54. An Environmental Technological Approach to Architectural Programming for School Facilities

This chapter describes synthetically a method integrating functional, technological and environmental aspects of architectural programming for school facilities. This method is based on the analysis of activities and relevant user needs followed by an in-depth assessment of all related functional and environmental aspects usually not considered in current design practices: from the climate response to comfort requirements to the analysis of energy and material flows; from the space–time characteristics of activities to their private/public connotation and interdependency; from the inside/outside interrelationships to the multisensory perception of users. This building programming phase represents a necessary background for the next preliminary architectural composition based on the environmentally sound combination of “virtual” space units through a set of rules aimed at fulfilling the client brief and general sustainability requirements as well as avoiding or, at least, balancing potential conflicts by a tradeoff approach.