EDspaces, which kicks off later this week in Columbus, has always felt a little like a design laboratory: part trade show, part classroom, part think tank. Step into its Designed Learning Spaces and you’re walking through scenarios that show how students learn now and what they’ll need next. The annual gathering has become a look into the future of education, where manufacturers, architects, facility planners and educators come together to map out the classroom of tomorrow.
The most obvious shift in education is simple: Rigidity is out. Desks on casters, modular tables, stackable chairs and mobile teacher stations allow rooms to change in minutes instead of months. That mobility supports micro-lessons, rapid group reconfiguration and the kind of learner choice that modern pedagogy demands.
In K–12 contexts this has translated to classrooms that can switch between independent focus, small-group stations and whole-class interactive work without a custodial crew or a structural renovation. Educators who attend the show point to furniture as the single most democratizing design tool: flexible components let a single room host multiple teaching modes and multiple age groups across a day.
But furniture is only the visible part of the redesign. Technology is remaking education. Forward-thinking colleges now plan rooms so that on-campus and remote students participate equally with high-quality cameras and audio capture, lecture-capture systems and simplified control interfaces so instructors can focusing teaching, not troubleshooting. Those capabilities reflect a new normal in which students expect seamless digital access and immediate, on-demand content. The challenge for institutions is less which technology to buy and more how to integrate it with pedagogy and staff training.
EDspaces is where educational space design comes together. A designed classroom might pair flexible seating with zoned lighting, writable surfaces and embedded AV so a small group can work at a team table while another group livestreams a presentation. The result is a layered environment where physical and digital spaces are intentionally co-designed rather than retrofitted. This matters in higher education classrooms where active learning — think team-based problem solving rather than solitary lectures — requires zoning and technology that can pivot on the instructor’s cue.
Equity and well-being are now design criteria in education as well. Acoustic treatment, soft furnishings, daylighting strategies and attention to air quality are becoming classroom critical. For K–12 learners, who are still developing attention and self-regulation skills, these features are crucial: better acoustics reduce cognitive load; daylight and biophilic touches support mood and concentration; and sensory Nooks offer regulated breaks for students with diverse needs. Designers are thinking holistically and they know learning happens best when bodies, brains and tech are equally important in the design.
Sustainability shows up in the classroom as durable, repairable furniture; low-VOC finishes; and product transparency that helps districts and universities measure environmental impact. Procurement decisions now consider a chair’s lifecycle, not just its sticker price.
Yet the vendors and educators who attend EDspaces are pragmatic: great furniture or flashy technology won’t change outcomes by itself. Implementation depends on curriculum design, professional development and operational support.
K–12 districts are balancing the excitement of new pedagogies with the realities of aging buildings, funding cycles and safety requirements, which means many innovations diffuse incrementally rather than overnight.
What EDspaces makes clear is that the classroom of the future is less a single picture and more a palette: systems of furniture, light, sound and software that can be recomposed to meet learning goals. The event’s real contribution is showing those systems in action and giving educators the chance to test run ideas before they commit district budgets or campus master plans. If the past few decades flipped the script from teacher-centered rows to learner-centered zones, the next 10 years look like they’ll be about making those zones resilient, inclusive and digitally native.
For designers and decision-makers heading to EDspaces this week, the takeaway will be straightforward: Plan for change. Invest in durable flexibility, match technology to pedagogy, and measure success by how classrooms support a range of learners and teaching styles, not how they look in a brochure. EDspaces doesn’t promise a single answer; it offers a continuing conversation.