Designing Progressive Schools
By Sarah Patterson - Senior Associate dhk Architects hello @ dhk . co . za | www . dhk . co . za
Now more than ever before there exists an unprecedented opportunity for learning to become increasingly personalised . With the advent of technological agility and the need to extend the curriculum to include entrepreneurial- and vocational-based skills training , schools around the world , including South Africa , have begun to embrace new models of teaching .
This shift has emerged as a result of technological advancements , new ways of accessing and disseminating information , as well as a pedagogical shift towards blended learning . The latter is a method involving collaborative , interdisciplinary exercises that consist of multiple forms of interaction . With this , we have seen an increased focus on combining science , technology , engineering , mathematics , and more recently , art-based subjects into creative problem-solving activities , along with the emergence of robotics as a standard feature in the curriculum . Learning has become a lot more selfnavigated and the pressure is on schools to facilitate and support that individual development .
Impact for Architecture So , what does this mean for the architectural design of schools ? What are the ‘ spatial instruments ’ that facilitate such new modes of learning and how are they different from traditional learning environments ? How do we create dynamic and stimulating learning spaces to support a range of activities which could enable educators to curate classes ?
We have found the solution comes in the form of clusters of differently sized , interconnected spaces often directly
10 Progressive Schools