Committee on Architecture for Education

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ALBION DISTRICT LIBRARY BY PERKINS + WILL IS A 2018 COTE TOP TEN RECIPIENT. IMAGE: DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

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The Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) is a Knowledge Community of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). We are a large and active group of over 10,000 architects and allied professionals concerned with the quality and design of all types of educational, cultural, and recreational facilities that promote lifelong learning in safe, welcoming and equitable environments. The CAE’s mission is to foster innovative and collaborative design of educational facilities and to heighten public awareness on the importance of learning environments.

  

CAE Berlin Conference Reflections

By Olivia Rose Graf Doyle Assoc. AIA posted 05-09-2016 06:10 AM

  

The Spring 2016 CAE Conference in Berlin was interspersed with a broad variety of educational spaces - from K-12 schools to Universities, libraries to a research academy of the Jewish Museum, historical buildings to Germany's most sustainable building. As I reflect back on the conference - talks by inspirational professionals in the fields of architecture and education, and tours of schools new and old - the projects which had the most impact on me, were those that were completely unexpected.

Growing up in Germany, I experienced a more strict and regimented environment in the classroom, with most of the freedom and imagination coming from the playground and our time in between classes. By visiting Berlin, I was interested to see how and if this had changed. What I found, were learning environments that felt much more similar to what we are developing in the US. The school day in Germany is changing - becoming longer and more similar to the length of an American school day. Gone are the days of going home at noon. Schools are incorporating lunch and therefore adding cafeterias and multi-functional gathering spaces. What most of the schools we visited did successfully (particularly the Erika-Mann Elementary School), was create autonomy and imagination outside of curriculum based learning. How did they do this? My four favorite projects we visited, all seemed to have a common thread... some aspect of the architecture reflects identity - whether historical, imaginative, sensory or spatial identity. I believe each can be integral to incorporating learning tools into the architecture to promote the exploration and creativity we witnessed while touring Berlin's educational facilities. 

Tchoban Foundation Museum - Historical Identity
Located among former brewery buildings, the new 5 story museum of architectural drawings at first glance is an interesting modern addition to its adjacent old brick buildings from the 1800s. However, upon walking up to the building, an intricate concrete facade reflecting classical architectural drawings is revealed. The tactile relief of pattern and texture gives the building it's identity and clearly showcases it's function before ever entering the building. Beautifully detailed and executed, the simple and elegant gesture of it's integrated drawings onto the building, is very powerful and educational.

 

Erika-Mann Elementary School - Imaginative Identity
Housed in an older building from 1914, renovated hallways were filled with a story to tell. Together with the architecture firm, Baupiloten, Students collaborated to create the concept of "the Dragon", which is brought to life all throughout the school's very active hallways. Magical scales of the dragon create lockers, and smoke creates flowing cloth banners. Foldable cubbies and benches become a cave to hide in and a place for small group instruction. Mirrors on the ceiling reflect images of each student and their friends. A fantastical bird-like contraption, with a perch to sit in and wings to flap, seemed to be a favorite of not only the kids, but the adults. This structure looked like something out of a dream. How did the students and architects come up with something so wonderfully abstract, peculiar and eccentric? Through participatory design, the design process yielded a whimsical amalgamation of student and architect ideas. Not only did all these imaginative hallway elements contradict my memories of my schooling in Germany as rigid, it showed how these elements are reflections of the students themselves. They are not necessarily an educational tool to further curriculum, but instead, a tool to further imagination, identity and comfort. 


   

 

Staatsbibliothek - Sensory Identity
Designed by Hans Scharoun in 1967, walking into the State Library feels dark and overbearing. However, once you walk past the circulation desk and up the stairs, you are greeted by warm, colored glass block and open, light filled reading spaces. The skylights are functional and at the same time magical. They create a strong identity for the space, and one that is intrinsically conducive to reading and learning. The naturally bright environment promotes it's functionality so that it feels like the books and reading tables could not exist without light and vice versa. This emotional response is what makes the space so successful. The design is at the same time delicate and bold - a sensory delight.

 

 

Bauhaus - Spatial Identity
A highlight of the trip, having seen the iconic exterior of Walter Gropius' Bauhaus in so many books, the interiors are what surprised and inspired me the most. The use of color for way finding and identity was subtle (mainly in ceiling and horizontal planes) and yet very striking. It was surprising to me, that what I had always associated with a minimalist Miesian aesthetic, was actually extremely colorful and warm. The Master's House of Paul Klee, with it's pastel pinks, yellows, and blues, was a work of art in itself; composed and rhythmic, and yet put me completely at ease - comforting and mellow. It has inspired me to be more adventurous with color in order to create a sense of belonging and spatial identity.

   

 

The experiences of the conference were not at all what I expected to find. I expected stark and minimalist spaces, austere in their beauty and educational on more of a two dimensional level with various graphics and materials to create uncluttered learning environments. I expected an educational system unchanged from my past. However, the spaces were much more active and colorful, comforting and bold. Spaces and elements within promoted collaboration, flexibility and freedom. One of our speakers, Dr. Rosie Parnell of Northumbria University in the UK, spoke about authenticity in the design process, specifically as it related to several of the schools we visited. She spoke of tokenism; the idea that truly lasting educational concepts incorporated into the architecture were those that allowed the students to explore ideas and physical spaces differently each time and for themselves. It cannot just be a token of learning, but perhaps more flexible and abstract in order to create a lasting identity for students and teachers to grow alongside each other and alongside the building.

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