It is a great privilege to be delivering the plenary session keynote speech for the EDspaces 2025 Conference in Columbus Ohio this November. Personally, this year it is particularly auspicious because a few months ago my stepson, Cristobal, graduated from university as a licensed architect and is now seeking his first job. He not only graduated at the top of his class, but his final project — a complete renovation of a historically protected girls’ school in the UNESCO heritage city of Valparaiso, Chile (not far from where we live) — was chosen to represent the university at this year’s most coveted exhibition displaying the finest examples of Chilean architectural and urban projects from the past two years, the Bienal de Arquitectura. I could not be more proud of him.
I have had an interest in architecture from a young age. However, my appreciation quickly grew following my keynote speech at the AASA, The School Superintendents Association annual conference in 2015. I met and soon befriended the principals of an architecture firm based in Charlottesville, Virginia, VMDO. They enlightened me about the true impact that “spaces” have on learning — everything from outdoor classrooms and human-centered learning spaces to operable partitions and flexible furniture to achieving a net zero footprint.
These possibilities became part of my thinking as I pondered the potential in creating passive learning opportunities. An architect’s ability to not only incorporate these modern technologies into school buildings but also showcase them to students through an open design is remarkable and forward-thinking. This fusion of my interest in education and architecture enhanced my appreciation of the time, effort, and outcome that Cristobal achieved in his own project, and hopefully enabled me to offer him helpful suggestions along the way.
As I will illustrate in my keynote speech at EDspaces and have outlined in my book, PIVOT, Empowering Students Today to Succeed in an Unpredictable Tomorrow, I believe the four pillars of lifelong learning are inspiring curiosity, nurturing talent, provoking critical thinking, and fostering communication. Not only can schools be designed to support these four pillars, but they must be designed with this intention. Otherwise, the tremendous opportunity to passively augment learning and develop the mental and emotional aspects of the human mind will be diminished if not entirely lost.
As educators increasingly turn their focus toward Artificial Intelligence, we must remind ourselves that schools are in the business of Human Intelligence. While we have spent the better part of the past century training humans to operate like machines (for consistency), we are now training machines to operate like humans (for creativity). This reinforces the notion that it is human ingenuity that continuously moves civilization forward. AI is incredible and will rapidly evolve, but I prefer to think of it as Assistive Intelligence and therefore an invaluable tool that architects and designers can use to support active learning while also bringing a plethora of passive learning opportunities to daily student life.
As educators increasingly turn their focus toward Artificial Intelligence, we must remind ourselves that schools are in the business of Human Intelligence.
As a student, I mostly took school buildings for granted. I walked through the halls, sat in the classrooms, and ate and socialized in the cafeterias never giving much thought toward how they were designed or what could be improved. However, when driving to my first meeting with VMDO, my awareness seemed to be heightened. I noticed three schools along the way, and just before reaching my destination, I also drove past the county jail. It might as well have been four schools because I could hardly tell the difference apart from the barbed wire (and now with metal detectors and increased security personnel and protocols in schools, the differences may be even less apparent).
It occurred to me that throughout my years in K-12, I had been walking down long intimidating halls and put into “cells” along the sides, with a short recess outdoors followed by a plate lunch served on a tray. How is it that we design, construct, and operate so many schools similarly to a prison? How did that environment contribute to my own negative attitude toward school and education in general, and perhaps for many of my fellow students as well? School buildings should be inspiring optimism and the joy of learning rather than hard labor and the fear of detention. We need educational spaces that continuously inspire curiosity and provoke critical thinking.
When it comes to nurturing talent, the importance of extracurricular activities cannot be overstated. Talent is a gift, and one that can be easily squandered due to a lack of comfort or inspiration. Music and arts studios, auditoriums, gymnasiums, etc. must give every student an opportunity to see into their future; to dream, discover, and pursue their passions with the vision and access they need.
Finally, fostering communication. Schools are unique in that people of all ages, backgrounds, and interests coexist within the walls. By removing those walls, metaphorically and in some cases even physically, such cross-cultural opportunities organically begin to present themselves. As designers, all one needs to do is create an inspiring space because then those young, hungry, and curious minds will deliver the magic that ignites real experiential learning.
Three years ago, I finally ventured into architecture myself by designing my vacation home — a modern beach house on the northern coast of Chile. Having contracted a couple of young and talented architects to turn my simple blueprints into detailed computer animations, and then to have them work out the massive amount of engineering and planning, my vision became reality just one year later. My wife and I visited the construction site almost every week, witnessing those early blueprints literally coming to life and course correcting as needed along the way. Today, that house is where we have combined complex personalities and navigated delicate situations. We have successfully blended our families largely because we designed our home with exactly that intention.
If we maximize passive learning opportunities and design educational buildings with that in mind, we will not only support teachers and enhance classroom learning but also develop the hearts and minds of today’s children as they grow into tomorrow’s global leaders. The potential is huge, and each of us has an opportunity to rise to the occasion and use our talents to contribute to a brighter future.