Education shapes society and society's social-political issues influence education.
Education ideas shape education architecture as well as learning spaces can shape learning itself.
But while architects are talking about future utopias or trying to show that our built environment matters our young generations and their environment do not always get enough care.
Taking the extreme case of Vilnius, Lithuania, where most of the today's schools were built during Soviet times based on standardized projects, I am trying to show that we can not make children care of their environment till no-one cares about theirs.
That is why I believe that future architecture ideas should consider learning spaces as one of the important learning methods. It can stimulate a change. Schools can become more open institutions mentally and physically. From which not only the school community but also the neighborhood could benefit.
In the course of time the views on educational systems have been changing constantly, and have always been open for intense debates. On an abstract level these debates dealt with views on a desirable society, desirable ways of living, and on a more practical level - with specific learning methods and training of future teachers. An important aspect, which often is overlooked, is the need to reflect on the learning environment, the spatial context in which education takes place.
Unbind the school. Free the school. Schools should become more open to the society. It can become a center of the neighborhood. It can become a place for discoveries. It can become a place to meet and learn for all the neighborhood.
A toolbox - a simplified set of interventions for school renovation
A timeline of the school buildings and ideas which shaped school design from the XVIII century onwards, helps to understand better how the attitude towards the learning environment and school architecture has been changing since the industrial revolution era and understand what the future needs could be.
An installation of colored boxes(which can resemble grey neighborhoods or pieces of a game) inside the perimeter of a standardized school plan
