Class Theme 001- Learning

Guiding Question: What is the "ideal" learning environment? Let's define our starting point.
Here we are>


Consider the fact that we will act here as both user and designer. If we are to set out to create a classroom to suit our needs, first we must identify those needs. The list we come up with is our "program" and typically helps an architect in developing an appropriate design for his client. As the design develops, the designer will utilize concepts like "scale", "proportion" and "order" to create a space that meets the user's functional requirements.

Precedents can then be utilized to identify solutions for the "classroom concept" that have been successful in other circumstances. Using this type of resource proves how much of what a user requires is universal. For example, the height of a school desk and chair are driven by a typical student's size and are generally consistent across cultures. These standards are good starting points, but responsible, creative architecture should constantly question these standards. Along with trends in new material technologies or studies in human behavior, the design for a school desk may force us to radically reconsider those standards.
Why not conduct a class where your students sit in a circle, each on a small pillow or stand at tall counters at the perimeter of a room working on laptops. These are both clear options for specific successful learning environments that challenge accepted traditions.

Below is a selection of images that illustrate a wide variety of successful learning environments all across the globe:


Chengdu Hualin Elementary School, Sichuan China, 2008
By Shigeru Ban ,BANLAB













This is a temporary classroom in Japan that has a paper tube structure and was built without any heavy machinery in a short period of time after a devastating earthquake.





Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, 1963
By Louis Kahn















This is the courtyard of the Salk Institute that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The buildings serve as laboratories for scientific research and common spaces in the building facilitate the exchange of ideas between researchers.


Crown Hall at IIT, Chicago, IL, 1956
By Mies van der Rohe
















Mies van der Rohe designed Crown Hall at IIT with a very large, single interior space. The space has no interior columns and few walls. It serves as a first year design studio for college level architecture students.


Class under a tree.













Or...
Class in a busy city on a rooftop.