projects and articles by members

Designing Schools

Overview

Many of Scotland's schools are being rebuilt, but are these schools going to be fit for purpose for the 21st century or are they going to be outdated before they have even been finished?

This project asks Scotland's leading architects to work in partnership with a project team from a local authority and a school to identify a project brief. The architect or designer is then asked to work with young people to develop this brief into a detailed design brief and to design a solution.

The project is funded by the Scottish Executive, under their Future Learning and Teaching programme. This ambitious programme identifies and funds innovative projects that could change the way learning is done in Scotland.

'From Consultation to Design', Year 1 publication: documents last year's projects and design exemplars. In year 2, we are building on that process and there is a greater emphasis on supporting young people to understand some of the complex, real-life issues that are involved in designing a school and take responsibility for their part in that process.

The partner architect or designer is asked to develop and deliver an education programme. This is prepared with a consultation facilitator with some knowledge of schools. The architects are not expected to be consultation experts, this would be unrealistic; instead there is an emphasis on their experiential learning and the evaluation of that learning.

The Future

The projects are proving the value of the dual involvement of young people and Scotland's leading architects in designing learning environments for the future. It is also good to know there will be a third year to develop the project further and push the boundaries that prevent Scotland's schools from being world-class buildings.

As a result of this programme, we now provide a consultation service for local authorities and architects.

Anne Cunningham

«...