Classroom Design:Layout 1 11/09/2009 14:18 Page 20
classroom design
Catering for flexible
learners
Education is evolving. The classroom should no longer be the main focal point – it is all about
a variety of learning environments which reflect the way people learn in their day-to-day
life, says PHILIP GILLARD, principal at Gensler.
Photos show Kent’s New Line Learning Academy.
T
ODAY'S students are brand savvy One core element of the programme is
and IT literate, they’re visual ‘a transformation of learning in schools’
learners, social networkers, internet through a designed and tailored curriculum
enthusiasts, multitaskers and gadget and IT-rich learning environment.
fanatics. They live in a consumerist Essentially, it’s the curriculum that should
society and their learning styles and determine the design of schools not the
modes of interaction are not in sync with other way round. There isn’t a magic
the traditional classroom. blueprint which we can role out across
So, tasked with creating a new school, the county, creating 140 identical schools.
where should architects start? And why would there be? No two learning
Fundamentally, it’s about creating space concepts are the same, just as no two
suitable for 21st Century learning – a space communities are the same.
that today’s students engage with and feel There has been a radical shift in the
comfortable in. Hardly a radical statement, approach to curriculums recently which
but it’s all about the interpretation – so are now much more learner-centric.
much more than replacing the blackboard People are naturally flexible learners.
with an interactive white board or From infancy we are active, acquiring
providing more computers. It’s about knowledge and skills. Using this principle,
The modes of
starting again, from square one. we’ve been developing a spatial model,
interaction of today’s
which focuses on the individual learner as
Kent scheme the nucleus. Our approach is to let
students are not in
Gensler is working with Kent County activity drive the space not the other way
Council as a design advisor in an round. We have literally broken down the
sync with the
extraordinary £1.8 billion programme, walls to create dynamic spaces that don’t
which started in 2007 and will see the inhibit learning.
traditional classroom
entire 140-plus secondary school estate Our work with Kent is pushing the
in Kent rebuilt or refurbished by 2022. boundaries of learning in the UK and has
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