Building Schools
Key Issues
for Contemporary
DESISN smnuecines eo)Contents
Preface
Introduction: Perspectives on New School Building
{9 About this book / 1 Selected school bulding programmes /20 Lessons learned
1. From Ideas for Learning to Architectural Form
26 Transformational ideas /28 Theschool as a workplace /
'38,Aschoo|ithina school 42 Open studio tearing
38 Subject specif learning bases |
2. Nature, Ecology and Environmental Design
50 Linking learning toocology~ The Forest School movamant~ Schoals and the natura lemants/
‘54 Gerius loci Life eelesin schools ~ Native materials and indigenous technalogins - Environmental
‘and sacal sustainably / 60 Sohool desig and environmental standards ~The Passivhaus ~ Towards
carbon neutral schools
3 Flexible Space for Learning
“72 Moving pars -Raconiguing lesrning space DWviing large spaces / 76 Large multi-purpose
spaces ~ Central atrium ~ The multi-functional staircase / Temporary school bulktings~ Modular
solutions ~ Mobie lessons / 88 Long-term flewbity: adaptable space design - Manipulating icenal
space ~ Learning cluster organisation / 87 Moving the who school
4 Schools and the community
182 Community access ~ An open Facil - Bringing generations together - Schools
integrated inta scialfabrie~ Cultural eahesion and celebration of diversity /100 Catalysts for
regeneration ~ Ralsing aspirations
‘5 Participating in the Design and Construction Process
‘10 The benefits oa participative approach - The diference between consultation and patpation -
The rol of young prope within the design process /1 Developing a desig brie Collaborative
biebulcing -Empowaring the uses 144 Design imolement~ Participatory involvementin smaller
projects - Colabaratve design - Getting active atthe building ste ~ Learning thraugh building ~ Cam
munity sal-buidl project ~Post-occupancy evaluation: montoring use and performance
6 Learning outside the Classroom
182 Settings for personalised learring - Entering a school - entrances to subject areas /148 Colour and
material / 147 Groulation spaces, corridors and service areas - Toles
48
70
108
1307. Learning in the Landscape
188 Learning outside: using the school landscape - & community playground - Topography and existing
sof landscape ~ Recreation and sport Teaching nthe landscape
18 Spectal Schools should be special
174 ainsteam or special choos? 198 Legilty /¥29 Inclusion and equality /188 Co-location /
184 Communty interaction / 188 Proparing for adut fe
9 Refurbishment and Extension of Existing Schools
194 Transforming school buldigs 208 Creating new oF reinforcing exsting enti / 207 Unifying
thecampus /m2strategicalterations and chased development /a14 Adeptation of ater buildings
and profabriction
10 Furniture and Equipment in Learning spaces
‘229 Making and marking space ~ Chairs and desks ~ Creating a sense af entrance Dividing space /
26 "where are we going to put everything’ Furriture fo storage ~Fivad and mobile storage
solutions — integrating storagonto the building / 288 Future components: a varety of approachos —
CConvorine furniture ~Furricureincegrated with fires and servieas — using the building abe
sibliography
Indexof euildings, architects and Locations
stration credes
156
220
26
ae1 From Ideas for
Learning to
Architectural
Form / PRUE CHILES
itis generally acknowledged that the design of naw schools should be based on an understanding of
current research on how children learn. Few schools have experimented with alternative pedagogical
methods or explored the boundaries of accepted ways of arranging space and facilities for learning,
In some recently built schools ideas from higher education or the workplace have driven the use
{and form of space. However, do children need to be In an office before they are adults and is this what
schools in Denmark, Finland and Norway stand out as particularly
we want for our children? Some ne
innovative at experimenting with new spatial arrangements for new learning paradigms,
The Uk's Building Schools for the Future programme, fram 2004 to 2012. aimed to transform education
through the renewal of all the UK's secondary schools. As an important part of this programme every
school was required to articulate its educational vision as part of the briefing process, Running with this
programme, the new public private partnership af Academies has produced same of the mast
successful schools over the past decade, They display some interesting ideas for new forms of learning
and architectural solutions to those ideas, Perhaps due to the sponsorship and briefing from industry
partners they are often quite corporate in appearance but generally better at opening their facilities to
the wider community. How much real innovation and how many new ideas were developed throughout
the wider Building Schools for the Future programme is questionable. Was there, in fact, a raturn ta
old ideas?
This chapter looks at some of the imaginative and creative use of space in recent schools that
is driven by new understandings of how children might learn more effectively, and the architectural
vision that is built around these.
‘ORESTAD COLLEGE IN ORESTAD, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK [348 Architects, 2007)
‘The creuar“pod allow stdotsto stn ina mor eal and informal spaceLHELLERUP SCHOOL IN GENTOFTE, DENMARK [artes 202)
‘Thi apen-pan schoo has many iferma laring areas, ith sofas and pods branching out fem te canta tales, The central talrass the
‘main eure of thi schoo and ithas been replicated many tines in other educational uldinge sound the world ane, she bear of the blag,
the male meeting pace andthe st space one encounters upon entering the Schoo,
Transformational ideas
in England the last school building programme on asim
lar scale as Building Schools Fr the Future was half a
‘century ago the in 19608. n England in 1975 an interna
tional survey was published exploring schools but inthe
(ate 2602 andearly19703, whose buildings were thought
ta be representative of advanced pedagogical thinking. t