School without classrooms : Berlin Competition

Description

What if we lived in an age where school and learning was not

systemized but optimized ?

What if the school had no grades, subjects and books ?

What if the classrooms did not mean a four-walled cubicle ?

What if the process and hierarchy of the schooling-setup wasnever there ?

What if there was more to the static architecture style of a schooling environment ?

We seem to have forgotten that schools are the real ‘Temples of Innovation’ that shape children of the future. Schools are supposed to be ‘fun’ places that inspire wonder, creativity and innovation through teaching and learning. Schools should offer welcoming environments that instil in us confidence to pursue our dreams and interests. Pedagogy i.e. the art of teaching faces a real test in today’s times for it has remained very stagnant and rigid in its discourse. Innovation in methods and practices of education has been slow and very limited. In most of the countries, schools have adopted a very general, mechanical and theoretical system of education that minutely focuses on problem solving, practical and experimental methods and most importantly, personal interests of children. Schooling environment, since the industrial revolution has done very less to revamp their gloomy, colourless, isolating and lifeless spaces.

Brain development between ages 5 and 12 is significant and understood. Cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists are intrigued with how cognitive capacities are affected by the architectural attributes and spatiality of a school environment. 

The competition seeks the creation of a middle school (age group 5-12) that completely negates the present day ‘bench-table-chalkboard’ idea of a classroom and a regularized building typology of a school. The competition seeks ideas from participants to create a fun built environment for a middle school that understands the individual needs of each child yet being very collaborative in nature. The school should strive to create a new pedagogical space that emphasizes on people-oriented design in behavioral terms as they interact and use spaces.

Design a new way of learning in schools- that changes the functioning system of the present day school typology. 
The competition seeks to radicalize the school system through architecture not only in terms of improving the quality of study environment but revamping the system and breaking all the physical and metaphorical class divisions into an entirely new school system. The participants should devise new pedagogical systems that would negate the generic teaching strategies and give more importance to personal interests and aspirations of the students. The school should explore and incorporate more and more practice oriented subjects and technologies to enhance a student’s horizon towards the things happening around him, while maintaining academic rigor.

Create an innovative architectural and spatial environment that enhances the experiential and visual appeal of a school block. 
Architecture affects our intellect and emotions, influences our performance and motivates achievement — mostly on a subliminal basis. The architecture competition seeks to create an inter-generational learning space with a very informal and fun appeal to it. The idea of the competition is to break away from a rigid, static and boring built environment of a school and move towards versatile and flexible learning spaces that allow their reuse for any possible purpose. The learning spaces should have a deeper meaning attached to them rather than a generic classroom space that is very typical in nature. All the spaces should provide a different experience to the students in terms of their built quality, aesthetics, color, form and overall spatiality.

Incorporate environment and landscape in a school block in a more ‘meaningful’ and dynamic fashion. 
Environment is considered as the ‘third teacher’ in pedagogy. The architecture competition should strive to create a school that allows the environment to teach, inspire and shape the identity of the people who operate in it in a constructive and positive direction. The landscaped zone in the school must not be limited to playfields and unused lawns but should try to merge into the learning spaces in a permeable fashion. The participants should design landscaped collaborative zones as a part of the schooling built environment and not separate chunks of vast green spaces.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Translation and physical manifestation of briefs and the theme
• Built form and spatiality for the school.
• Innovative theme and programming of the school system.
• Aesthetics and originality.
• Emotional and psychological power.
• Argumentation and Representation
• Clarity and comprehensibility of the design.

SITE

Berlin is the 21st century contemporary world’s ideal capital. The city left its torrid history behind to quickly grow and cement itself into the intellectual and cultural core of the world. Berlin is the epicenter of any new movement that starts to demolish the old world order. The site for the competition is located in Templehof, Berlin and aims to create an exemplary prototype for all the new world schooling systems to follow.

AREA PROGRAM

The program should be true to the concept and spirit of a middle school(for children between 5-12 years) and adhere to the requirements of a school block. The participants are advised to take a maximum capacity of 60 students per age group and 500 students for the entire school. Following are the programmatical features that are to be provided in the proposal for the school. The size, proportions and number of facilities are left to the participant’s discretion and imagination. Competitors are encouraged to design and propose any kind of innovative and intuitive program or function in addition and extension to the following list of functions, but with an argumentated necessity. Keeping in mind the paucity of space in today’s times, explore the possibility of designing multifunctional and dynamic spaces.