Dickinson + Partners provided a Campus Utilization Study report for the State of Tennessee Department of General Services, Department of Education, for the Tennessee School for the Blind, located at 115 Stewarts Ferry Pike in Nashville, Tennessee.
The overall recommendations of our study prioritize goals of improving and enhancing the students experience while on campus. This may be accomplished, not only with the elements that students interact with directly such as facilities and furnishings, but also less interacted with items that may provide comfort and safety as well as provide staff a better ability to provide an enhance learning experience. Many of the students also reside at the campus, thus making the home environment an important priority that residents interact with 2/3 of their time on campus. Providing all facilities that current and future student families perceive as providing a safe and enriching environment is equally important to the long-term success for the school.
Included in all of the recommended new and renovated buildings are modern elements of comfort, safety and security. A campus wide security and safety monitoring system should be installed and systems added or upgraded to fully sprinkler and monitor that and fire alarm/smoke detection systems throughout campus. Door access controls should also be implemented and monitored within the integral system. Security and video should be included. Additionally, HVAC and lighting controls may also be included in the interface. Communications across campus should also be integrated allowing point-to-point and campus wide notifications as well as applications in between.