Designing the Classroom of the Future: Interview with Brooke Trivas & David Damon of Perkins + Will
When you think of what makes up a classroom, you may think of desks, pens, blackboards, whiteboards, maybe even SMART boards. But spend an hour at the architecture firm of Perkins + Will, and it’s clear that there’s much more to a classroom than the furniture.
Over 80 years ago, Larry Perkins and Phil Will designed their first school: Crow Island Elementary School. The award-winning architecture pioneered many of the design elements we see in schools today, including: the L-shaped classroom, breakout spaces, and areas to support project-based learning.
Today, 750,000 people enter a Perkins + Will-designed school every year.
So, how does a firm with such an influential past design schools that are prepared for the future? To find out, we met with Brooke Trivas and David Damon of Perkins + Will.
Listen to the full interview to learn more about the future of school design:
Want to see the designs for yourself? Here are just a few of the school designs from Perkins + Will:
Read the full series
The Future of Education: Redefining the Classroom.
Redefining the Classroom: What Does the Future of Education Look Like?

Hannah Nyren
Hannah Nyren is the General Manager of EdTech Times. A Texan by birth but a Bostonian at heart, Hannah is an educational writer, AmeriCorps alum, and one-time StartupWeekend EDU (SWEDU) winning team member. She started her career at a Pearson-incubated edtech startup, but has since covered travel, food & culture, and even stonemasonry in addition to education.