Can architecture help students’ mental health? This Fort Worth designer says yes

Fort Worth Report by Jacob Sanchez, November 28, 2023: Students should hear birds chirping in their schools.

Not the literal sound. But school designer Kerri Brady wants campuses to evoke that natural sense of peace and safety, so students can be present, better regulate their emotions and learn.

The design of schools has become an increasingly important topic, especially in light of recent mass shootings on campuses. Since 1976, 19 shooting incidents have happened at schools in Tarrant County, according to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. However, schools can be built to be secure while also fostering an environment that is conducive to learning and better mental health, Brady said.

It’s not an either-or choice for Brady, vice president of educational practice at the Fort Worth-based architecture firm Huckabee.

“We need to empower people and educate people about the ways in which really great designed spaces for learning are also really great spaces for human connection,” Brady said. “It is a prevention for active threats.”

Brady, a nationally recognized leader in social, emotional and trauma-informed design concepts, led the design of Uvalde’s new elementary school.

Brady approaches the design of all schools in the same way regardless of the campuses’ grade levels.

That’s because the rational part of the human brain isn’t fully developed until a person is 25, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center.

“In the realm of brain and nervous system development, we’re not all that different from pre-K through high school graduation,” Brady said.

‘All part of telling the brain’

The connection between architecture and mental health is important to administrators of Northwest ISD in far north Fort Worth. Jamie Farber, the district’s director of guidance and counseling, lists the design of spaces as one of the biggest needs in health-related resources.

“As the fastest-growing school district in North Texas, our building and facilities department is very willing to consider and has designed new schools with the consideration of a group counseling room or calm space in secondary counseling spaces,” Farber said.

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