Busch-Jaeger en puls 11

Movements in architecture 03 | 2011 A sculpture for learning in Cologne by Architekturbüro Paul Böhm Things one just has to capture ­ interview with Prof. Eckhard Gerber The open-plan classroom Campus for medical technology by Günter Hermann Architekten » Editorial Architecture sets an example: Marc Oei, Arno Lederer and Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir have already received a brace of awards for their educational buildings The topic: Education as a challenge pulse in conversation with Arno Lederer, Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir and Marc Oei Nowadays, does an architect that designs school buildings inevitably have to address educational questions and debate? Indeed, absolutely. There is a big difference between designing a Waldorf School or any other form of private school, a state school or a Christian one. It goes without saying that assignments such as these presuppose as knowledge of the respective educational system. Given the trend to all-day education, school is going to enjoy a greater standing in German society. What opportunities does this open up to architects? Architects can look forward to lots of new projects. In terms of content all-day schools mean a broader view of things, as their responsibility with regard to social integration will assume a significantly greater role. Are clients now ascribing due importance to the influence a setting can have on the success of knowledge transfer and education? Yes they are, but there is still a lack of awareness of the fact that schools are also there to help student's acquire social skills. By this you mean the areas that are not necessarily reserved for teaching ­ ergo, areas that until now have essentially been subsumed under communal areas. This is where social interaction takes place: Conversations about lessons combined with different questions and problems. Learning general manners, which are too a part of the educational canon, is also very closely associated with these communal areas. We repeatedly hear that dwindling student numbers in Germany are reducing the chance of innovative school buildings. This change in education is definitely encouraging people to reflect on how to use available space. This of course also includes dealing with existing structures in the event of dwindling numbers. Is school architecture subject to contemporary trends and fashions? Yes, bad school architecture. What is bad school architecture, though? Schools built on too tight a budget, or projects where the architect overindulges in his own formal notions. We also reject a one-sided consideration of end-user's wishes at the expense of durability: The possibility of educational requirements changing over the course of time should always be entrenched in the building. 02 pulse 03 | 2011 How should school be taught today ­ buildings that support new ways of learning > p. 4 The open-plan classroom > p. 10 A sculpture for learning in Cologne > p. 14 New school in the Vorarlberg, Austria > p. 2...