Standardisation and Creativity in post-BSF school design was the theme under discussion in a session led by members of Lathams education team at February’s Building Schools Exhibition and Conference (BSEC) 2011.
Looking at life after the cancelled Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, Richard Keighley and Harjinder Boghal started by reviewing the ways in which school design has progressed over the last decade.
Taking as their starting point new ideas such as Dr Kenn Fisher’s on the types of spaces needed to support student learning, architects and designers have transformed traditional classrooms and corridors with the use of moveable partitions to create large open plan collaborative workshops and seminar spaces. Underutilised or awkward spaces have been transformed into ‘chill out zones’ for social learning and individual study, and outdoor areas have been reinvigorated with the introduction of outdoor classrooms, ampitheatres and social and performance spaces.
As a result, the shape of new-build schools has evolved rapidly, with standard classroom-lined corridors giving way to a new standard of learning clusters. The use of folding acoustic walls combined with moveable furniture and interactive ICT have created flexible multifunctional spaces that offer staff and students a choice of learning experiences.
However, with the cancellation of BSF in July 2010, the opportunities to create new-build schools according to these principles have become severely restricted. Schools wishing to create transformational learning environments in the post BSF world will therefore increasingly turn to reviewing their existing building stock.
Richard Keighley said: “Creating these opportunities and providing this level of flexibility within an existing classroom block may seem daunting, but it is actually relatively easily achieved. Interventions can be implemented in small increments and added to year-on-year as finances allow, steadily converting standard classrooms into transformational learning environments.”
By drawing on various case studies (including Derby University’s Experimental Collaborative Teaching Space, The University of Warwick’s Learning Grid and Lathams own work for Haywood Engineering College in Stoke), the team went on to identify principles and simple modifications that can apply to all existing schools and make different learning styles possible where they weren’t before.
Examples included: introducing glass screens to internal walls to enable transparency between classrooms and corridors for passive supervision; the use of teaching walls with wireless connectivity as well as storage for equipment and books; the use of different furniture layouts to create interesting and flexible spaces; and the creation of interesting learning spaces outside the school as well as inside.
Concluding the presentation, Richard added: “The financial and practical barriers might seem insurmountable, but they are not really. With some long term planning, good design and an understanding of the principles at work, it is possible to turn the standard existing classroom block into something contemporary, even futuristic – a space which will nurture creativity, flexibility, diversity, and above all learning.”
