The Literature and Problems of School Buildings

Abstract

Most of the literature on the planning and construction of school buildings is of a practical sort ; little careful investigating has been done. sizes of classrooms are traditional, and the method of natural lighting in vogue illustrates a common tend ency to accept without question, the statement of an authority. Although architectural changes have been many, there is still a disposition to defend outworn ideas of construction. When planning a new building it is still the custom for the superin tendent and the school board to make pilgrimages about the country, inspecting in a more or less cursory fashion the school plants along the way. Architects are still selected blindly, and the so-called competitions do not always result in the employ ment of the most competent. All investigators emphasize the need of an informed educational influence in drawing up and executing the plans for school buildings. Six main problems are included in this section : selecting the architect, planning the building, planning building details, plan ning the classrooms, planning special rooms, and selecting and utilizing the site. VII. SELECTING THE ARCHITECT? 64. Beach, W. W. <i Kind of Architect Do You Employ V American School Board Journal, vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 38, 135, April, 1922. 65. Cook, Walter. An Experience in Schoolhouse Competition,'' American School Board Journal, vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 10-12, December, 1912. 66. Donovan, John J. The Relations between Boards of Education, Their Superintendents, and Their Architects, 'y Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1917. pp. 369-72. 67. Milligan, R. M. The School Board, the Architect, and the Builder, American School Board Journal, vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 37-40, 95-97, Sep tember, 1920. 68. Perkins, Dwight H. What Service Should the School Architect Render V9 American School Board Journal, vol. 67, no. 6, pp. 64-65, July, 1923. See also 9, 10, 14, 28, 70, 75, 77, 84, 88, 100, 107, 108, 116, 117. 301