Rethinking school design in an age of gun violence

Since 2012, there have been 49 mass shootings at U.S. schools (with four or more injured or killed), involving hundreds of victims, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Mass shootings overall in the United States nearly tripled in that same time period.

Today, students in American schools exist in a reality of heightened vigilance to the ever-present threat of an active shooter situation, with metal detectors, bag checks, lockdown drills, and constant surveillance stirring feelings of anxiety as much they support a sense of security.

“As a high school student, I realized lockdown drills and school shootings had become the norm. Just doing these drills was traumatic for me and my peers. We know there are threats out there, yet being in a school sometimes doesn’t feel safe in itself,” Presutti says. “Students see themselves as targets in their everyday experience of school, which is really sad.”

This is where architecture comes in, says Presutti, 2025-26 Eberhard Research Fellow at the School of Architecture and Planning, who for the past year has investigated design as a solution for security and well-being across the spectrum of students’ physical, intellectual, social, emotional, and mental health needs.

“I’m frustrated by the fact that nothing gets done about this in our country. Architecture shouldn’t have to be the answer, but it also has been put in a place where it can take action. The building can better support students in both their security and overall well-being.”

Presutti is pursuing the research endeavor thanks to support from the Eberhard Research Fellowship, an award made annually to an exceptional MArch student in recognition of the School’s founding dean, John Eberhard (1927-2020). 

Graduating at the top of her class in 2025 with a BS in Architecture, Presutti says she has always been inclined toward research, but the Eberhard Fellowship provided the encouragement she needed to take on a big project like the Master of Architecture thesis. “I’ve always had an interest in architecture and its impact on mental well-being. The Fellowship allowed me to dive into something I wanted to learn more about,” adds Presutti, who will graduate with her MArch in Fall 2026.

Her decision to focus on school design in an age of gun violence was influenced by a Spring 2025 studio on trauma-informed design under the direction Korydon Smith, associate professor of architecture. Among the precedent studies examined for the studio project was the redesign of Sandy Hook, rebuilt in 2016 based on the principles of trauma-informed design and the balance of heightened security measures with the creation of a serene learning environment. “That studio is where the idea started. I was interested in what we were doing the entire semester."

Throughout modern history, Presutti’s research shows, school buildings have adapted to external threats and shifting social priorities, from the creation of open-air schools during the spread of tuberculosis in the early 20^th century, to the addition of fallout shelters during the Cold War era.

Using her own high school – Webster Thomas High School in Webster, N.Y. – as a case study, Presutti focuses her research on the most prevalent school building type today: the postwar school building. Constructed between 1950 and 1969 amidst the postwar Baby Boom, the building type constitutes nearly half of all American schools today and features efficiency-driven designs with boxy, brick forms and long, narrow, double-loaded corridors.

At Webster Thomas High School, built in 1960, non-integrated building sections, multiple entry points, and long hallways create vulnerabilities for occupants. “If you’re in one of these spaces, it’s impossible for anyone to tell you where the threat is in the school. It is also difficult to isolate these areas in the event of an emergency. Students in corridors are exposed, with exits and places of refuge hard to access.”

As these schools age and adapt to today’s educational environment, differing – and sometimes opposing – design strategies are often employed for security enhancements and ongoing renovation, leading to inadequate solutions for student well-being not to mention inefficient use of limited resources.

“Reframing security as a supportive spatial condition has the potential to shift how the design disciplines participate in making students not only more secure in a crisis, but also more supported in their everyday lives and educational pursuits,” Presutti says. “Without such an approach, postwar schools risk becoming environments that are either psychologically burdensome or spatially vulnerable in moments of crisis.”

“This is a radical approach,” admits Presutti. “Renovations at postwar schools happen all the time – from roof repairs to new classrooms – but on an ad hoc basis. This approach offers a more holistic redesign scenario and looks at the school as a whole.”

The project took shape from her thesis committee, chaired by Erkin Özay, associate professor and chair of architecture, whose research examines how institutional settings and urban interventions can serve as shelter from structural inequities for vulnerable communities. Also advising Presutti on her thesis committee was Beth Tauke, a now-retired associate professor of architecture and internationally recognized expert on design education and inclusive design.

Her research refers to architectural design guidelines such as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, which uses territorial reinforcement, access control, natural surveillance, and maintenance to deter crime, and trauma-informed design, which applies the principles of trauma-informed care into the built environment to create safe and empowering spaces that foster healing, community, and dignity.

Through site visits, analysis of architectural floor plans, and a review of precedent redesigns such as Sandy Hook and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (where 17 students and faculty members were killed in a mass shooting in 2018), Presutti identified design solutions that intersect with student security and overall well-being. Her spatial analysis of Webster Thomas High School also incorporates isovist theory, or the relationship between space and experiential factors like visibility and motion, as well as prospect and refuge theory, which examines evolutionarily-linked human preferences for environments that allow for easy threat identification and access to hidden areas to avoid danger. 

Employing a layered organizational strategy, Presutti's design recommendations focus on the concept of porosity – or the strategic use of openings and permeable borders – to create clarity in circulation and access and strategically enhance visibility for security, connection, and community-building.

"Together, these layers shift the school away from the logic of fortification toward the logic of care," says Presutti.

Her renovation proposal for Webster Thomas High School would reconfigure the building in key ways, consolidating multiple entry points into a single, main entrance and maintaining anchor spaces like the library, gymnasium, and auditorium as a cohesive "L-shaped" public-facing zone. "This separation from private classroom areas creates a form of territorial reinforcement, showing who is allowed where, and allowing for a more efficient lockdown of separate zones."

“Multiple entries weaken both security and clarity," says Presutti. "This scheme organizes arrival into one clearly legible space. Also, in terms of well-being, research shows that being able to clearly navigate a building reduces stress on a day-to-day basis while also supporting safety in case of an emergency."

Learning spaces would be reorganized into three new classroom wings, further divided into commuity clusters that "peel open" to create a network of interior and exterior landscapes, fostering both a greater sense of connection and safer circulation paths. Instead of long, narrow hallways, corridors widen at key shared spaces within the wings, offering hybrid spaces for group learning, clearer navigation and increased access to points of egress.

The classroom entry would be recessed with a "front porch" transition from the hallway, creating a self-regulation zone within the classroom that doubles as concealed refuge.  Meanwhile, operable walls between classrooms support flexible learning environments as well as connections to shared spaces. 

The comprehensive scheme would transform the building's highly standardized, box-like framework with slanted ceilings and skylights that add for variety to the spatial experience and flood spaces with natural light. Direct outdoor access within classrooms connect students to outdoor learning environments while adding points of escape. Exterior enhancements include the creation of winding pathways and topographical variation to slow down an attacker and foster a serene environment. 

"I started my thesis with a worry about how schools could be more secure in the age of gun violence and saw that current solutions rely heavily on control, regulation, and the creation of prison-like environments," Presutti reflects. "I ended up learning about how a sense of safety must precede the anxieties of security and the spatial burdens that brings to educational spaces. Architecture cannot solve gun violence, but it can reduce confusion, support trust, and create moments of refuge while reinforcing conditions for learning to thrive." 

Presutti defended her final thesis research on May 4 to an audience of faculty advisors, students, and visiting critics including educators and architects specializing in school design. 

Looking ahead, Presutti is off to Japan this summer for her final semester abroad before taking on a full-time position with the Buffalo office of SWBR, a multidisciplinary design firm. “I hope to continue pursuing design research as a professional architect,” Presutti says. “My experience as an Eberhard Research Fellow has been great. It pushed me to work hard and make the School of Architecture and Planning proud.”