Alex Riddle concludes his piece looking at some of the more exciting learning spaces in modern higher education.
The benefits of a shared space have long been recognised by enterprising businesses and renegade CEOs. The days of the grey corner cubicle are over, as more and more companies convert to open plan workspaces, hot-desking, and shared desks. But Google has taken the idea one step further by offering up a free co-working space for small businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs. Borrowing from the Arts’ cooperative aesthetic, The Google Campus, situated in the heart of Shoreditch’s Silicon Roundabout allows people to register to work alongside one another on long benches and outdoor courtyard. Enabling different companies to sit side-by-side, bouncing ideas of one another, inspiring, encouraging, and sharing skillsets, it’s just the latest example of how collaborative learning is taking hold. And as today’s students enter the work-field, looking to replicate the experience of their days in education – we can expect to see more and more industries embrace the model.
But forget the grown-ups for a second. If anyone appreciates the concept of work as play it’s surely kids and their inspirational teachers. Junior and secondary schools across the world are taking innovative approaches to emphasising the joys of learning, transforming their buildings to places where education occurs through entertainment. Story time always used to mean stifling a yawn listening to a weary teacher read us a chapter with one eye on clocking off time. Not so at Stephen Perse Foundation Junior School, which has fabricated an intelligently-designed, vibrantly-coloured story time space, complete with performance space for the youngsters to act out the narrative and do their best Harry Potter impressions.
Meanwhile, Langley Academy has broken the mould and followed the example of the pioneering New York Museum School. Bringing a slice of the Big Apple to glamorous Slough, the school is introducing the idea of museum learning to the UK – welcoming collections into its halls, transforming dull space into colourful hubs of culture – so students can get up close and personal with history, and changing attitudes towards what was once the dreaded trip to the museum. Its atrium even became the stage for The Globe Players for Shakespeare’s birthday celebrations. Each initiative effectively transforming school space into a playground of learning.
Finally, there are the schools who have decided to go the whole hog and dispense completely with normality and expectation. Windemere School, situated deep in the heart of the Lake District has built its new classrooms up in the trees - offering tree-top learning perfectly suited to its National Park setting. Connected by a central platform made using recycled materials, the kids can learn a thing or two about keeping the local habitat beautiful too. And ditching four walls entirely, the Engage In Their Future network of school’s Extreme Classrooms programme has set about proving a lack of desks, chairs, and even ceiling is no impediment to study.
This summer the academy will be taking a handful of students to the Biscay Triangle to take on, what they’re calling the Wettest Classroom on Earth (clearly they’ve never sat in the front row in front of a teacher unable to control their spittle), having previously conquered the likes of The Fastest Classroom on Earth (Mount Blanc on mountain bikes) and The Highest Classroom on Earth (Everest, naturally).
The course stresses the cultivation of resilience, cultural discovery, and physical activity. It’s certainly a world away from the way the majority learn, but nature is an inspiring teacher, and those memories will probably stick in the head longer than the average session of double geography. It’s clear that both educators and architects alike are pushing the boundaries – recognising the importance and great potential of strong spatial design. So whether taking the traditional route and enjoying the glorious serenity of an ancient library, or engaging with dynamic, modern spaces and techniques, the options for students, and the possibilities for their education, have never been greater.
Alex Riddle is a staff writer for University of Sussex's Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
