Tehran Virtual School

Narratives

Project Narrative

I started the design process, by trying to imagine the today’s classroom; not the way it is or used to be but the way it is going to be or will be. I read a lot about children psychology in the Piaget point of view. I studied contemporary children literature namely, Shell Silverstein books and J. K. Rowling series “Harry Potter”. I wanted to understand children as they really are not what adults want them to be. I tried to enter their world, to think like them, to get familiar with their dream of favorite space - architecture. I didn’t want to force them into the educational program of the school.
At the beginning, I imagined a classroom without blackboard. It is the school which does not have the most apparent element in traditional approach. This classroom is a dynamic classroom. It still has the teacher but the teacher has different tasks rather than giving monotonous lectures and giving exams. I tried to get familiar with the characteristic of this classroom by reading articles on E-learning and Educational systems. I tried to reach architectural concepts out of them. The next step was reaching architectural pattern for this classroom. Then I thought about the composition of this cluster and gradually the whole appearance of the school became tangible to me. All the buildings are rotated toward sun -free from the right angle grids of city- to get the maximum light and there are curved glass walkways which connect these buildings.
Architecture of “Virtual School” is combination of both Real and Virtual Realm. In my approach, sphere represents virtual space and it is the first Image of the school that distant students will experience it. This form will be changed gradually by the interaction of students. This virtual sphere has affected the real architecture of school by changing face and geometry of site where Web Administration Buildings is located-Actually the web administration Buildings embrace the sphere. Because this sphere has no mass, nobody can see it while he or she is beholding the school, but the effect of it can be seen.
The Real Architecture of School is Divided into 3 Specific Sections childhood (kindergarten and Primary School), Web Administration, Youth (Secondary School and High School).
Classrooms natural light is controlled by specific Louvers (by rotating around their Axes). The software of classroom controls this rotation to prepare atmosphere of class for all purposes (for example in projection mode it shut the louvers and when class is in group activity mode it rolls them up). This action will gives random Feature to the school and represent constant changes in school.
I chose unique Site for virtual school, it is located in the north of Tehran and from the west side it is connected to city, with all its hidden energy, and from the East side it overlooks afforested hillside, where the sun comes up and light all the campus. Curved glass walkways connect School buildings and children by walking through them will experience the state of being between two things-the city and picturesque hillside. This is where I think school can be constructed: A place between city -past- and new horizon -future.

Educator Narrative

The architecture and educational materials of “Virtual school” are designed to respond to psychological characteristic of children in the Piaget point of view. He believed that there are three different types of science: Analytical Science, Social Science and Physical science. In this school special spaces are provided to respond to these three different types of science. What is more, he mentioned that children are ego centered - in different level and quality. They think, they are center of universe and all people are or must be thinking like them. Piaget believed social interaction can mollify this state. Social interaction is one of the bold concepts of the architecture of this school.
With the help of adjustable furniture - Architecture - arrangement of classroom is always changing. In this way, student always take role in the process of adjusting the classroom settings. This feature has a great impact on their personality and readiness for educational material. What is more, it eases the student-student and student-teacher collaborations.
This school has two kinds of students: Real Students and on-line students.
Real students come everyday to school. They have all the facilities that traditional students have. Their school has the special wireless network equipment. They can connect to the main server. Because of this advanced network the virtual school has made the classroom free from its traditional style- that all the students had to face toward teacher and blackboard. The form of classrooms is always changing.
On-line students connect to the school from everywhere in the world. There is no limitation for the number of students. The web section of the school responds to these students. On-line students can take part in real classroom via internet. They can use all the educational materials of the school. The interface of virtual section will change with the interaction of on-line students. In this way, they change the virtual form of school in order to get the desired function.