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• Heinavaara • Kuokkala AIA
Amsterdam |
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Schools
of the Future: Teaching
and working methods at schools are being renewed
It
will be easier to achieve many of the facilities required today or in
the future if the current classroom-centered way of working is given
up or substantially reduced. Work
is done in small groups with or without a teacher either on the school's
own premises or outside, e.g., at enterprises, libraries, etc. Information
is searched from books, newspapers, periodicals, IT or AV sources, information
networks or by observation, and processed by IT tools. In order to make
natural science observations, work is done in laboratories or on the
spot in nature. Creative work is diversified in music, visual arts,
and handcrafts. Work is done by traditional means as well as those means
made possible by the new technology. Pupils go in for diverse physical
training and sports. Work is also done in big groups: festivities, information
events, stimulative lectures, panel discussions, plays, exhibitions,
and performances are organized for the whole school community.
A
physical place will still be needed to gather, search for information,
and study—a place where one can bond and belong. A place will be
needed where children and youth can meet their peers, associate with
each other, and take part in things together. This is of vital importance
for their social growth. What
kind of spaces will be needed in the school of the future? Certainly
the same kind of spaces as there are now: learning, discussion, and
groupwork spaces for groups of different sizes, from auditoriums to
small groupwork nooks. Workshops will be needed for handcrafts, and
special spaces and laboratories for learning by experimenting and by
carrying out various work tasks. Sufficient space is needed for diverse
study material in connection with the workspaces. Physical training
and sports require a space that also takes into account the needs of
the surrounding community. It is important that there is a space or
place, a square for the gathering of the whole school community. It
must be possible to use the space reserved for dining flexibly as a
groupwork space and maybe also as an all-day cafe. The meaning of the
library as the information center of the school is significant. It will
be a centrally located place for information gathering, with many terminals,
multimedia workstations, and connections with foreign information networks. Teachers'
workspaces must no longer be isolated in a separate administration wing
but located in the middle of the learning spaces or in their immediate
vicinity. While participating in learning situations, teachers themselves
also learn, experiment, and observe. Several teachers may be present
in the same learning situation. The requirement of openness,
flexibility, and variability
Openness,
transparency, variability, and flexibility are the prime requirements
placed on school buildings of the future. Openness and transparency
are part of the school's operations, instruction, and daily work, but
they are also prerequisites for the physical environment of the school.
Schools will no longer consist of successive classrooms and connecting
corridors; instead, the central space of a school may be an open learning
hall, information and resource center, library-mediatheque, events square—the
place can be called many names. Anyway, by nature it is a flexible and
variable space where pupils can independently search and produce information,
work individually or in groups. Part of the space may be reserved for
breaks and recreation. Near the learning hall are spaces of the classes
connected to the learning hall even without a partition wall. There
are several examples of such schools in Finland; in the U.S. this type
of school is fairly common. The
spaces must enable flexible, versatile, and variable use: instead of
bearing walls that hinder variability, the structural solutions should
favor pillars, light partition walls, and wide spans. It must be possible
to connect rooms with each other by movable wall and door elements.
Also, the technical systems—installations for heating, plumbing,
ventilation, electricity, and information networks—need to be flexible.
Often the wiring of workstations consists of a disordered bundle of
cords and sockets. Maybe soon we will see school buildings with the
floor structure commonly used in office buildings: on top of the suspended
slab is a separate light installation floor under which all the electric
networks and cords run. The
spaces should be furnished with comfortable and pleasant furniture that
enables versatile use. Traditional furniture for schools has consisted
of a combination of a desk and bench. However, this concept is poorly
suited for the modern way of working at school. Office-type furniture
with table groups that can be combined and varied in many ways is better
suited for the work environment. The desk must allow a workstation to
be placed on it, it must be possible to write, draw, and do arts and
crafts on it—various requirements that sometimes exclude each other
are set on the furniture. The learning space may also resemble a living
room, with rocking chairs, couches, and plants. The whole of the building
technology—lighting, air conditioning and waste management—must
create a positive example of an environment based on sustainable development. Analogies
for the configuration of school buildings can be sought in the urban
space environment. The school may have a central events square or learning
arena, and it may be built around an inner street or thoroughfare. The
learning spaces are located along an active inner street that provides
contacts and encounters, and the street may be connected to the larger
pedestrian traffic network of the community. The
“intelligent” house and technical systems This
could also be utilized in school education: the pupils could follow
the functioning, energy flows, and technical systems of the building
through the school's open information network. This would illustrate
the internal, "hidden" functions of a complex modern building. The
school and surrounding community The
school must have a working and open connection with the surrounding
world. The school should participate actively in the operations of its
area of influence and community. All community members may come to the
school to search for information, to work, and to pursue their hobbies.
The school is a multipurpose and resource center in which the municipal
library, sports facilities, theater and music rooms, and other cultural
service facilities should be placed. The school could also utilize the
premises of the enterprises in the neighborhood such as workshops and
laboratories. Maybe the school could also rent its facilities and machinery
to enterprises and for commercial purposes. School
spaces must enable equal access—the school must be open to all,
the disabled, mobility-impaired and the aged. The special education
spaces should not be isolated but placed immediately in conjunction
with other education spaces. The majority of the school stock in Finland has already been built, but dozens of new buildings still come into being every year. We face the challenge of implementing the idea of a versatile, open, and variable school building in existing spaces. This is an issue to be discussed in conjunction with every project of renewing an old school. Case
Studies: Reino
Tapaninen |
