Speaker

Matt Slagle

Director of K-12 Education, Principal

Matt Slagle, AIA, serves as Director of K-12 Design for TowerPinkster. Matt has worked on more than $100 million of school facilities that improve the experience of students and faculty. He brings a vast amount of experience in educational facility design at both the K-12 and university levels. A registered architect in both Michigan and Colorado, Matt received his masters degree in architecture from the University of Colorado. His expertise in building design is complemented by his highly developed skills in space planning and graphic design. Matt has been awarded the AIA Grand Rapids and AIA National Young Architect of the Year Award. A sought after speaker on safe school design, Matt has been interviewed by CNN, Detroit News, The Washington Post, Newsweek, WZZM, Fox 17, and others. TowerPinkster is a 200+ person design firm founded in 1953. It has grown significantly over the years and was recently ranked as Top 25 K-12 Design Firm by Building Design + Construction. In 2022, TowerPinkster was named Firm of the Year by AIA Michigan.

AllSessions

Day 2
January 19, 2023
3:15 pm

Safe Schools By Design

19 January
Time:  3:15 pm - 4:30 pm
Location:  Glens I

How to make schools safer is an age-old question. Prior to the pandemic, conversations around safety were mainly focused on the physical wellbeing of students and staff. Since 2020, as the mental health crisis among students has grown, the conversation has broadened to include emotional wellbeing. As architects and designers, the desire to create a "safer" school can feel overwhelming and insurmountable. Through their work with more than 100 school districts, public safety institutions, and security organizations, TowerPinkster has developed strategies and programs that support a safer school environment. Matt Slagle, AIA, and Director of K-12 Education, will share the latest trends in school safety, talk about the importance of emotional wellbeing, and discuss approaches TowerPinkster has taken to integrate safety in ways that are both visible and invisible to students and staff.

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