We don't build schools.
We architect the future of learning.
Research shows optimally designed learning environments improve student engagement by 16–25%. We've applied these findings across 700+ projects in 59 countries.
For twenty-six years, we have applied research, neuroscience, and educational pedagogy to the architecture of learning. Our designs do not just house education — they improve it, measurably, across continents.
Changing the dialogue about school design.
The Homeroom Myth: Why Confinement Is Not Connection
Every school accepts that the timetable can change and that teaching can be shared. Then someone asks what happens to the homeroom. The feeling behind that question is right, but the mechanism it assumes is not: one adult and thirty children confined to a single…
Read the essay →What do innovative learning spaces look like around the world?
Sherman Inspire Academy
SIA has been created from the ground up to support its inquiry-based curriculum. It is one of EDI's most efficient and cost-effective K-12 schools worldwide.
Learn More →Beijing Navigation School
This one-million-square-foot campus is the first of its kind in China. It is designed around student-centered learning and features some of the most extensive amenities found anywhere in the world.
Learn More →Tianjin Experimental School
A K-12 campus reimagined as an interconnected, student-centered village — designed around Small Learning Communities, signature learning stairs, and biophilic principles that replace "cells and bells" with fluid spaces for inquiry.
Learn More →Col·legi Montserrat
Our design for this school has won global acclaim and inspired a highly regarded book on education titled FLOW by the head of school, Sra. Núria Miró.
Learn More →American Embassy School
EDI was charged with redesigning the AES campus. AES is a premier beacon of international education that empowers students to thrive as culturally adept global citizens.
Learn More →Fisher STEAM Middle School
The MacConnell Award-winning Fisher School serves as a premier "living laboratory" where students engage in high-impact, project-based learning in a facility designed to mirror the collaborative spirit of the modern workplace.
Learn More →Four practices, one discipline.
Educational Visioning & Master Planning
We facilitate Discovery workshops to align stakeholders around a pedagogical vision before drawing a single line — then translate that vision into a comprehensive Campus & Facilities Master Plan that defines learning, space, schedule, and ethos for the whole site.
See More →Architectural Design
We replace outdated "cells and bells" layouts with agile learning communities. Our designs apply 28 proven patterns to create environments where students thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.
See More →Feasibility Studies
Data-driven analysis of your facilities and enrollment provides a rigorous business case for transformation — identifying how to reclaim 15–30% of wasted hallway and underutilized space.
See More →Learning Effectiveness Evaluation
Our proprietary Healthy School Assessment Tool (HSAT) measures your environment's performance against learning outcomes. An evidence-led approach that supports mental health, focus, and long-term student success.
See More →How do we measure the impact of school design?
EDI's research team conducts rigorous post-occupancy evaluations using proprietary assessment tools. Our work has been co-authored with the late Harvard Professor Emeritus Dr. Richard Elmore, and our founding president teaches Leaders of Learning on Harvard edX — a course that has reached over 420,000 participants worldwide.
These are not aspirational claims. They are measured outcomes.
Five books. 29 papers. One library of evidence.
Blueprint for Tomorrow
Redesigning Schools for Student-Centered Learning
A New Language of School Design
Evidence-Based Strategies for Student Achievement
The architects and educators behind EDI.
Prakash Nair, AIA
Founding President & CEO
Renowned Innovative School Architect · TEDx Speaker · Author of 5 Books
Dr. Kevin Bartlett
Director of Education
Founding Director, Common Ground Collaborative · 40+ years in international education
Bipin Bhadran
Managing Director
Regional Lead, Asia · Middle East · Africa — 20+ years in education design
Louis Sirota, AIA
Director of Design
Award-winning architect · specialist in learning environments
Dr. Parul Minhas
Director of Research
Education research · evidence-based design · co-author, A New Language of School Design
How we think about school design.
EDI is a licensed architecture practice — not a consultancy. On projects worldwide we serve as architect, and on many as architect or engineer of record; when we partner with local firms for production, design authorship and architectural leadership stay with EDI.
Learn more →The most damaging assumption still embedded in school design is the factory-era "cells and bells" model, which assumes learning happens best when students sit in rigid rows, grouped strictly by age, receiving knowledge from a single authority figure.
Learn more →The ideal modern school isn't a static blueprint; it is a living ecosystem organized around interconnected learning communities that fluidly adapt to the emotional, physical, and cognitive needs of its learners.
Learn more →Unlike the chaotic open-plan experiments of the 1970s, our Small Learning Community (SLC) model relies on strict acoustic planning, zoning, structural coherence, and intensive professional development.
Learn more →Direct instruction is not replaced in our model; rather, it is restored to its proper balance as one of many strategic tools available to educators, instead of being the dominant daily mode.
Learn more →Student mental health is supported by foundational design patterns including natural light, biophilic views, soft living-room-scaled seating, and quiet zones that honor different temperaments.
Learn more →Real student agency requires design choices that reject compliance infrastructure. We utilize flexible furniture, passive supervision, project zones, and archetypal spaces like caves and campfires.
Learn more →True sustainability isn't a superficial checklist; it means embedding passive design principles and transforming the building infrastructure itself into an active, visible teaching tool.
Learn more →Impactful design is rooted in alignment and mindset, not expensive architecture. Schools can radically transform existing layouts by shifting toward movement, choice, and trust.
Learn more →Ready to design a school that inspires?
Whether you're building new or transforming existing spaces, our team will guide you from educational vision to architectural reality.