Learning by Design has released its much-anticipated Spring 2016 edition, showcasing the nation’s best education design and construction projects, from pre-K to 12 to college and university facilities. The spring 2016 awards program was comprised of 58 projects, each impartially judged and independently scored by a multidisciplinary and geographically diverse group of five jurors. When the dust settled, it was announced that the Walnut Springs Middle School Center for Inspiration, designed by TRIAD Architects, earned a prestigious Outstanding Project award. Entries were evaluated for being functionally designed to meet the educational program, supporting and enhancing 21st century learning, reflecting the needs of the community it supports, for innovation in architecture and interior design, and by helping to reduce the carbon footprint by adopting sustainable design measures.
Walnut’s Center for Inspiration was described as a “renovation that turned a passive, single-use room into an active and flexible space filled with the energy that sparks creativity. It has proven wildly popular as use and circulation of materials have increased nearly 100 percent.” The publication added that the renovation has caused one problem for the school, however – getting students to leave the area and go back to class.