Education Specification Development

Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) has extensive experience working with school districts to
produce Educational Specifications. An Educational Specification is developed using a
collaborative process with district leaders and community input, and contains two main parts:
The first part is a detailed description of the educational programs at each school within the
project, that includes the educational philosophy, pedagogy and organization of each school. The
second part is a description of the facilities needs that are necessary to support the educational
programs.

Additionally, the Educational Specification will describe what spaces will be provided, along
with their size and relationship to each other, outdoor spaces, relationship to the community and
key characteristics. It also includes overarching concepts like what facilities should be shared
between campuses and detailed information such as classroom technology requirements.
Educational Specifications are a foundational part of the design process and are required by the
California Department of Education for the development of any new school. Educational
Specifications can also be produced for individual projects on an existing campus, or as a
districtwide document to guide a Facilities Master Plan. Once complete, this deliverable provides
a record of the district’s educational goals and facilities needs that can guide the design of all
future projects.

QKA has a wealth of experience working collaboratively with school districts to develop
Educational Specifications. Our team can facilitate the development process through
collaborative and interactive workshops that will help your team as well as ours better
understand your specific educational and facilities needs.

EXAMPLE: At American Canyon High School (Napa Valley Unified School District),
QKA worked with a large group of community stakeholders to develop an innovative
Educational Specification for the district’s first new high school in 40 years. The
educational program was developed around Small Learning Communities and Academic
Career Pathways with a strong emphasis on connecting to and supporting the
community. The Educational Specification greatly guided the design of the campus, and
its influence is clearly visible on the school today.

Owner’s Project Requirements

While the Educational Specifications address the district’s educational programs and facilities
needs, the Owner’s Project Requirements are an important record of the technical requirements
for the project. This document is also developed in collaboration with key stakeholders – district
leadership, facilities and maintenance staff. The Owner’s Project Requirements establishes key
performance criteria such as requirements for heating and cooling set-points, indoor air quality,
finish materials, lighting levels and many others. In addition, this document sets the
sustainability goals for the project, as well as indicating any other specific criteria that are of
particular importance to the district. The Owner’s Project Requirements is a critically important
document that ensures that the requirements for the project are clearly defined and understood by
all project stakeholders. This deliverable, along with the Educational Specifications, serve as key
benchmarks against which future design ideas and decisions can be evaluated and validated.

Not only does QKA have years of experience developing Owner’s Project Requirements, we go
beyond the minimum requirements of the California Green Building Code to create a
comprehensive document. The technical information in the Owner’s Project Requirements and
the collaborative discussions that form its development create the foundation for our design
process, and ensure that we deliver a final product that meets or exceeds the district’s needs.