Haley Costimiris

Immersive environments are often reduced to themed or visually driven spaces. This session challenges that perception, reframing immersion as a holistic design strategy, one that emerges when space, graphics, materiality and learning are intentionally aligned to foster exploration, curiosity, and deeper student engagement. Through a collaborative lens, an interior designer and an experiential designer will demonstrate how immersive environments are created through the alignment of space, materiality, color, and storytelling. Rather than applying graphics as decoration, this approach embeds them as teaching tools, reinforcing curriculum, encouraging curiosity, and creating meaningful connections between students and their environment. Using real-world project examples, the session will illustrate how layered design strategies — spatial planning, sensory experience, and integrated graphics — can transform interiors into active participants in the learning ecosystem.

West Field High School redefines how educational space is planned, designed, and utilized. Guided by the principle that every dollar must make sense, the design team rethought traditional spaces to create a high-performance environment. Flexible, multi-use spaces replaced conventional models, increasing utilization and reallocating area to student-centered environments. This session shares a visionary approach to designing efficient, adaptable schools that enhance learning, highlight programs, and create more engaging student experiences, with post-occupancy evaluation results demonstrating the impact.