2008 ended with a bang for FNI as these wonderful projects demonstrate:

CANADA

Saskatchewan: We have been retained to work on 6 projects in Regina, including a High School embedded within a Shared Community Learning Center, a Trades and Skills Center and four Elementary Schools.

Piqqusilirivvik: A new Inuit Cultural Learning Facility developed within the Arctic Circle through a series of collaborative design workshops with the various Canadian and Nunavut governmental agencies, the Inuit Elders and Inuit user constituencies. FSC, working closely with Fielding Nair International (FNI) has developed Piqqusilirivvik as an innovative learning community that will allow students to live and learn in a protected project based learning environment. The facility will be located in the Inuit Community of Clyde River, overlooking Patricia Bay. The building has been designed to fit into it Arctic environment with respect to the extremes in temperature, wind and snow.

---

MALAYSIA

Nusajaya: FNI is serving as the Education Planning Consultant and Design Architect for the Sri KDU SMART school to be located in Nusajaya near the Singapore border. This K-12 school with an IB Program will model international best practice in both education and school facilities design.

---

SWITZERLAND

Leysin: The beautiful Ski resort Village of Leysin is located in the Alpes Vaudoise at an altitude of 1,200 meters above sea level. FNI is the design Architect for the conversion of the Historic Grand Hotel into a 21^st Century Learning Center for the world-renowned Leysin American School. FNI’s work supports the LAS vision to promote an evolving environment of academic excellence and personal growth for each student.

---

ABU DHABI

FNI has teamed up with SHW Group in Texas to develop National Design Standards for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This is an exciting project because it will entail the development of a completely state-of-the-art process for creating innovative schools around the country. Altogether, over 300 schools are likely to be impacted by the new Standards. Some of these are in spectacular new developments including Masdar – the world’s first (and only) Carbon Neutral City.

---

USA

Middletown, Rhode Island: Before and after pictures at Forrest Primary School. Photo on left shows typical “cells and bells” classroom and corridor block. Image on right shows how this space was converted into a dynamic Personalized Learning Community over the space of just two months with almost no money at all!

Middletown, Rhode Island: FNI has developed and submitted a Master Plan for Middletown Schools with extensive community consultation. Two pilot projects have already been implemented with wonderful responses from the teachers and students – see one example above. FNI is now working closely with the School stakeholder community to develop an implementation strategy for the ambitious Master Plan.

---

Key Biscayne, Florida: FNI has recently completed the first phase of the Municipal Charter School project in the Island Paradise of Key Biscayne – the submission includes a feasibility study for the school prepared after a series of community meetings.

---

Gainesville, Florida: FNI has been selected to serve as Planning, Programming and Design Consultants for the University of Florida’s PK Yonge Developmental Research School in Gainesville. This project will marry the best innovations in education, architecture and environmental design on the School’s picturesque Florida campus.

---

In other News (see our Projects page for more information):Cayman Islands: Three high schools and an elementary school that FNI worked on in the Cayman Islands as Planning and Design Consultants are now in construction. See construction image of the school in Frank Sound below. These new schools are indeed world-class in every regard and they will put the Cayman Islands on the International Map as a world education leader.

---

North Carolina: Duke School located on the Duke University Campus in Durham North Carolina, one of the country’s most innovative schools, and an FNI project that we are really proud of, is nearing construction completion and will be ready to receive students in February 2009!

The Cristo Rey Jesuit High School & Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center has been awarded a citation by the 2008 Architectural Jury of the American Association of School Administrators, American Institute of Architects, and Council of Educational Facility Planners International.

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School has welcomed its first cohort of students, and will be officially opened, along with the Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center on October 4 by General Colin Powell (Ret.)

Below: Students at work in one of Cristo Rey’s Commons

Amid much fanfare, Scotch Oakburn College’s new Health and Physical Education Centre was opened on August 10. SOC continues to undergo a transformation: in March the new Robert Dean Centre opened, and work is underway on a new Middle School comprising three Small Learning Communities.

Below: Year 5 students showcasing the new facilities (and their own incredible acrobatics!) in front of the whole school community

Wednesday September 19 was a momentous occasion in the Cayman Islands: groundbreakings for each of the three new high schools were held. Building will commence in the next few weeks.

Below: Snapshots of the three Groundbreaking ceremonies.

See our Resumes page for information about Prof. Stephen Heppell, Dr. Jon Wiles, Dr. Arthur Shapiro, Bruce Dixon, Michelle Swanson, Theron Cosgrave, Eeva Reeder, John Sole, and Michele Tillier Wiles all of whom have come on board recently.

Click link below to see video clips of an interview with Prakash Nair by the Department of Education & Training, Victoria, Australia. A full transcript of the interview is also available at the website.

The American Institute of Architects had a symposium in late September 2006 to improve the quality of schools in Charlotte. Randy is interviewed along with Harvey Gantt, former Charlotte Mayor. Click here for streaming audio or download MP3 files to your desktop.

Click here for streaming audio or download MP3 files to your desktop.

FNI has been recently selected as the planning and design consultants for the following projects. Significantly, FNI has expanded its reach with work at the national level in Azerbaijan and the Cayman Islands, district-wide levels in Victoria, Australia, Rhode Island and Florida.

The projects in Wyoming, USA and Phuket, Thailand involve the development of a master plan for a whole new community that integrates learning seamlessly from home to neighborhood to school. The Cayman Islands, Detroit and Victoria projects are being developed on a national/regional scale and are an integral part of bold, new educational reform initiatives by the government.

All the projects are noted for their highly innovative education approach. Projects in the Cayman Islands, Detroit and Victoria are utilizing the school building process as an important catalyst to completely revamp educational practice. A majority of the projects on the list are utilizing FNI’s unique Educational Facilities Effectiveness Instrument (EFEI). Duke School which began as a “lab school” associated with Duke University 40 years ago is working with FNI to create a model school for the 21^st century. FNI has been recruited to ensure that these “new paradigm” schools and/or school development programs can help create facilities that fully support each community’s strong student-centered educational mission.

• The Cayman Islands – Planning & Design Consultation for 3 New High Schools; Master Planning for all schools in the Country; Comprehensive Professional Development for teachers; Assessment of the Tertiary Education Facilities; EFEI Assessment of all schools in the country
• Sinarmas Group, Jakarta, Indonesia – New International K-12 school for 1,300 students
• Middletown Schools, Rhode Island – District-wide master planning for all schools in the district
• Detroit Public Schools – Curriculum Management Planning, EFEI Assessment across the school district
• New Zealand Ministry of Education – Pilot EFEI Assessment Program with potential to be scaled up nationally
• Porirua College near Wellington, New Zealand: New school for community with majority Maori and Pasifika population
• Broward County Career/Adult Education – Development of district-wide standards
• Country of Azerbaijan – Development of national school facilities standards
• Bendigo, Victoria, Australia: Planning and Design Consultation services for 4 new high schools
• Western Heights College, Victoria, Australia – New consolidated campus for college with an integrated Community Center in Geelong
• Broadmeadows, Victoria, Australia – Master Planning work for the Region + Planning and design consultation work for two primary schools and two secondary schools
• Horizons Learning Community – New learning community of homes, a town center and a learning center for pre-K through 12th grade students in Phuket, Thailand
• Mayfield Primary School – Redevelopment of an existing primary school as a world-class learning community in Launceston, Tasmania
• Rocherlea Primary School – Redevelopment work to renovate and upgrade an existing school in Launceston, Tasmania
• Bramha Valley School – Set on a beautiful hillside overlooking a pristine lake in Munshi Valley, Pune, India
• Greater Good Academy – Master planning for new campus
• Rafflles Girls School – Futures workshop as a prelude to the development of a new campus for this prestigious school in Singapore
• Tsunami Reconstruction – Vocational Schools in Sri Lanka
  • multiple facilities, up to 14 schools, emphasis on sustainable architecture
• Dalyellup Secondary College – New Government School in Western Australia
• Scotch Oakburn College, Tasmania, Australia, New Middle School, Senior Student Center and Physical Education Center
• Australia/Singapore: Planning & Design Workshops on the Development of New Paradigm School Facilities for government departments in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Ministry of Education, Singapore
• Kingston High School: Project Consultation Work and feasibility study for the relocation of Kingston High School to a new Greenfield site
• Albuquerque: Planning Workshops for a new High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Los Lunas: Planning workshops for a new primary school in New Mexico
• Streetsboro Ohio: Educational Master Planning Consultation Services for new Mixed Use Town Project in Streetsboro, Ohio
• New College, University of Southern Florida – University Housing & Student Center
• Whitney Village, Wyoming – Planning and design for new mixed use residential community where learning is the central theme