commercial sliding doors can support these project goals.

Options from AD Systems help all project stakeholders. Besides supporting flexibility in educational spaces and beyond, these sliding door systems are engineered to accommodate real world conditions, whether that is an imperfect wall or an uneven floor. And as top-hung sliding doors, they can be easily integrated into traditional openings or storefronts to make construction more efficient.

Explore AD Systems’ Design Guide to learn about all the options available.

John Diemer Elementary School Image: © 2023 Matt Kocourek, All Rights Reserved.