Innovative furniture manufacturer KI and the Center for Advanced Design Research and Evaluation (CADRE) have just announced KI’s role as a founding sponsor of the Coalition for the Advanced Understanding of School Environments (CAUSE). KI will support the coalition’s research on how the physical environment influences educational outcomes in K-12 schools.
We’re excited to support CAUSE in its mission to use evidence-based insights to improve educational environments. We’re eager to contribute to developing a research tool that will provide critical findings for enhancing how and where students learn.
Jonathan “Juan” Matta, research manager at KI
CAUSE convenes architecture firms, academic institutions, local school districts, and research organizations to improve educational facilities. CAUSE was founded by researchers from CADRE, Perkins&Will, HKS, Multistudio, and Austin Independent School District.
The coalition is developing a standardized, open-source post-occupancy evaluation tool to assess how the built environment — including lighting, acoustics, access to nature, ergonomic seating, and more — impacts educational outcomes in K-12 facilities. After finalizing an initial version of the tool, CAUSE will conduct a pilot study in a Texas school district this fall. The coalition aims to research how school design impacts health and educational performance, establish data collection protocols for K-12 facilities, and promote interdisciplinary collaboration and an open-source approach within the industry.
I am delighted to welcome KI as one of the founding sponsors of our CAUSE coalition. Their generous support is pivotal as we strive to integrate evidence-based, user-centric designs that cater to the diverse needs of educational communities nationwide. We thank KI for their commitment as a collaborator and financial partner in this groundbreaking endeavor.
Ana Pinto-Alexander, president of CADRE
In addition to KI’s role as a founding sponsor of CAUSE, the company’s research manager, Juan Matta, will join the coalition’s design research advisory board. Emily McGinnis, KI’s K-12 education market manager and a former teacher and principal, will serve on its school design advisory board.
Contemporary science is fundamentally a collaborative endeavor. CAUSE represents an industry commitment to working across organizations to generate better data that can improve the positive impacts of design for teachers and students. The strength of our initiative comes from the expertise provided by our many leaders across research and design, and only by pooling our collective wisdom can we advance our efforts toward evidence-driven design excellence.
Michael Ralph, founding coalition member and vice president at Multistudio
Learn more about the Coalition for the Advanced Understanding of School Environments (CAUSE) online.