LEARNING ABOUT SCHOOLS | AIANY

The talk at AIANY took a different format than the others that I had been to over the last few weeks. This time, groups of people from different backgrounds - educators, architects, psychologists, policymakers, economists - were sat on tables. The presentations about research in school design were short, with the guest speakers mostly presenting their research methodology. Several of the speakers used programming in their work, others used more qualitative data.

Between the presentations, the groups were encouraged to discuss amongst themselves using prompt sheets to cover key topics. And then at the end of the workshop, the conversation was opened up to the whole room. The topics raised varied, some asked about how we can make students want to stay in school (referring to drop out rates in the city) whilst others were more interested in the methodology of design. One audience member commented that although great, the projects presented did not emphasise enough the importance of context - particularly with cities like New York.

To wrap up the theme of the talk, the hosts commented on the importance of creating a network of good school designs and research findings, be it POE or R&D work. Too often architectural practices keep data to themselves, on shelves, and rarely do these pots of knowledge get shared. There was also an emphasis on the importance of interdisciplinary research, e.g. Architects talking to psychologists, social scientists, economists...to broaden their understanding of the education system.

I found the talk interesting, and it was good to know that many individuals are researching school buildings. However, my only comment may be that these projects did feel constrained. It seemed that whilst the architects were keen to make great schools for students -- with good lighting, break out spaces, specialised facilities -- they seemed reluctant to address the wider issues that comes with schools, or citywide problems that perpetuate say, segregation. However, overall, it was good to have a room filled with different voices and different perspectives