School Design Together

Book excerpt: The time is ripe for interdisciplinary, collaborative approaches to school design. Whatever the current funding limitations, we still need to think about how we design, organise and use space in schools for learning and teaching. This edited book ensures that we don’t start from ground zero in terms of good design. Including chapters from researchers and practitioners in architecture and education, it assesses, describes and illustrates how education and environment can be mutually supportive. The centrality of participation and collaboration between architects, educators and school users holds these diverse contributions together. The book embodies the practice as well as the principle of interdisciplinary working. Organised in two parts, this volume considers how schools are designed and used with chapters looks at current and past school environments in the UK, US and Europe. It then questions how the learning environment can be improved through participatory design processes with contributors from design and education backgrounds offering both theoretical understanding and practical ideas. Written without subject-specific jargon or assumptions, it can be used by readers from either an architectural or educational background, bridging the on-going communication gap between education and design professionals. Design and education professionals alike will appreciate the: • practical information which shows how to change or improve a learning environment • focus on evidence-based research • case studies and chapter topics including schools from across the primary and secondary sectors.