The majority of traditionally designed school buildings speak to the necessity for strict external control of the teacher and learner.
When Douglas Cardinal, Canada’s eminent architect, spoke to a conference of architects in Vancouver in the early 1990s, he began by saying “buildings speak to people,” meaning that the building itself, its design and the functional relationships of its components deliver a powerful message to those who occupy it every day of its life.
For architects of school buildings then, the vision of what a building “says” assumes a clear understanding of and a vision for what the occupants of the building may be doing and able to achieve. An abundance of research into learning, including credible brain research, has resulted in common agreement about principles of learning that are not only contrary to traditional design assumptions, but might actually be defeated by the anachronistic design of traditionally organized school buildings.
Specifically, an innovative school building should provide the opportunity for students and teachers to work together in large groups, small groups and one on one with each other. Pods of classrooms with adjoining common space provide opportunities for teachers and students to stimulate learning by varying groupings.
Student ownership is not a feature of traditional design. Student control of or responsibility for anything is at a minimum. Phillip C. Schlecty, a leader in the world of school reform, once suggested that “contemporary schools are places where the somewhat younger go to watch the somewhat older work.”
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