Classroom of the Future

They’ll pass through a hidden weapons-detection system and step into a wide corridor dubbed “Main Street.” They’ll swipe their “smart cards,” and a screen will display their photographs and register their attendance

They’ll move quickly, carrying only a small laptop from class to class and home at night (no more overloaded backpacks). Passing the administrative offices and the “interactive learning center” (read: a library without books), they’ll come to a mall-style food court, where purchases will be tracked with the same card. (No more telling Mom you had broccoli while really subsisting on Kit Kats and Snapple.)

In the gym, plasma-screen televisions and video cameras will bring pro-style instant-replay access to the varsity level, and outside, a futuristic anti-graffiti coating on the walls will make washing off tags easier. This technological utopia of high-density fiber-optic cable will be virtually paperless, although there will be printers on hand (just in case). And the entire building — a green building, complete with solar panels and grassy roof — is wired, powered and online.

have. We started out by brainstorming our ideas for what would be essential in this “standardized

would be essential in this “standardized classroom” and came up with the following list:

When art, stainless steel, and architectural statements collide, the results can be either beautiful or challenging. In the case of Central Los Angeles Area High School #9, it can be both. The high school's state-of-the-art campus—part of L.A.'s continuing Grand Avenue arts corridor renovation—plays on the school's educational emphasis on performing arts and highlights it with three 304-grade stainless steel–clad sculptural buildings.

The school will have classrooms, workshops, laboratories, a library, recreational areas and halls as fit the needs of its composition. If at all possible, it will have a roll of about 550 learners.

Allocation of classes should aim at an optimum size of 24 learners and a ceiling of 28, with some flexibility within reason.