The 21st Century Learning Environment: Education in the Digital Era

The design of future schools and learning environments will be influenced by advances in information and communication technology and the pedagogical responses to the freedoms that it provides. Understanding the physical environment connection to the future roles of teachers and students in the digital age is an important relationship that will shape the classroom. It is important to create learning spaces in which the physical environment will have as much of an impact on learning as digital technology has on new learning typologies. Creating a healthy and sustainable environment that is integrated with future school design will give teachers and children a better environment in which to teach and learn. This thesis proposes a learning structure and the subsequent physical changes that will take place in redefining the learning environment in a twenty first century urban school. It will facilitate the advancements in future learning methods and digital devices while addressing issues that come along with the decision of locating a school in the densifying urban neighborhood of South Lake Union, Seattle.