Design For Learning

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Design For Learning

How architects and designers are influencing learning spaces

For once the cliché ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ is no exaggeration. Visionary design is at the heart of the government’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

The challenge for architects is to realise in bricks and mortar the learning revolution brought about by the National Grid for Learning and the internet and by changes in curriculum and learner expectations, such as the personalisation agenda. Personalisation — putting the learner in control — means that buildings need to be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of the individual.

Despite their importance to educational outcomes, many school buildings are of poor design: dull, uniform and institutional. To raise educational standards and improve attainment, existing schools must be improved and new school buildings designed and built to a high specification.

If schools are to provide excellent educational facilities for the next 20 to 30 years, school buildings need to reflect future developments in pedagogy and technology. Schools, LEAs and designers need to be aware of key drivers for change in schools:

The likely impact of a more diverse curriculum
New ways of learning and the impact of ICT
Opening the school up to other pupils and the community as a whole
The inclusion of pupils with special educational needs into mainstream schools.

It is important that schools of the future are high-quality, attractive buildings. Design quality should encompass sustainability, flexibility and adaptability as well as value for money.

Above all, new schools need to provide an environment that will help teachers deliver the highest achievable standards. They must be ‘future proof” and anticipate changes in educational practice and technology that may not even have emerged. Few could have predicted that wireless technology would now be widespread in schools, or that pupils would be using laptops in lessons or that virtual reality and gaming technology would be used to recreate virtual worlds for children to explore.

The pace of change calls for imagination and flexibility. Architecture needs to take into account multiple learning styles and intelligences, the richness of multimedia and about the different paths children can follow in pursuit of excellence.

Building Futures

Britain’s two most influential architectural bodies, CABE and RIBA, have collaborated on the Building Futures programme to explore cutting-edge design for schools. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was set up by the government in 1999 to help improve the quality of design being achieved in new buildings and spaces. It provides assistance to clients and evaluates designs. Both CABE and RIBA, the Royal Institution of British Architects, have an excellent range of resources on their websites.

Educational blue skies-thinker Professor Stephen Heppell, formerly of Ultralab, has published a research paper ‘Building Learning Futures’. In it Heppell suggests a range of design options. These range from, at one extreme, dispersing schools within the community by creating informal learning networks linking the home with community centres, schools and libraries; and at the other, enlarging schools to create giant, campus-based learning communities, bringing learners of all ages under one roof.

Heppell explains why he thinks design is so important. He says: “I became quite obsessed by it and spent far too long on the work, partly because it was fascinating but also because the emerging misfit between what was needed in tomorrow's schools and what was, in many cases, being built, constituted a crisis worthy of so much effort. The more I looked, the more I wanted to help — indeed, the more you could see that help was needed.

“The task was to explore the development of future pedagogies and thus to be able to offer some guidance, or at least debate, about what learning environments in the future might be like. The intention was to inform and provoke debate within both architecture and education about the design of school buildings and other learning spaces”.

The design of an effective world-class school is highly complex. But as Heppell’s study points out, globally there is much good practice to draw on. Visionary projects such as ‘X’ and ‘Y’ explore the future shape and design of schools and present a range of interesting options.

Design quality

There are many examples of well-designed schools. But there is also a feeling that the standard of design in public buildings generally has been lower than it should be.

Buildings have the power to bring about a change in social behaviour, leading in turn to changes in attitude. A well-designed school can serve its users well and draw a more positive attitude from pupils, teachers, parents and the wider community.

Good design involves the layout of the building and outside areas, as well as the use of materials and choice of services and fittings. It does not necessarily cost more. Design quality has been defined as a combination of:

Functionality
Sustainability
Buildability
Efficiency
Aesthetics
Durability.

All of these are key to achieving better value for money for everyone concerned. Sustainability is particularly important at a time when there is growing awareness of environmental responsibility. The aim of sustainable construction is for buildings to have a low impact on the environment, in terms of energy and water use, materials, waste, transport, site ecology, health and safety and internal environmental conditions. Schools of the future must be designed to avoid wasted investment through early and rapid obsolescence. They need to have a long functional life, demonstrating good value for money in terms of lifecycle costs.

Useful websites

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
www.riba.org

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
www.cabe.org.uk

Inspiring people to demand more from their buildings and spaces.

Consultation

School Works
www.school-works.org

School Works is an independent, not-for-profit limited company which works with local authorities to facilitate consultation with the school community during the design process.

The Architecture Centre Network
www.architecturecentre.net

Learning Through Landscapes
www.ltl.org.uk

Learning through Landscapes is the National School Grounds Charity.

Secured by Design
www.securedbydesign.com

Secured by design is a not-for-profit company, which is endorsed and supported by the Association of Chief police Officers.

BREEAM
www.breeam.org/schools.html

Environmental assessment of new build and refurbished schools in line with DfES requirements.

The Sorrell Foundation
www.thesorrellfoundation.com

View the Joinedupdesignforschools project.

Participation Works
www.participationworks.org.uk

Participation Works is run by the Carnegie Young People Initiative and provides advice on involving young people in decision-making processes.

The Architecture Centre Network
www.architecturecentre.net