Future Proofing Schools

The classroom of the future should have all the characteristics of a room in a garden (spacious, light, airy, fragrant and verdant) but with all the thermal benefits of being inside: we wish to bring the outside inside. The learning experience we wish to promote is one that enhances curiosity in a space that is joyous. A classroom that allows different learning methods (kinesthetic, auditory and visual), interaction between groups and individuals, a mix of inside and outside, both dark (for computers and audio-visual) and well lit areas, degrees of warmth and coolness.

The process of application to different sites is conceived in the form of a pinwheel. This allows the rotation of modules to suit different northerly aspects, climatic conditions (requiring either shading, mass, cross breezes) and existing building configurations. The in between spaces that result create new connections to existing sites and landscapes. Classroom modules can squeeze in to residual space where necessary and stretch out on vast sites. This ensures that existing green space and playing fields are not gradually subsumed as schools are forced to grow. New gardens are also made (both external and partly internal). This allows an infinite number of groupings: pairs of modules can pivot or shift alignment, be stacked with an additional level and/or multiply into larger clusters. It also ensures that the prefabricated classroom has the capacity to both strengthen (and if needs be redefine) the urban form of different sites