EDspaces

🎉 We have a winner! Congratulations to Georgian Heights Elementary in Columbus, Ohio, the champion of the Teachers' Lounge Movement contest and our inaugural partnership with The Design Besties.

Here's what makes this moment matter: the spaces where educators reset shape how they show up for students.

Last October, we introduced four creatives doing something unmistakable, transforming neglected teachers' lounges into restorative wellness spaces. Like us, The Design Besties believe in the growth and thriving of educators. That shared conviction made this partnership a natural fit.

The idea is simple, and the impact is real. When teachers have a space to reset and recharge, a domino effect unfolds:
- ✨ Better educators
- 🏫 Stronger classrooms
- 🤝 Thriving communities

Georgian Heights Elementary's educators are about to experience that transformation firsthand. Welcome to the Teachers' Lounge Movement, a national campaign we're proud to help advance.

The Design Besties

👉 Follow along to see how intentional design reshapes the spaces where learning starts.

☕ Monday Morning Coffee - Weekly Insights from EDspaces

What if a restless leg or a quiet tap wasn't a disruption, but a student calming their own nervous system?

That's the shift happening in trauma-informed classrooms. When teachers treat movement as self-regulation instead of misbehavior, rooms get calmer, transitions get faster, and trust builds.

The best part? It doesn't take a renovation. Small, low-cost changes make a real difference:
- Wobble stools and seat cushions that give fidgeting hands a job
- A calm corner with soft lighting for a voluntary reset
- Quick brain breaks between subjects to restore focus

Design and intention, not big budgets, are what move the needle here.

➡️Read the Full Article: https://hubs.ly/Q04lHNSq0

☕ Monday Morning Coffee - Weekly Insights from EDspaces

What if the safest room in a school was also where kids eat lunch every day?

In Rolla, Missouri, that's now reality. After a March 2025 EF-2 tornado destroyed the cafeteria at Mark Twain Elementary, S. M. Wilson and Co. broke ground on an 8,200-square-foot FEMA-rated storm shelter built to withstand 250 mph winds. The smart part: it doubles as the school's new cafeteria.

The $7 million rebuild also turns the damaged footprint into new classrooms, proving recovery can become real improvement.

➡️Read the Full Article: https://hubs.ly/Q04lHQnh0

At EDspaces 2026, Bruce Mau will bring nearly 40 years of design innovation to our Plenary Keynote Session, "Designing the World as a Learning Machine."

Presenting alongside Bisi Williams, Bruce is Co-Founder and CEO of Massive Change Network and the creator of the life-centered design methodology that shapes solutions for people, communities, and the living world. His work reframes learning environments not as static spaces, but as living systems that continuously teach through space, structure, culture, and experience.

This session is a direct opportunity to engage with ideas that connect design decisions to student outcomes, educator effectiveness, and long-term institutional resilience.

➡️ Explore the session details and register to join the conversation: https://hubs.ly/Q04kN8P_0