FNI has been selected as the Planning and Education Consultant and Design Architect for ASB’s new Elementary School and for the renovation of ASB’s existing campus in the Bandra Kurla area. ASB is one of India’s leading educational institutions and caters to a diverse international student body.

FNI has been selected as the Planning and Education Consultant and Design Architect for ABIS’s phased expansion from 150 K-10 to 560 K-12 students to serve this rapidly developing community. The school was established in 2007 and has succeeded in developing a positive community spirit by strengthening partnerships with parents and the wider community.

FNI has been selected to provide master planning services for Cleveland Heights-University Heights (CH-UH) City School District–a district serving 6,000 students. The District’s vision of PASSAGE is to Prepare All Students for Success in A Global Economy. Technology has expanded learning opportunities beyond the walls of school. Community Resource Mapping will be used to identify and leverage these opportunities. FNI will lead the project, working in collaboration with studio TECHNE and Fanning Howey.

FNI has been selected as the Planning and Education Consultant, and Co-Architect for Greenville County School District’s new 750 student Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics middle school. FNI was selected with Co-Architect McMillan Pazdan Smith based on the strength of a concept design presented at the interview, which defined a 21st Century vision for STEM that integrated Arts and Design into STEM – the STEAM in the STEM – and treated the entire building and landscape as lab for student inquiry.

FNI recently completed Visioning contracts to reimagine the future of education in Billings, Montana and for the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board in Ontario. Both these communities have over 30 school buildings with tens of millions of dollars of outstanding capital needs. The Visioning work led by FNI will help them connect facilities expenditures to their long-term educational goals.

GATES Secondary School, Lutz, Florida, LEED Platinum to NET ZERO: Slated to be one of the Greenest schools in the United States, GATES will be set on a picturesque 60 acre lakefront site. FNI has been selected as the school’s Visioning, Master Planning and Architectural Designer and we will be looking at opportunities to create the first Net Zero (Zero Carbon Footprint) school in Florida. GATES is an extension of The Learning Gate Community School, which is the first public school in the US to gain the prestigious LEED Platinum recognition. FNI has provided design consulting services for the redesign of Learning Gate’s Middle School. The new GATES campus will serve about 1,200 students in grades 6 through 12. Look for more information coming soon about this exciting, lighthouse project.

Magnificat High School, Ohio: FNI has been selected as the designer for Magnificat High School’s Surround Learning Project.  Magnificat is a Catholic college-preparatory high school for young women located in Rocky River, Ohio.  It is the largest all-girl high school in the state.  The Surround Learning concept incorporates spaces and resources for enriched 21st century learning.  The goal for this project is to create an immersive and holistic learning environment that will shape the next generation of women leaders.

Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School, Calgary, CA: FNI has been selected to provide Master Planning services for Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School in Calgary, Canada. Built on a stunning 160-acre campus in the Alberta foothills, Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School is one of Canada’s premier independent schools, renowned for its rich traditions in educational excellence and broad co-curricular programs. In a joint venture with Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto, FNI will serve as the lead consultant in Visioning, Design-based Curriculum Mapping, site and building design options for this 670-student Kindergarten though 12th grade International Baccalaureate School.

Architects at Fielding Nair International who specialize in educational design to improve student learning will lead the Bloomfield Hills Schools community through a six-month high school design process, and production of schematics.

BHS trustees at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting approved a not to exceed $863,116 to FNI for facilitation, planning and design work to build community engagement.  Importantly, FNI will also produce a high school design in cooperation with architect-engineers and a construction manager to be selected by the Board on Nov. 4.

“We were looking for a firm that has the best design process and best understands educational outcomes,” said Rob Glass, BHS superintendent.  “Our committee had strong consensus for FNI.  We need to put 1,600 students on the Andover site to protect our operating budget, but we must also get this design process right.  FNI can deliver the intellectual property and leadership to accomplish that.”

Interactive workshops with various stakeholder groups will begin in late October or early November, led by FNI principals Prakash Nair and Randy Fielding.  Importantly, some stakeholder surveys will be done prior to that time to lay the groundwork for community engagement.

In addition, faculty will be highly involved in the decision process and will be provided with professional development to fully benefit from enhanced opportunities afforded by the new facilities.

“Our exceptional staff can offer a wealth of educational knowledge and FNI will help us translate that into a basis for community dialogue,” said Ingrid Day, Board of Education president.

A 19-member vendor selection committee of students, parents, teachers, administrators and community members noted the firm’s educational expertise, international experience and perspective, ability to make “21st century instruction” more concrete, and likelihood of challenging the stakeholders’ comfort zone.

Throughout the process, FNI will integrate best practices and research in education and architecture to create sustainable design solutions.  FNI’s community engagement process is designed to build consensus and increase buy-in from the entire community.

Opportunities for community engagement in the design process will be announced later this month on the District’s website at www.bloomfield.org; on Twitter (@bhschools); on Facebook (Bloomfield Hills Schools; Bloomfield Hills Schools Alumni); and on Linked In (Andover and Lahser Alumni group).

FNI has been selected to develop a Master Plan that will entail the modernization 90 schools and the construction of 5 new schools. Working closely with UNIPRO, our sub-consultants in Puerto Rico, our scope of work includes a detailed Building and Educational Adequacy Assessment of each school, the development of National Design Guidelines and an Implementation Plan for Design and Construction. This is the largest school construction program in Puerto Rico’s history. FNI was selected based upon a very competitive process against some of the largest and most experienced Architectural/Engineering firms in the world.

FNI’s Duke School in North Carolina and Scotch Oakburn College in Tasmania have received awards from the American School Board Journal’s Learning By Design, “The Premier Source for Education Design Innovation & Excellence”. Click here to download Reprints from the Spring 2010 Issue of Learning by Design.

Fielding Nair International: Educating the Masses
North American Design Magazine, April 2010.