HANNIBAL, MO. -- There are many thoughts people have when you mention the words Columbine or Sandy Hook.

Some of those words include school violence, security, metal detectors and armed guards. But now there are some schools that have recently opened that have been being designed with visibility and human contact in mind.

For example when you walk up to the door at the Mark Twain Elementary School in Hannibal, you're greeted by a locked door and an intercom system.

It's all part of the newly constructed elementary school that just opened last fall.

Karen Wheelan has been the principal at the school for the past ten years and she was the principal at the old Mark Twain elementary. She said the new security measures that have been implemented at the school are part of today's society.

"We're just a lot more secure here, where we just allow people to enter through just one entrance area. They have to be buzzed into that area, once they're in the only place for them to go is into the office and then we can contain people in there if we need to, because they have to be buzzed out of the office actually to get into the main building," Wheelan said.

Martin Meyer is an architect with Architechnics in Quincy. He's been designing buildings for more then 20 years and he said when he designs a building now, there's more then just electrical and mechanical blueprints involved. He consults with school districts and then lays out a plan for the building.

"They have their curriculum, the architectural response to that curriculum is the design goal and security is part of that so I want to open their eyes to a lot of different aspects of school design, not just security. That is one that we've used successfully with a lot of different school clients and I think they understand it now and they appreciate having that insight," Meyer said.

Meyer also said that the key to this design, no matter if it's a school or other public building, is to control access and not limit access. Making one door the main entry point for entering no matter who it is.

"It's mainly just creating an environment that allows for natural visibility to see something coming. The ability to not necessarily limit access, but control access. It also relies heavily on just that human interaction, if I'm being watched I'm going to behave and that's the whole principal behind this," Meyer said.

The passive security strategy idea came from an architect who in the 1980s shared his ideas for this type of design, not just necessarily for schools but for any type of public building that needs to have security as a top priority.