Wm. B. Ittner revolutionized school planning across the nation beginning in 1899. Through the decades, Ittner has pioneered innovations in planning and building design that led to the creation of today’s schools with design features that continue to be widely imitated. Early Ittner innovations included the inclusion of natural light, integrated ventilation, standardized plans and the Community School concept. That pioneering spirit continues as we seek continuous improvement and innovations to optimize performance and experience in our designs.

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Integrated Ventilation that improved the health of learning environments. Chases were designed behind lockers in both corridors and locker rooms, pulling air through the school and out through chimneys. Today, building codes have progressed to ensure the proper amount of fresh air is introduced into schools.

Natural Light was maximized using large windows, skylights, and lightwells that were combined with monumental stairs introducing light into the center of the building. Today, the use of natural light has progressed into designing spaces using daylight harvesting.

Standardized Plans were developed that efficiently connected all the specialized spaces of the school into the desired culture for learning.  These included the H-Plan, I-Plan, and the L-Plan.

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The Community School Concept was developed using site planning concepts that made resources available to residents of the surrounding area. The school’s plan was zoned to allow for specialized areas to be available for after-hours use. 

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