Becky Brady on NPR Discussing School Safety and Design

The NPR member radio station, KJZZ of Phoenix, AZ, recently interviewed architect Becky Brady on their broadcast “The Show” to discuss how the design of a school can help promote safety.

A safe, secure building and an open, inviting space may seem at first to contradict each other, but it is the layering of community and inclusion that cultivates a safe environment in a school.

“The scale of a school within the community, (the school) serving as a community, and then having those micro-communities within the school,” Becky states in the interview. “All of these are working together to help ensure safety in the school.”

Becky is an architect specializing in K-12 education design and a leading advocate for the creation of safe, engaging learning environments. She is passionate about school safety, with an emphasis on prevention tactics that seamlessly blend into a positive school setting such as outdoor experiences, open design concepts, and streamlined entrances. Becky has authored content on this topic including Safer K-12 Design: School Should Look – and Feel – Like School and The Value of Outdoor Environments to K-12 Learning, Health, and Student Safety. She was also a student at Virginia Tech on campus during the 2007 shooting.

Listen to the full interview on KJZZ.