High school of the future

The high school of the future described herein is a new form of campus, similar to a university campus, designed to foster communication skills within its students. It takes into account the costs of running such a high school by using different greener alternatives where possible.

Shape

The high school’s main building is shaped like a torus. This torus shape allows there to be a large amount of glass walls throughout all parts of the building. It is composed of 4 floors, each with different usages. Additionally, the torus shape encloses a central plaza which can be used for eating, socializing, studying, or teaching outdoors lectures in a safe, but open, space. The roof has occasional parts which overhang onto the central plaza in order to provide shade to the students. There are pieces of white cloth held by mechanized iron rods which can open and close in order to limit the heat that the sun emits into the building, allowing for a controlled natural heating.

Floors

The ground floor is used for eating. There will be different restaurants or stands and seating on the bottom floor, and it could be open to the public for dining. The high school takes a portion of these restaurants’ profits in return for the prime location within a high school.

The second and third floors are used for lecture halls and classrooms. The classrooms are all pressed against the glass walls such that they all get copious amounts of natural lighting. This can replace most lighting, and in rare cases, eco-friendly LED lighting can be used when neccesary.

The top floor, along with the roof, can be used as self study areas. There are seats with computer docks which connect to monitors, as well as seats with regular plugs. On the roof, there are concrete seats and tables, and some protected outlets.

education

The classes in this school are all equipped at the very minimum with Ethernet and power plugs on every table. The more advanced classes have computer docks which charge the laptops, provide them with Ethernet, and connect them to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. The tables are designed to have multiple students at each table in order to encourage collaboration. There are no assigned seats, and students are encouraged to sit in different places daily in order to interact with new people and not become bored from sitting in one place. 

The assignments given to students are designed to allow each student to focus on the things they do best, instead of having all students do a little bit of everything, but they must communicate their skills with their fellow students so that they can divvy up the work appropriately.

facilities

The school would also have underground facilities for exercise and research, along with storage rooms for the teachers. Additionally, there would be underground dormitories for students with priority given to foreign exchange students.