As a senior furniture designer with nearly two decades of experience, I had never seen an approach to school furniture quite like our recent work with Portage Public Schools’ new elementary buildings. 

To better support students, modern learning, and educators, Portage Public Schools wanted to reimagine how learning environments would look and function. Furniture turned out to be a fundamental part of that transformation.

Portage schools wanted to move away from the traditional double-loaded corridor, which, at its most basic, is a hallway with classrooms on both sides. This traditional setup was replaced with individual learning communities for each grade level. Within each learning community, educators and students could share resources and spaces, and choose the best room setup based on the needs for the day. They swapped out rigid chairs in orderly rows and stagnant teaching desks for flexible and movable furniture, including pieces that encouraged student movement, group desks, floor seating, standing options, and lounge furniture. 

The change in physical elements of the learning environment coincided with a change in teaching model at Portage schools. It all began in 2019 with a clear educational vision guided by the question: What kinds of spaces best support teaching and learning today and into the future? 

They discovered that traditional layouts and furniture limit opportunities for collaboration, flexible instruction, and varied learning experiences. Instead, they organized the new schools by grade levels with shared learning commons and collaboration areas, allowing instruction to extend beyond the classroom walls. 

“Community-based learning is all about breaking down the walls of the traditional single-teacher classroom and building real relationships between students, staff, and families so that everyone feels connected, supported, and invested in the learning happening every day,” said Dr. Kelly Jensenius, director of elementary education at Portage schools.

For this project, furniture wasn’t simply an addition to the design but rather an integral part of the learning environment, a supporting tool used by educators in the new teaching model. 

This was my first time seeing furniture used in a school in such a way. 

In their newly designed elementary schools, that vision is built right into the building: grade-level teaching teams share spaces, co-plan daily, and take collective responsibility for every student’s growth, giving staff the collaboration they need, students the belonging they thrive on, and families the confidence that a whole team is looking out for their child, Jensenius said.

In Portage’s new schools, the seating options are catered to the different needs of that grade level. In the lower grade levels, more floor seating is available, while in older grade classrooms, there are more standing options available. Seat and table heights also vary depending on the grade level–shorter for smaller students and taller as they grow. 

The goal was to improve student engagement by providing various seating types that support multiple postures in the learning environment, promoting more choice and control for the students throughout the day.