| Introduction
Brief: Educational organisations need for innovation to survive and grow. Spaces of innovation as physical, digital and social contexts for students to create, collaborate/share knowledge – a different approach to investigating creativity within organisations, not through only psychological and social aspects of motivation and management but through the spaces in which they are found; Summary: The relationship between space, creativity and innovation in an academic context/The role of innovative architecture in dismantling social barriers in pedagogical systems |
| Initiate body with background understanding of 1. Need for innovation in academic spaces 2. Properties of Creative Space;
1. Ken Robinson, rethink the fundamental principles in which we educate children – educating the shapers of tomorrow through a system predicted on the idea of academic ability in order to meet the needs of industrialism – too look for intelligence within education systems instead of looking for a particular commodity – instead of a focus on mostly a mathematical and verbal reasoning – how can we focus on developing the diversity of our student body intelligence. Celebrating that each individual has their own learning style and creating enough spatial freedom for the development of such. |
| Example 1 – Smaller Scale
Vittra Telefonplan: A school without walls, ‘meeting places with a positive and open atmosphere’; ‘How can the pedagogy (learning methods), and organisation of the school be supported through the design of the environment?’; Spatial elements based on schools educational principles, mountain top for broadcast communication, the cave for individual learning, the campfire for dialogue, the watering hole where people meet occasionally. Example 2 – Broader Scale iHub Nairobi: Part open community workspace, part vector for investors and part incubator, the iHub concept has already catalysed a number of other sectors established, designed to build an ecosystem around the Kenyan tech entrepreneur: iHub Research, iHub Consulting, iHub Supercomputing… iHub Nairobi is the community, designed the room layout and the organisations log, it is the community who also runs the network, holds events and drives the direction of the space. Example 3 – Awareness Staatliches Bauhaus |
| Conclusion, clear on opinion regarding the subject
Educational spaces should be radically adapted to the worlds evolution pace, academics should be more flexible in order to extract from each individual his best performance – space should be the foundation for this social change, |
| Drawing
Proposal for a local academic space for a specific age group Network proposal of an iHub concept within local context |
It is an undeniable fact that societies are found under constant transformation, this fast-changing social-cultural framework is reflected in the pedagogical systems and their architectural typologies. There is a relevance in analysing traditional schools in order to understand the changes of its designs and the motifs behind them.
There has always been an attributed role to the school in its respective community, this has been framed by environmental, social, economical and geographical factors, but what has seem to be the link between them? What are the universal approaches from past architectural institutions and what is their relevance in contemporary design?
In order to understand the relationship between the needs of a society and the responsiveness of architecture, we can refer back to the industrial revolution and how the traditional school typology shifted in order to follow the ideas of standardisation promoted at the time. The Bauhaus in Germany serves as an example and as a reference for other architectural typologies of this period though the design of open, light and airy factory like spaces. This conduct served as the foundation for terms and ideologies such as ‘universal space’ and spatial continuity, with the purpose of increasing the degree of coexistence amongst its users. In fact the pupils needs and the increase of numbers due to stricter child labour laws, were fundamental for the modernisation of the neoclassical facades and utilitarian classrooms. This was made through the consciousness of the role of design elements such as daylighting and natural ventilation as means for higher performance.
In contemporary architecture the exploration of these design aspects has been made throughly. However an anticipated need for a revaluation of the built environment in an academic context, has allowed architects to focus on design elements that stimulate and challenge students intelligence as a tool for future adaptation: ‘We are educating the shapers of tomorrow through a system predicated on the idea of academic ability in order to meet the needs of industrialism’, Sir Ken Robinson argues that opposing to traditional teaching, which focuses on verbal and mathematical reasoning – more diverse approaches are needed to develop the diversity of our intelligence, Robinson argues that the only way that children can be in fact equipped with the ability of embracing the complexity and dynamism of the future is through the composition of schools that confront the idea of an ideal learning space.
Peter Barret, a professor at the School of the Built Environment, University of Salford has undertaken a study with findings that claim that the ideal modern school should follow three main principles: naturalness, individualisation and stimulation – which includes aspects such as light, colour, flexibility and connectivity.
Vittra Telefonplan, its an open floor school in Stockholm which challenges the traditional pedagogical system through a learning method supported by its physical space. Children’s needs are individualised and stimuli for learning is distributed across campus in a playful manner as an approachable and creative foundation for the pupils needs and achievement levels.
This concept was conceivable after the educational reform in 1992 in Sweden, which gave friskolors (independent schools) the freedom to manage their own buildings, teaching methods and style, its architectural principles very much like Bauhaus follow an open plan contrary to traditional classrooms.
