The Visit: Flying Classrooms - Part I

I recently visited an exhibit at the Architekturzentrum Wien titled "Fliegende Klassenzimmer. Wir machen Schule." Translated to English, the exhibit is "Flying Classrooms. We are creating schools."

'Flying Classrooms' engages with the mutual interrelationship between the architectural space and teaching and learning. Manipulated furniture, space in an extendable fabric tube and full-scale models invite the visitor to experience with new spatial solutions. Historical examples and innovative school buildings from 1950 to 1980 from the Architekturzentrum Wien archives add depth to a research-based approach.

The exhibit is for everbody with an interest in education and the basic spatial requirements involved. It is a place of dialogue between school children, teachers and parents, as well as with architects and politicans.

-exhibition brochure

The exhibit is a starting point for spatial ideas - from the micro (furniture, a single classroom) to the macro (the school building) - it questions how we traditionally design schools and whether there are more comfortable approaches to space that will aid in children learning.

Reinventing the classroom does not have to be expensive nor time-consuming. It may include rearranging the furniture or creating a special space within the classroom.

Micro Scale
In the center of the exhibition there is a red cloth, simply strung to the ceiling with various holes in the top to allow for the passage of light. Inside there are pillows on the floor where students are able to read a book or a small group discussion can form. The space shuts off the visual distractions of the classroom, increasing concentration. The structural fabric forms to the shape of each person, creating an individual, comfortable experience.
 

The exhibit does not discount the opinions or ideas of the student. While it appears obvious that we should ask those individuals learning in the space, often architects designing schools hear from the school administrators, the teachers and the parents, with the students' voices neglected.

A comment form a 16 year old high school student stood out amongst the others, "...just some comfortable chairs that are good for listening. I don't think that we'll all fall asleep just because we're sitting in comfortable chairs. There is one comfortable chair: the teacher's. And what about us? We have to sit on our hard little wooden chairs. If each of us could bring a chair from home, or if a number of different chairs were available, we would each pick our own. Then everything would be much more personal. And when I come to school in the morning, my chair would be right where I left it, and what a pleasure it would be sit in it. It would be great - and quite an imporvement to the overall mood!"

A simple change to the classroom furniture, such as individualizing chairs, will make learning more comfortable for students. I wish my office would allow individual chair selection!

Additionally, students were asked to devise areas - create a space - where they would like to learn.

What are some classroom ideas that you have or you have seen implemented?

Macro Scale
In a future post, I will discuss case studies of schools that have stepped outside of the traditional school building - including one that has abolished the classroom.


 

Play For All Abilities

You can help. The City of Round Rock, Texas is building a playground for children of all abilities.

Red Rover, Red Rover

Recess is a favorite part of the day for many school-aged children. As a designer, I can relate. While many of my peers complain of their corporate office environments where they relate their working experiences to situations from the movie Office Space, my daily professional activities are often equated to those of a Kindergartener. I draw, color and play with blocks. Additionally, as a project progresses into the Construction Administration phase, there are site visits. These site visits are the equivalent of recess for those that have an undying enthusiasm for the built environment.

School design is different than office design. In offices, there are two types of spaces - public and private. The public spaces are open to everyone whereas the private spaces are only for employees. Some companies have interstitial zones, often called 'wintergardens' or 'communicative areas.' These areas may be entirely public or entirely private, but often they exist somewhere between the two. Traditionally, in schools, the distinction has been between internal (classrooms) and external (playground) spaces. (Today, some schools have a public and private distinction due to new security demands.)

When designing a school, it is important that the external spaces are considered as much as the internal spaces. If designed and utilized correctly, both can be important educational spaces. As more attention is drawn to finding the best solutions for incorporating technological advances into educational design, we should not overlook those spaces where the activities occur that children most frequently contribute to the favorite part of their day.

As a designer, "playing" with the notion of blending the external and internal spaces to create one educational continuum, several questions arise. Are there interstitial zones that exist between the external and the internal? How are these zones utilized? Are there elements and/or lessons of the playground that can be incorporated into the classroom and vice versa?

In my research, I have come across two nonprofit organizations that are seeking to improve playground experiences through different approaches. The first, Playworks, is focusing on training for playground supervisors, while the second, Learning Landscape Network, is focusing on infrastructure to aid in learning games. 

1. Playworks

Playworks was recently featured in The New York Times article, "The Power of the Playground" by David Bornstein. He describes the playground as a defining experience that teaches play, leadership and cooperative skills. Playworks is seeking to "improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play."

2. Learning Landscape Network

The Learning Landscape Network is a Project H Design initiative. Through game play and fun physical activity, a learning landscape can be utilized by elementary students. Their website contains a great database of games that teach core subjects, social skills and leadership. The construction documents for the "learning landscape," which can be easily construction with a few volunteers and at no cost, are also available on the website.

Maximizing Learning

As a design professional who has worked on various educational competitions and projects, I am often amazed that clients continue to request "traditional" program spaces - separate spaces, related to a specific program where one enters and exits through a door. These disconnected and isolated spaces are not capitalizing on the potential that our spatial environment can offer to enhance a student's learning.

Understandably, spatial enhancement will not offer maximum gain if the educational curriculum remains stagnate. Fortunately, we are continuing to see an increase of schools embracing new methods and means for learning (e.g. the Khan Academy offers free online lessons, allowing teachers more one-on-one instruction time with students). The academic future of the school can be maximized if the school space + the curriculum progresses in parallel. Space, rather than constricting, can consummate the interconnected relationship between form and function in the learning environment.

('Imagine,' a "database which captures school design best practice from around the world," provides great references of what is currently being built in progressive educational architecture. www.imagineschooldesign.org)

I welcome everyone - educators, parents, students, friends - to share an example when they have felt spatially constrained or constricted within a learning environment. Was it furniture based? Hardware based? Too small or too large of a space? Too open or too divided? What could have been done better to help alleviate this feeling?

Flying Classrooms

My ticket is booked for Vienna, where the Architekturzentrum Wien is currently exhibiting "Flying Classrooms."

An excerpt from the exhibition promotional material:

"The rooms we learn and teach in have hardly changed in over a century. The classroom is still 9 metres x 7 metres in size and the primary location for lessons that are held at hourly intervals - even though teachers and architects agree that contemporary teaching methods require appropriately diverse forms of space and that these would subsequently have a positive impact on the interaction and the school day of pupils and teachers alike."

http://www.azw.at/page.php?node_id=3&page_id=698&lang_id=en

With new teaching methods and technologies available, the question must be asked - what does the spatial future of education look like? Does the traditional classroom still hold value for students today?