NOWarchitecture believes that an enlightened approach to education and school facility design motivates and develops assured and confident citizens. For positive change, the educational method must defend and extend the potential of children, teachers and parents. New educational philosophy must assist the individual to achieve full personal potential, personal confidence, self esteem and emotional maturity.

Design excellence counts. Good indoor air quality, ventilation, temperature, lighting and acoustics produce notable positive learning outcomes. Building quality, age, spatial configuration, and aesthetics also have a significant affect. Research by US education scholar Mark Schneider concludes that, “Decisions about school facilities, once translated into brick-and-mortar, affect the daily performance of the generations of teachers and students who use them” and also that “many studies link the effects of building quality to academic achievement [and] to student behaviour.”

Design for sustainability supports the educational process on multiple levels. It provides the environmental conditions and personal comfort to produce positive outcomes, it reduces the impact on our planet and transforms the school’s very buildings and spaces into a resource for learning and environmental experience.