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?
