Design For Education

Schools occupy a unique position within the community, providing a framework for social interaction, teaching, learning and playing. These services must be offered in an inspiring way, equally accessible to students, parents and staff. We feel that in order to ensure a school does not fall short of these ambitions, a well designed learning environment should engage with its context; encouraging a sense of ownership, identity and cohesion in the community.

At Sjölander da Cruz, we consult the users of these institutions during the design process. By listening, understanding, and then responding to their needs, we know how to realise imaginative, flexible, safe and healthy environments ready for the demands of teaching and learning in the 21st Century.

The creation of an innovative teaching environment should not be limited to the physical appearance of the school, but should reappraise the way spaces are used and articulated. We believe a school should be an engaging building, full of experiences and possibilities; often schools provide a child's first experience of a non-domestic environment and will form long lasting memories within those who experience the spaces, whether for educational, social or recreational activities.

Our aim is to ensure the built environment has a positive effect upon the people that use it, and the activities they pursue.

In all our designs for education environments we have a set of key principles, which we use as general guidelines for a successful project:

• The building should provide naturally lit open spaces at its heart to create a responsive, stimulating and friendly environment.

• The building must be accessible and legible to all users, whether for education or recreation, to allow extended and community use.

• Internal and external spaces should be flexible in size and layout to allow use for learning, social, or recreational activities, for all different kinds of user group.

• The architecture should allow the building occupants the choice to customise the spaces easily, as the ways in which the building is used now, and in the future, are varied and will change with new concepts and technologies.