The design of school buildings in the crucible of new teaching methods: Icelandic primary and lower secondary school buildings in the early 21st century.

• Main Authors: Hjartarson, Torfi, Sigurðardóttir, Anna Kristín
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Tímarit um menntarannsóknir 2015
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/tum/article/view/2073

The design of school buildings in the crucible of new teachingmethods: Icelandic primary and lower secondary school buildingsin the early 21st century.This research project took a close look atIcelandic school buildings at the primaryand lower secondary level (ages 6 to 15).The aim of this study was to identify featuresof change in new school buildings,reflecting new challenges involving architecture,educational ideology, school policyand digital technology. Environmentaland architectonic features characterizingrecently designed school buildings andtheir surrounding area were examined inlight of emerging issues and challengesfacing 21st century schools. Five schoolbuildings developed and built in this centurywere presented and discussed withregard to general classroom layout, publicspaces and community halls, facilities forarts and crafts, school libraries or informationcentres, application of informationtechnology, teacher work stations,outdoor teaching, communal ties and thedesign process at preparatory stages. Thebuildings represented the most recentlydesigned and constructed schools from asample of twenty school sites explored andreviewed by a multidisciplinary group ofresearchers. The group included two facultymembers at the University of Iceland,two school principals and an architect.Data was collected by observations andphotography at each location, interviewswith selected members of staff and the studentbody, review of technical documents,drawings and writings. The result indicated a clear shift in the design of educationalbuildings. Flexibility, flow, openness, socialdynamics and teamwork seem to haveguided recent school design. Clusters ofclassrooms or open spaces, transparentor movable boundaries, as well as publicspaces allowing for manifold interactionsin flexible groups seem to have replacedtraditional classrooms along confining corridors.The participation of many differentstakeholders in the preparatory designprocess was also noted. When our resultsare viewed in light of seven design themesfor ...