Examples of innovative school designs:

In this article section, we selected several examples of schools and kinder-gardens that have presented a breakthrough in teaching methods, but also, prove to adapt to the social and cultural conditions of the regions and the surrounding landscapes.

>  Openness to the environment and respect of the values, culture and traditions of the region.

>  Environmental friendly projects that favour an agreeable micro-climate inside the buildings.

>  Circular and open space organisation that favour indoor/outdoor interactions and communicative circulation between the indoor spaces.

>  Exploring the surrounding landscape and creating a pleasant green environment for students to play and meditate.

>  Open communicative spaces, flexible walls, comfortable seats.

We can observe in these projects that the impulsive idea behind each design is to blow away the traditional static teaching manners. On the other hand, to think of each school project as a unique entity that is affected by the specificity of the surrounding physical, social, and cultural values.

Therefore, we need to emphasise the need for post-compulsory learning and explore contemporary educational methods in theory and practice to critically involve what these teaching practices acquire as space. “Approaches to learning in educational settings are changing. Traditional teacher-centred models, where good teaching is conceptualised as the passing on of sound academic, practical or vocational knowledge, are being replaced with student-centred approaches which emphasise the construction of knowledge through shared situations.” Harrison, A and Cairns, A

Design guidelines for innovative and sustainable educational environments:

Here are several proposed design guidelines about the learning spaces’ configurations:

·      FLEXIBILITY IN THE ORGANISATION OF LEARNING SPACES. Connectivity between spaces and choosing the limits between them according to the separation purpose (Sound, Visibility…).

·    NON-LINEAR INTERACTIVITY. Spaces’ arrangement for teaching can embrace different forms and can be arranged in unlimited ways (Circular or other random configurations) to enhance the interactive communication between learners and trainers.

·       INTEGRATING SPACES FOR PRACTISING AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES (art workshops, laboratories…).

·    DIVERSITY IS A VIRTUE THAT ENHANCES TOLERANCE, RESPONSIBILITY AND OPEN MINDSETS. Mixing students from different cultures, nationalities, age groups and integrating people who have special needs, if not in all the classes subjects’ types, then in many of them.

·      LEARNING THROUGH LANDSCAPES. Integrating schools into a natural landscape and providing green spaces as real-life laboratories for practical experiments and for leisure as well.

·    REFERRING TO LOCAL TRADITIONS AND CULTURE. The city or area where the school is designed is also an important fact to consider. It is crucial to embrace the contextual social, cultural values and ethics, and also to respect the climatological conditions of the site.  

To sum up, education can be offered through less rigid approaches. It is extremely needed nowadays to make learning more interesting for students and to direct their attention to the fact that education and human values are more significant than grades.

In other words, the quality and organisation of educational spaces, both, have a crucial role and a direct impact on learning mechanisms. It is therefore of primary importance to think of innovative approaches in designing these environments, by engaging critical thinking about issues raised by teaching methods for the sake of the present and future generations.

“We need innovation in education and dedication to the task before us.” Alan Autry

References:

Boys, J., (2010), Towards Creative Learning Spaces: Re-thinking the Architecture of Post-Compulsory Education, Routledge, London and New York.

Damşa, C., Nerland, M., Zacharias E. Andreadakis, (2019), An ecological perspective on learner‐constructed learning spaces, British Journal of Educational Technology, (50th ed).

Harrison, A., Cairns, A., (2009), The changing academic workplace, DEGW UK Ltd.

Journal of Learning Spaces.