Some 80 earthquake specialists, architects, engineers and civil servants from a dozen countries met to discuss the different relationships which may occur between educational facilities and natural disasters; the emphasis was on the implications and effects of earthquakes and the appropriate...

Applying CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) strategies to schools can significantly contribute to a safer learning environment by influencing the behaviour of students and visitors. CPTED has three overlapping primary concepts that are intended to reduce opportunities for...

The French government set up in 1995 the <i>Observatoire national de la sécurité des établissements scolaires et d'enseignement supérieur</i>, a national agency for safety in schools and higher education, bringing together the public owners of school buildings, representatives of staff and parents...

PEB and the Ministry of Education of Portugal brought together 67 library and resource centre professionals, policy makers, educators and information technology specialists from 21 countries around the theme “Designing Schools for the Information Society: Libraries and Resource Centres”. The...

The design of this flexible school for early childhood education in Milan, Italy, takes into account children’s development and the different ways they experience space according to their age. The facilities will include not only a nursery school and kindergarten, but also a drop-in day-care...

The restoration of an historic school building in Battipaglia, Italy, will provide new public facilities and is hoped to boost urban renewal. The municipality of Battipaglia, in the province of Salerno, held an architectural competition for renovating the E. De Amicis Primary School and the...

The Intelligent Educational Training Station has been developed in Italy to meet emerging school building needs. The project, for schools from the primary to upper secondary level, proposes flexible architecture for an “intelligent school” network, and was developed by CISEM, the Centre for...

A seminar entitled "Designing Tomorrow's School" was organised by the OECD Decentralised Programme on Educational Building (PEB), the Irish Ministry of Education and Science and the National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway, and was held in Galway, Ireland, in September 2002. Certain...

Science laboratories in schools are expensive to equip and maintain. Specific pedagogical needs, new technology and safety requirements contribute to the costs. In an effort to get the most efficient use of facilities, some countries are rethinking school labs with a move toward more flexible...

The Italian city of Cattolica has developed an urban complex, the <i>Piazza della Repubblica</i>, providing a wide range of services to the public. In renovated facilities, the complex provides a modern and rational architectural setting based on the idea of the traditional town square or "piazza", an...