Your phone is smart. Your house is smart. Shouldn’t your school be smart? With critical feedback and insider knowledge provided by eighth grade students at the school, TechArk built a mobile app and virtual tour around Old Donation School.
The Challenge
Old Donation School in Virginia Beach is a full-time educational institution serving children identified as gifted, in grades two through eight.
This historic building was recently rebuilt from the ground up, and the ODS staff wanted to provide students and parents with a fun way to navigate the new space as well as highlight all the building’s environmentally-friendly features.
The Solution
A highly collaborative project, ODS students determined which architectural sustainability features were notable, and wrote descriptions for each, working closely with the team at TechArk throughout testing. Descriptions of no-VOC paint throughout the building, environmentally-friendly terrazzo flooring that includes recycled material, solar tubes providing natural light, and recycle bins in the cafeteria were all written by the students.
Upon arrival, beacons sense and connect to parents’ smartphones, and from there a guided tour is just a tap away. Available tours include the Social Instructional, About ODS, and Sustainability.
