Nature of Thesis

Although educational methods and philosophies have evolved over the past century, the architectural designs of many contemporary schools are still derived from the turn of the century one room school house. Since the design of the one room school house was based on teaching from oral tradition (a teacher lecturing at a group of seated children) the contemporary relevance of such a traditional school form should be brought to question by Architects who are designing contemporary schools for contemporary education.

How do architects design?

Many Architects attemept to update this traditional model by adding media centres, fancy circulation paths, computer hookups in classrooms and work space clusters. Although the result of these additions may appear modern, they are just cosmetic additions to traditional school designs.

How do children learn? How do buildings teach?

Architectural philosophy must be in a constant dialogue with Educational philosophy if the built form of the latter is to succeed. Architects must use a specific educational philosophy as the foundation of, rather than as a compliment to, their design.

By studying educational philosophies that base themselves on experiential learning and phemonology, and which view education as a holistic endeavor, Architects can design schools that facilitate education and enrich a child's perception and understanding of the world.

To redesign schools, and aid in the reconstruction of education, architects must first understand contemporary educational philosophy, and apply such a philosophy to their design and programming of the school. The aim of the Architect must be to create a Place that facilitates education and independent experiential learning through built form, materiality and pluralism.