Future education: designing towards better educational spaces

Regardless of curriculum, the design of educational spaces plays a role in the efficient use of school time. It serves not only to educate students but to help them enjoy attending school because they love their school building, and the atmosphere it creates. [1]

If you’ve been following my previous posts (its OK  you can go back and read them now) you will know that I’ve harped on about how important it is that our schools adopt to a new ‘open plan’ type environment to enable interdisciplinary learning and give students a variety of spaces to help support their individual learning styles. So we know the benefits of this school design style right?

OK, for everyone who might have missed it here's a quick recap…

• Giving student’s choice
• Changing environment to avoid boredom, therefore better student engagement
• Give students responsibility for their own learning
• Springboard for university and future education
• Opportunity for interdisciplinary learning
•  Better social setting for better school environment
• Give students chance for ownership of space > they will want to attend school > greater student attendance
• Encourage sense of community
• Better collaborating between staff and students
• Opportunity for better engagement between different year levels

Ok got the gist?

Now my thinking is how do you make this all happen? Architects can be fantastic, but do they really know the solution. So we ask the school board, that’s not much help they would have graduated school over 40 years ago, a lot has changed since then. Ok we go to the staff, yep now we are getting somewhere. But let’s be honest the best insights are going to be from the students, they use the school, they know what they do and don’t like, they know what works.

So it’s been decided a collaborative design approach is the way to go (we kind of all knew this though, didn’t we).

“Involvement of school users in the design process will tend to increase their sense of ownership of the resulting environment.”[1]

This is all well and good; to have students, staff and the school community involved in a collaborative design process to ensure you get the most out of the design; and yes it will provide students with a sense of ownership over the school. Yet as those students involved in the design move on, how do you engage the new cohort, to ensure that they have this same sense of pride and ownership; to make their mark if you will?

Some weeks ago I attended an open day for Christian Brothers College situated in the heart of Adelaide’s CBD. They have found a successful way in which to engage the students and allow them to influence their school design. Every few years a group of students are put in charge of designing and constructing furniture for use in the school grounds as part of their wood and metal works classes. This has been an exceptionally successful project. The deputy headmaster claimed that as a result there was less damage to the furniture as the boys had a sense of pride over the work and there was an increase in the spaces use.

CBC student in their Adelaide City Electro Technology Trade Traning Centre

Source: http://www.cbc.sa.edu.au/files/3729.jpg

For me this is what it’s about. Engaging the students, on a minor level by offering ample space for displays of work; allowing for movable furniture and partition walls; or on a larger scale influencing the design and use the of space. 

What could you change, what would you change, how do we make it exciting and interesting. 

I will be investigating this in my studio project this semester (only 4 weeks left, ahhhhh). I want to explore how the space i design can address all of this to find a balanced environment that students enjoy being in. But most of all a space that can enhance their learning potential and adapt to the changing world.

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[1] Woolner, P 2010, The design of learning spaces, Continuum International Pub. Group, New York.
[2] Woolner, P 2010, The design of learning spaces, Continuum International Pub. Group, New York. pp39