Jim Determan

Jim Determan, FAIA is a Principal in the Baltimore office of Craig Gaulden Davis, Inc. For over 35 years Jim has designed K12 and higher education facilities with emphasis on how spaces enhance learning and the student experience. He is an active member of the AIA Committee on Architecture for Education and the Learning Space Collaboratory. Jim has presented innovative design and learning space research to audiences throughout the country. He is a passionate advocate for school design and has impacted public policy by providing testimony at local school boards, Baltimore City Council, Maryland General Assembly and the United States House of Representatives.

Jim partners with educators and scientists at Morgan State University to produce learning space research. The research team published a study in 2015 proving how the design of learning spaces enhance outcomes for ethnically diverse students in active learning classrooms. In 2019, the research team, joined by the Salk Institute and Terrapin Bright Green completed a study that associates biophilic design with reduced student stress and significantly improved learning outcomes for middle school students in a Baltimore City charter school.