Arkitektur- Putting Thought Into Schools

By Author: Vikram Kumar
Total Articles: 9694
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Imagine a school with no classrooms, no benches, and no board. Imagine a school where you are expected to come and create your own learning within a space that does not restrict you. One that does not cramp learning and compels you to create new thought processes. This is not an impossibility. It is something that at least the urban world is heading towards. Children are the future citizens of the world. They will be the ones who replace the current- day movers and shakers. Why then do they have to be tethered to a school desk, 5 hours everyday in a cramped classroom that permits them very little scope for movement? Does that not have a negative impact on free learning?

It probably does and that is exactly why school hallways are filled with cackling children, straining to be free. But all this will change, just like everything else has. Commercial and residential arkitektur has changed drastically over the last decade. Shorter structures have given way to sky-hugging ones. Needs have changed and so have construction techniques. Concepts have changed, structural methodology has changed and the need to be creative is now ...
... being given prominence in the field of architecture. The job of arkitekter has moved from being just a design and technical requirement to one that requires expertise in the domain of futuristic design concepts. Structures that are built today will have to support the needs of tomorrow.

There has been a sea-change in the way schools are being designed today. The time is not far when classrooms will no longer need a podium. A teacher’s desk will be something that toddlers will see mentioned in history books. There will be no need to stick to linear placement of learning stations. Patterned layouts for desks, probably small study spaces for group activities and interior designing that accommodates wheelchair movement, are requirements that are being considered in the construction of schools. Passageways that provide ample scope for movement and doors with low handles and walls with low switches are all considerations in making the physical learning environment more student-friendly.

The arkitektur of today has to be a reflection of tomorrows needs. Schools will have cameras and monitors and will be less of a school and more of a learning studio. Intercontinental information sharing techniques will be firmly in place by then and presentations and papers will be shared and discussed in virtual classrooms. This concept is already in use but is in its embryonic stages and has not gained widespread acceptance and use yet. This could be due to budgetary constraints, technological or infrastructural ones. Visual aids will be given more weightage and video transmission will be of a high-quality. Spotlights will have to be incorporated into internal spaces to enhance transmission quality.

Vinyl flooring will give way to acoustic material and communication ports will not have mangled strands of wires hanging in an ungainly manner from every computer. School spaces are in for a change. The arkitekter of the future will have to focus on flexibility, movement and openness. And are all these attributes not what learning is all about after all?

The future of arkitektur has to be perceived and imagined. That is what an architect has to focus on. All arkitekter at Arkitema are honed to do just that.