Elementary School for Salida, Colorado

ABSTRACT The elementary school will provide the opportunities for the application of cognitive architectural aspects Into the planning, design and construction of the educational facility, that will enrich the education of the students. The site Is Salida, Colorado, population of 6588. The capital and largest city of Colorado is Denver which is Northeast of Salida. Salida is located at the source of the Arkansas River In the midst of the southern Rocky Mountains. Cognition is the act of knowing, and cognitive psychology is the study of all human activities related to knowledge. Cognitive development examines the ways In which children acquire understanding of the physical world and of conceptual structures. Cognitive architecture pertains to the mental processes of perceptions that occur when we experience a building. One of the objectives of cognitive architecture Is to promote a positive process of learning. Architecture, the design of the physical world, using cognitive ideas, can develop that process for learning by the physical setting of the facility. Therefore the design of this educational facility should provide an environment that will enrich the stages of intellectual development This is an elementary school for approximately 200 students/250 people total. The school facility must respond to the process and product of education, to be able to change and be flexible with new educational techniques. The facility is an important variable in educational quality and student achievement.