This Michigan High School Will Include School Shooter Preventing Design Elements
Imagine if you broke your arm, visited the doctor and he only gave you pain medication. Sure, the pain would go away – but you’d still have a broken arm. Now, this might not be the greatest analogy but it pretty much gives you the idea of how the USA is solving its problem of mass shootings.
One great example of it though is the Fruitport Highschool located in Fruitport, Michigan. According to TowerPinkster, the architects that designed the school, the newly-designed two-story school will incorporate elements that would make it difficult for the gunman to carry out the shooting.
This newly-designed school in Fruitport, Michigan is said to be shooter-proof
The design elements will include curved hallways, barriers that would provide cover, shatter-proof windows, and interior locks on all classroom doors.
Furthermore, the lockers will be moved from the hallways to a large open space communal are. The height of the lockers will be reduced too so that the teachers could keep an eye on the students’ activities.
“If I go to FPH and I want to be an active shooter, I’m going in knowing I have reduced sightlines,” said Fruitport Superintendent Bob Szymoniak in an interview with The Washington Post. “[The curved hallways have] reduced his ability to do harm.”
In an interview with Dezeen, TowerPinkster have said that they have enlisted the National Institute of Crime Prevention and followed the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in Schools programme to develop the preventative design strategies.
“The training programme, CPTED in Schools, certified our staff on ways to increase safety and security on school campuses,” says the company.
Even though the school incorporates many shooter-preventing design elements, Matt Slagle, an architect working on the project, said there’s no real way to prevent someone from trying to carry out a shooting.
“Unfortunately, that’s the way things are now,” says Slagle. “We’ll never make it completely safe from someone who desires to cause harm.”
There were mixed opinions from people about the new school design with some saying that designing a shooter-proof school doesn’t solve the problem of mass shootings, and others criticizing the company for revealing the plans, saying that the gunman could simply look them up online.
The Fruitport Highschool will cost $48 million to build and will be finished sometime in 2021.
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Sarah Hassan is a travel blogger, social media, internet marketer and contributor and business development manager at Dhow Khasab Tours from Sultanate of Oman. She loves traveling, blogging, photography, beach camping and adventure. Always ready to enjoy the views of wonderful landscapes, meet amazing people, explore different cultures and explore the world beauty.