(October 6, 2019) – For the third time in nine years, DLR Group has earned the highest honor in the K-12 industry by winning the Association for Learning Environments James D. MacConnell Award. DLR Group was presented the award at the LearningSCAPES conference on October 4 for its design of Canyon View High School in Phoenix, Arizona.

This international award recognizes outstanding comprehensive planning processes that result in innovative designs to facilitate student achievement. Two DLR Group designs were named finalists in 2019. In addition to Canyon View High School, A4LE recognized Pathfinder Kindergarten Center as one of the top three school designs.

“The MacConnell Award is the most coveted in the industry, and DLR Group is celebrating doubly this year as two of the three finalists are DLR Group-designed schools. I’m thrilled that our peers have acknowledged the firm’s commitment to forward-thinking designs that elevate learning,” said DLR Group Senior Principal Jim French, FAIA. “DLR Group continues to raise the bar in education design.”

DLR Group’s design for Canyon View High School is comprised of future-ready spaces and places that empower students to develop critical competencies through deep learning. By gaining real-world experience, students learn skills that are in demand and businesses are provided with a career ready workforce. The facility is home to a first-of-its-kind teaching and learning accelerator, an open-source incubator for the art of teaching and learning. Faculty from around the district come to develop and practice modern pedagogies; visiting speakers share knowledge; and students and community partners explore teacher-to-student frameworks, student-to-student collaboration, and evolve the student-to-teacher relationship.

DLR Group was the first firm in the history of the MacConnell award program to win the top prize consecutively in 2011 and 2012 for Marysville Getchell High School and Joplin Interim High School respectively.