Case Study Schools Reviewed by Dalhousie Team Through Nova Scotia DC350 Manual

Spatial justice

The Dalhousie research site is currently conducting a review of three case study schools through the province of Nova Scotia’s design requirements manual, the DC350. The goal of these studies is to conduct a critical review of the manual to understand how it has shaped learning spaces in schools throughout the province, identify ways that it has been subverted by designers in various ways, and to categorize tensions within the document between sustainability, equity, and social value.

The current study activity shown here is comparing the as-built drawing sets of schools to the requirements laid out by the DC350, with significant areas of influence highlighted. Specific sections of the document are referenced and compared to their spatial product, the school learning space, to allow for comparison between the two. Once this documentation of the built conditions is completed, focus will shift toward observation of the lived experience and post-occupancy alterations by students, teachers, and community members that have taken shape since the schools completion.

To learn more about the research site led by Dalhousie University in Halifax, click here.