We need a revolution in school architecture.

Dziak-Mahler: “Schools, barracks and hospitals are built the same.”

Cologne – as part of the largest and most important education trade fair in Germany, didacta, teachers, educators, trainers and representatives from politics, business and science are currently discussing the topic of “The Future of Schools” in Cologne, among other things. In this context, the Chancellor of the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Myrle Dziak-Mahler, gave an inspiring interview, which corresponds to our desire for a consistent change and paradigm shift in school architecture: we need a revolution in school architecture.

This discussion, which is currently being held at didacta, is one that we have on a daily basis in our Hamburg-based architectural firm ASSELMEYER ARCHITEKT.
See also: https://asselmeyerarchitekt.de/schulbauten-unmenschliche-architektur

We need to ask ourselves: are we really doing enough to cause a revolution in our school system and our school buildings? A revolution – a (according to Wikipedia) “fundamental, lasting, structural change of a system” – Are we doing enough for this change?

Are we really doing enough to cause a revolution in our school system and our school buildings?

Are the right experts sitting at the table when it comes to rethinking, planning and later building the schools of the future? Do we think enough about spatial qualities and the connection and interconnection of these spaces when we consider school revolutionary? Could we actually imagine doing our work in our current school buildings from 8am-5pm every day? Could we? We, the employees, who only discuss NewWork concepts, flexible workplace models, as many break-out zones as possible and maximum home office options? We say: No!

A large number of school buildings do not even begin to meet the findings of modern didactics or pedagogical architecture.

“Our school buildings are a scandal of neglect and inhumane architecture. A large number of school buildings do not even begin to meet the findings of modern didactics or pedagogical architecture,” says architect Justus Asselmeyer. The majority of school buildings are renovated to the maximum, energy-wise, so as not to let grant money lapse. How do we want our children to develop, to gain confidence, to sustainably enjoy and develop an interest in learning? And: How are our teachers, of whom there are currently far too few, to feel a sense of security and well-being at their workplace, to implement their ideas with enthusiasm and to work successfully in the long term without becoming ill in the process?

We need a revolution in school architecture.

We must be fully consistent in initiating a fundamental change in the architectural development of school buildings. The learning space for the students and teachers is the most important space between pedagogical action and interaction and is decisive for learning success. In the 21st century, we must finally begin to fundamentally understand and rethink schools as places of learning in conceptual architectural terms. This includes not inviting architects to design a building only after the spatial concepts, foundations, and conditions have been established years in advance by non-architects and project designers.

For a “revolution” to take place, architectural and not only pedagogical questions must also and above all be asked: Who are the students who will use this building every day? And who are the teachers? What is the regional and thematic focus of the school? But above all, what is unique about this one school and its pedagogical concept?

We must manage to reflect in the architecture the identity of the students and teachers who enter and leave, learn, teach and live in the respective building on a daily basis and for years to come. Only then will we create a paradigm shift.

We need a revolution in school architecture.

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A_5PBSp2O4
Link to the fair and the full program: https://www.didacta-koeln.de/die-messe/didacta/

ASSELMEYER ARCHITEKT Hamburg
Lange Reihe 29
20099 Hamburg
Tel.: +49 (0) 40 524 764 040
E-mail: info@asselmeyerarchitekt.de
Web: https://www.asselmeyerarchitekt.de