Building a Culture of Safety with Design

For years, American citizens with a deep and abiding concern for the future of education in our country have been on high alert in the wake of constant threats to school safety. We recognize that comprehensive, integrated, and systematic solutions must be sought after to address the multi-faceted set of problems that continue to lead to violent attacks on innocent people.

By combining the promise of environmental design and with the careful application of active security systems, all within an overarching umbrella of strategic measures, we can work together to achieve a culture of safety on campus.

As community-based architects, this problem demands our attention. We see very clearly our obligation to face this question squarely and thoughtfully while proposing an integrated approach to its solution. This is not an issue we can put off to another generation of architects, but rather a statement of what we value today as a society, and how we will protect the most vulnerable among us — our children.