YVONNE KERZRÉHO SCHOOL COMPLEX FOR INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGY
The evolution of educational programmes currently underway in Anglo-Saxon countries is leading to a radical transformation of school architecture typologies. This shift moves away from teaching methods and spatial models inherited from the 19th century, characterised by classrooms aligned along corridors and designed for frontal, passive instruction.
Schools such as Hellerup Skole and Ørestad College in Copenhagen, as well as Waldorf schools by Peter Hübner in Germany and Peter Märkli in Switzerland, propose “learning landscapes” (Lernlandschaften) or “learning clusters”, in which classrooms are combined with large, flexible, multi-purpose spaces with open-ended uses, enabling individual or small-group learning.
Peter Hübner’s philosophy goes further: as the school constitutes the child’s primary environment during the day, he does not conceive it as a public building or an institution, but rather as a village at the child’s scale, allowing free access to the spaces and activities they need throughout the day.
The pedagogy underlying these spatial transformations — particularly developed by the Montagsstiftung in Germany — advances the following idea: in order for children to learn under the best conditions, teaching must be adapted to their physiological rhythms and needs, and the school day organised according to their capacity for concentration as well as their need for rest or physical activity. As these cycles differ from one child to another, flexibility and freedom must also be introduced into teaching by granting a degree of autonomy to each individual.
At the same time, teaching is becoming more diverse. Frontal learning, with the class facing the teacher, is receding in favour of more specific and interactive learning models: individual learning, small- and large-group work, and mixed-age classes where children learn from one another, as the most effective way to consolidate knowledge is through transmission.
In line with Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia approach in Italy, who stated that “the third teacher is the space,” neuroscientist Wolf Singer of the Max Planck Institute asserts that the richer our sensory experiences are in childhood, the greater our ability to meet intellectual and social challenges as adults. Our built and natural environment therefore clearly constitutes a major catalyst for sensory experiences.
Drawing on the theories of Maria Montessori, he explains that the child is a curious “sponge” who seeks above all to learn, to experience new things, and to improve every day. The role of adults or educational institutions is therefore to place the child in the best possible environment, to adapt teaching to their physiological and psychological capacities, and above all to prevent the development of frustration towards school and learning.
In order to implement these new forms of learning, learning environments must also evolve. However, this work must be initiated at the programming stage, in agreement and in collaboration with teaching teams.
With more than 15 years of experience in school architecture, we strive to bring playful and educational added value to our projects through a range of approaches:
• transforming corridors into useful spaces by integrating features such as platforms, libraries and stages;
• integrating multi-purpose, shared and flexible spaces open to appropriation;
• designing differentiated, playful classrooms adapted to children;
• providing generous outdoor spaces that encourage interaction between different users, including students from different age groups, teachers, the city, parents and citizens;
• opening the school to the city and promoting the mixed use of public facilities;
• offering rich, playful and varied spatial experiences, including ramps, slides, hills, climbing walls, stairs and alcoves;
• creating natural spaces, parks and gardens that encourage exploration and play in nature, including vegetable gardens, wooded areas, plants, beehives and cabins.
Today, school architecture is subject to over-regulation, which tends to reduce the responsibility of both children and their parents. However, the creation of a sanitised and overprotected environment cannot prepare children to understand the world around them and its potential dangers.
“Fortress schools,” as geographer Pascal Clerc describes these school complexes that form an opaque enclosure between the playground and the public space, place children in a closed environment governed by discipline. In Anglo-Saxon countries, playgrounds are often integrated into the public space, freely accessible and lively in the evenings and on weekends. There is no need for supervisors, turnstiles, report booklets, or devices that evoke border control. Children are not in prison; they do not run away.
The traditional school, closed and based on frontal teaching, requires a disciplinary system because its very structure creates disciplinary issues. By placing students in a passive and subordinate position, it does not foster autonomy, creativity or a sense of responsibility. It insufficiently stimulates their cognitive, emotional and social skills, which are nevertheless essential for integrating into the world of tomorrow.
In Germany, experiences with Waldkindergärten, or forest kindergartens, are multiplying. Only a bungalow or a caravan allows children to rest or have a meal in a warm place, while the rest of the time their learning takes place in direct contact with nature, with all the risks and adventures this entails.
Schools are not only places for learning knowledge, but above all places for learning how to live in society. Developing children’s sense of responsibility by avoiding overprotection, as well as developing their awareness of the environment by building passive and sustainable schools, are part of this.
Design Team
Sam architecture (lead architect)
Bollinger + Grohmann (structural engineer)
Ecallard (cost consultant)
BET Choulet (building services,
environmental engineering)
Pollen (landscape architect)
2IDF (civil engineering – roads and utilities)
Altia (acoustics)
