Designing for Safety and Security: Protecting Students While Supporting Healthy School Environments-Designing for Safety and Security: Protecting Students While Supporting Healthy School Environments

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The session opened with housekeeping for the AIA New York State Education Design Summit and introduced a panel focused on designing schools for safety and security while preserving healthy learning environments. The panel included law enforcement and facilities experts who discussed how architects can support school safety through planning, design, and collaboration with districts and first responders.<br /><br />Officer Todd Atkin emphasized the urgency of school security, citing the speed of active assailant events and the importance of buying time through lockdown procedures, limited access points, secure classrooms, and hidden shelter areas. He described tools such as vestibules, visitor vetting systems, crash bars, ballistic film, and classroom layouts that keep students out of sight. He also encouraged architects to participate in lockdown drills to better understand real conditions.<br /><br />Frank Janisse outlined a layered design approach: site and perimeter planning, natural surveillance, controlled entry, secure lobbies, classroom lockdown capability, and sight-line reduction. He stressed that security measures should be integrated early and remain largely invisible so schools still feel welcoming.<br /><br />Tom Rockenova and Walter Rivera expanded on “five D” security principles—deter, detect, deny, delay, and defend—and the value of involving security professionals, administrators, and law enforcement in design discussions from the start. They covered vestibule design, door hardware, glazing, access control, site circulation, landscaping, lighting, and construction staging considerations. Their central message was that strong school design should delay a threat long enough for responders to arrive and protect occupants.<br /><br />The session closed with a reminder that preparedness, training, and thoughtful design are essential, and that the true measure of a secure building is how it performs in an emergency.

Keywords

school safety

security design

AIA New York State

education summit

lockdown procedures

layered security

secure classrooms

vestibule design

access control

emergency preparedness

school architecture