In creating its new high school, Khan Lab School’s top priority was enabling experimentation. 

The school wanted its students and teachers to feel like scientists and engineers. Everything needed to be visible, accessible. Spaces needed to be tailored to specific kinds of work, but flexible enough to adapt to changes in technology and teaching styles, as the school was set up to host a rotating roster of teachers.

Too often, schools are built with only today’s vision or technology in mind. As the world evolves, those designs become obsolete, and education starts to suffer. 

Kurani’s dual mission: cement Khan Lab School as a progressive and desirable school for local parents and teachers—and, at the same time, avoid future renovation costs with an adaptable design that serves the school decades into the future.

The final design incorporates the best of maker spaces, laboratories, and libraries. The maker spaces and labs feature large windows to offer transparency, in addition to easy-to-read displays that showcase students’ work. 

The reading nooks and breakout rooms offer quiet privacy for heads-down work and study. And the common spaces and cafes create chance “collisions” that lead to discussion and new ideas.

Each micro-environment plays an important role in the Lab’s overall design. Having dedicated spaces eliminates the risk that one student’s work becomes another student’s distraction—for instance, two students brainstorming while a third is trying to read nearby.

Instead, Khan Lab School gives students and teachers ample space to test, tinker, reflect, and analyze in whatever environment best suits the desired activity and outcome. The result is greater harmony during the school day, and increased satisfaction from teachers, students, and parents.

“The amount of light and the ability to increase collaboration in the space has enhanced the students’ overall learning experience,” says Megan Burns, the school’s STEM specialist.

With its new design, Khan Lab School isn’t just set up to perform experiments. The school becomes an experiment—one that creates new insights, every day, for improving education.

The lab offers after-school and weekend classes, and its accessible location, adjacent to the Oakland Public Library and only a minute away from the BART metro station, makes it easily accessible to kids.

As soon as kids walk in, they’re greeted with a space that’s intended to promote learning and put them at ease. The floors are durable, the ceilings are exposed, and tools and projects are on show everywhere, creating an authentic workshop feel. Everything in the lab is designed to encourage kids to be makers, with a coding room, makerspace, design studio, and communal areas.

Kids have access to 3D printers, a laser cutter, CNC and Cricut machines, soldering irons and circuits, and robots. Supplies are stored openly so that students don’t need to ask for permission and can feel a sense of ownership over the lab. “The lab makes me feel like I can express myself in every way, from thoughts and ideas onto paper” is how Jovir Llanes, one of the students, describes it. 

Large windows let kids to see into the different spaces as soon as they walk in, and the angular walls converge their eyes towards a fabrication area, where they can see the latest creations their friends are 3D printing. 

“When all the kids walked in for the first time, their eyes lit up. They knew this space belonged to them and that it was a really special space” says Bryson Gauff, one of the instructors.

The lab has a digital billboard where current students are celebrated alongside their aspirations. By seeing what their peers are striving for, the hope is that kids will be inspired to dream bigger.

93% of students have said being in the lab makes them feel like an inventor. Student Xochitl Valencia feels the transformation, sharing “Before I came here, I really didn’t like computer science. Now I feel more experienced and more calm about working with technology.”

To get kids to think like makers, the furniture and materials in the lab are etched with origin stories explaining how the materials were made. For example, some of the etched messages teach students about eco-friendly materials used to build the lab, such as countertops made from recycled cardboard and metal scraps or the lab’s plant-based floors that mimic concrete. 

Several walls inside the lab can disappear in 60-seconds, giving the educators flexibility to combine classes or host demo nights and community events. As an educator, Gauff also appreciates the non-traditional layout of the lab: “One thing that I enjoy about this space is actually not having a desk. It makes me really want to get around and flow and check in with my students a lot more often.”

Tuned lighting helps improve kids’ circadian rhythms so they have more energy, while special filters continuously purify the air so their cognitive functioning improves. With cameras mounted above each station, even remote students can take part in the experience of operating 3D printers and laser cutters, as well as other educational opportunities.

The lab also offers plenty of food options, cozy hangout spots, and friendly faces to make kids feel like they belong. And that sense of belonging pays: 73% of students say their experience here has inspired them to pursue a career in Tech.

Since its opening, Code Next has had a tremendous impact, with over 2,500 kids benefiting from the program. An impressive 91% of Code Next students gain college acceptance, compared to only 37% of Black and Latin kids nationally.

Perhaps more striking is that 88% of Code Next graduates have majored in STEM fields, compared to the national average of only 19% for Black and Latin students. Code Next students have earned scholarships to Ivy League universities, launched businesses earning over $10,000, and interned with top tech companies. Kids who were once underserved are now in the lab making academic strides.

“This investment is worth it” feels April Alvarez, Google’s Global Head of Women, Latinx and Indigenous Communities and Programs. “When you come in here on a Saturday and you see twenty-five Black and brown kids huddled around computers and making things, it’s something very special.”

As for the process of building a lab, Google director, Errol King, recalls “My expectations of an architect were to select paints and furniture and make our spaces look nice. What Kurani gave us was much more. We weren’t just looking at dazzling renderings but were given context for why design decisions were made and how this helps us achieve our vision.”

Through intentional design, Code Next has become a transformational place that gives underserved kids a chance to learn about computer science and tech in a fun and engaging way.

At the school’s core is an insight drawn from the longest-running study on happiness: More than your wealth, job, or fame, the greatest predictor of well-being over a lifetime is the quality of your relationships.

“Good schools are essential for creating strong communities, and community creates happiness,” says Danish Kurani, Kurani’s founder and chief designer. So, Kurani asked, What’s stopping us from creating a school whose main purpose is cultivating happiness? 

In designing Riverbend’s campus, Kurani also considered multiple other factors related to the happiness of Riverbend’s students. Things like mental health, physical activity, and a sense of feeling in control of one’s education were also central to the design.

This is because each of these factors, in their own way, supports students in forming the kind of close relationships that breed happiness. For example, without a focus on mental health, students may not feel as comfortable being vulnerable to open up to other students. Without the freedom to run around, kids won’t properly socialize through play.

Central hallways with attached classrooms would be too confining to help kids feel connected to one another. Straight lines and hard corners would feel too serious to promote free play or activity. Rows of desks facing a blackboard wouldn’t encourage self-guided learning.

Instead, Kurani created a brand-new concept, one that can be followed by any progressive education leader.

The first thing someone might notice about Riverbend is that it’s set up like a small village. That is so students always feel like they are living and studying in a community. There are also virtually no straight lines, to encourage wandering and wayfinding. This freeform design also prompts students to interact with one another, instead of self-isolating in a corner. 

The architecture of each building is also designed to maximize a feeling of community: No building is more than two stories, to help the campus feel more intimate. “Nobody feels warm and fuzzy next to a skyscraper,” Kurani says. “Low-slung buildings make you feel like you’re somewhere safe.”

Other choice details that support well-being: an on-campus farm for students to grow their own food, a zen garden, a lake with a meditation deck, and a slew of learning spaces, such as makerspaces, recording booths, art galleries, and design studios.

These kinds of details support a unique curriculum as well. In addition to learning subjects like history or math, Riverbend students are free to study coding, theater, dance, literature, and many other topics of their choosing.

Together, these details add up to an educational experience most students can only dream of. But based on more than eight decades of research, it’s one that should set any Riverbend student on a path toward a long, happy life.

According to 2019 data, 35% of US adults in urban areas held a bachelor’s degree or higher. For rural students, however, that number stood at just 21%. It’s a trend that dates back to the 1960s in the US, and likely far earlier in other parts of the world: If you grow up with limited access to high-quality teachers, you’ll grow up with limited access to opportunity.

“Every student, no matter where they live, deserves a high-quality education that puts life’s full menu of options in front of them,” says Danish Kurani. “One way to do that is through technology.”

The Connected Classroom is a hybrid learning experience, in which top teachers from all over the US beam in, live, to instruct a handful of students at a time. These lessons focus on special topics that the school chooses to offer to a handful of students, and are held in the room’s amphitheater. 

During this time, an in-room facilitator keeps the rest of the class engaged across several classroom zones. There are desks for group work, booths for partner activities, and private spaces for heads-down work. When lessons or presentations involve the whole class, the room can be arranged as an auditorium.

All throughout the space, technology helps students and staff stay connected. Beyond the main screen at the head of the class, the classroom comes equipped with iPads that hold the day’s lessons, so students and the facilitator can pick up where they left off the day before.

“This technology isn’t there just to make the room feel fancy,” Kurani says. “It’s to shrink the world, so that students have a close experience with whoever’s beaming in, whether it’s from Oregon or California or Illinois.”

The prototype follows from a major study nearly 20 years ago. In 2004, researchers were able to show that many more rural students went on to hold professional jobs when their schools were outfitted to broadcast recorded lessons than students whose education was limited to in-person instruction. The study lasted four years, and at the 10-year mark after the study ended, the “connected” students had completed more years of schooling and earned more money, on average.

The Connected Classroom is designed to go even further, as teachers broadcast live, and can interact with students directly.

In addition, the classroom itself follows the science of learning in its design—for example, with smart lighting set to the exact color temperature of natural daylight, to keep students energized and focused. There are also finger paths students can trace to calm themselves down, noise-dampening materials in the ceiling, and partitions to promote private work.

As a result, the students who live in a town of 1,000 can access the same kind of education as their peers in a city of one million. “Today’s technology is absolutely capable of bringing a world-class experience to students anywhere,” Kurani says. “This classroom is proof of that.”

For students in diverse neighborhoods, literacy can be a significant hurdle to their learning, particularly for those from non-English speaking households or those with parents who work long hours and are less involved in their children’s education. The Sensing Classroom is designed to address this challenge head-on by providing teachers with data on their students’ communication skills, including their quality of diction, how comfortable they feel expressing their ideas, and the level of engagement in class discussions.

During every class, wall sensors collect valuable data on the conversations being spoken and provide teachers with data, allowing them to adjust their teaching methods and provide more targeted instruction to their students. By analyzing this data, teachers can help students develop their reading, writing, and presentation skills in a more personalized and effective way.

One of the challenges that students face in today’s educational system is that they often find the content boring and uninteresting, leading to a lack of motivation and effort. Additionally, students may not be given enough time and space to explore their interests, leading to a lack of engagement and disconnection from their learning experience.

Our Sensing Classroom tackles these challenges head-on by providing a space that encourages exploration and engagement. Through the use of a library curated by students themselves, students can discover and dive deep into topics that interest them, providing a sense of ownership and investment in their learning. The classroom also includes language-based games such as giant Scrabble and captivating TED talks displayed on a large screen, providing an immersive and engaging learning experience.

The wall sensors can rate the quality of words spoken, tell the difference between different speakers in the room, and collect valuable information about what’s going on in the class. This data can be used by teachers and school leaders to think critically about what students need and how best to support them.

The Sensing Classroom also features custom wallpaper that not only looks beautiful but also serves as a vocabulary builder. With words and definitions hidden within the design, students are exposed to new words and concepts in a passive yet engaging way, promoting literacy development even outside of class time.

Sensing Classroom represents a revolutionary approach to promoting literacy in classrooms. With its unique combination of advanced sensor technology and student-centered design, this first-of-its-kind smart classroom is able to capture real-time data on student language skills and interests, providing teachers and school leaders with the insights they need to tailor their instruction and support to meet the unique needs of their students.

With its adaptable design, it can be integrated into any school environment. So if you’re ready to take your students’ learning to the next level and help them build the language skills they need to succeed in today’s world, consider bringing the Sensing Classroom to your school. Our team of experienced designers is ready to work with you to customize a solution that meets your unique needs and goals.

The Murray Innovation Center is a physical space that was carefully crafted to promote collaboration, experimentation, and exploration. The building’s design incorporates a range of flexible spaces that can be adapted for different purposes, from large maker spaces to intimate brainstorming rooms. The facility is equipped with the latest technology, including 3D printers, laser cutters, and robotics kits, allowing students to bring their ideas to life.

The Murray Innovation Center also features a café run by students, providing an opportunity for students to develop practical skills in business and entrepreneurship. In addition, the facility includes a tech lab, where students can learn about game development, programming, and user experience design.

Since the Murray Innovation Center opened its doors, it’s become a hub of creativity and innovation at Mount Paran School. Students who were previously disengaged or uninterested in traditional academic subjects have found a new passion and purpose in the Innovation Center. The facility has also helped foster a culture of innovation at the school, inspiring faculty and staff to think creatively and experiment with new teaching methods.

The Murray Innovation Center is a testament to the power of design to shape the future of education. By creating a space that encourages collaboration, experimentation, and exploration, Mount Paran School and Danish Kurani have created a model for schools everywhere to follow. If you’re interested in building a culture of innovation at your school, contact us today to learn more about the Murray Innovation Center and how we can help you create a space that inspires your students to reach for the stars.