Designing school together, between pedagogy and architecture

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Published: Apr 10, 2018
Keywords:
School, space, architecture, pedagogy, sheared planning, innovation

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Beate Weyland
Free University of Bolzano

Abstract

This article presents some findings from a research project carried out together with architect Sandy Attia between 2010-2014 funded by the Department of Education of the Free University of Bolzano (Weyland, Attia, 2015). The research frames 10 case studies of schools built in the past decade (preschools, kindergartens and primary schools) in the context of the contemporary debate surrounding the relationship between architecture and pedagogy in the South Tyrol region of Italy. The focus of the
research resides in the processes that lead up to the design and construction of a new or renovated school, analyzing the trajectories that each project takes in relationship to the projects’ final outcomes.


The research posits a need for a shared language between the pedagogical and architectural fields to better navigate the arduous path towards the building of a new school, and underscores the benefits of involving the various stakeholders in the planning of the school to help the institution work to its fullest potential upon resuming the scholastic activities in the newly designed spaces.


One of the important findings of the research is the school body’s apparent difficulty in cohesively communicating their teaching and learning needs and the subsequent missteps that can occur from an administrative and architectural standpoint in addressing the programming of the school. In many cases, the school representatives and the architects commissioned to design the new school found themselves working with little common ground and at different paces that were often difficult to reconcile under tight budgets and timeframes.


The research also traces important notable changes in the head teacher’s newly invested role in being able to surmount strict school-building codes (within reason) as need be to better accommodate innovative teaching and learning methods. As a result, the face of the school, from a pedagogical and architectural standpoint, is changing in palpable and exciting ways.

Article Details

Issue
No. 4 (2018): Reinventing the school: expectations and experiences
Section
Articles
Author Biography

Beate Weyland, Free University of Bolzano

Beate Weyland is associate professor for teaching and learning at the Faculty of Education of the Free University of Bolzano (I). Her research activities of the last six years are directed towards helping schools develop flexible, sustainable and innovative approaches to the relationship between pedagogy and learning space design. This work requires working closely with schools, teachers, administrators, architects and politicians. She is executive member of the South Tyrolean inter-institutional network Space and Learning (www.lernenundraum.it) and member of the international research group PULS (Professionelle Unterstützung von Lernen und
Schulraumentwicklung – www.pulszetz.org ), with partners the Free University of Bolzano, The University of Innsbruck, Art University of Linz, Alanus School of Education, Bonn. She organizes conferences and exhibitions on this topic, with the aim to sensitize educators, architects and citizens on the importance of the relationship between learning and space.
Her teaching focuses on using her research to help student teachers to develop innovative ways of teaching and learning using the body’s five senses engaging with materials and three-dimensional objects to achieve new knowledge and collaboratively develop culture. Technology and social media are central to this enterprise, and crucial to a culture’s active life, and so are fundamental to her teaching and learning activities.