Precious spaces in schools, how can we make them work for everyone?

The aim of this post is to consider the value of small rooms in schools with the intention of starting … More

Education in the time of Covid-19: who gets to decide and when? A call for increased participation in the design and adaptation of education and schools

This is a guest post by Dr Tom Bellfield, a part 2 architectural assistant at SCABAL, an architecture practice specialising … More

Anyone for online hopscotch? Why school space (still) matters in the digital age.

This is a guest post by Dr Pamela Woolner, Senior Lecturer in Education at Newcastle University. Pam has been researching … More

Mythologies of learning spaces in the time of Covid-19

The closure of many schools around the world in the past few months has given us a unique opportunity to … More

Mythologies of education in the time of Covid-19

This is a guest post by Catherine Burke, Professor Emerita of the History of Education at the University of Cambridge. … More

Incoherences in English Planning for Schools Policy

The English planning system promotes school choice not better or more sustainable or simply more schools. This post explores the consequences.

Space and Education Seminars, Spring 2020, London

Info on a new, free and open-to-the-public, evening seminar series, “Space and Education” at UCL Institute of Education.

City Schools as Meeting Places

Text of a talk I gave at the Université de Montréal connecting architectural ideas of the “in-between” to educational discussions on “meeting places”.

Spot the Difference!

Similar visions of school design travel the world at speed – with what effects?

Giancarlo De Carlo: How to Keep Educational Architecture Human or Creative Anti-Institutionalism

A talk I gave at the Bartlett’s Spatial Engagement Network meeting about Anarchism, Education and Space on the architect Giancarlo De Carlo.

Disappearing School Libraries – Why?

School libraries seem to be disappearing – I suggest this is related to their being “illegible” in terms of how space in schools is valued.

Schools of Tomorrow but Rooted in Society – an Interview with Silvia Fehrmann of Berlin’s HKW

An interview with Silvia Fehrmann, curator of HKW’s conference “Schools of Tomorrow” on schools and society.

Architecture Schools for Children

A list of organisations running architecture schools for children.

Interview with Herman Hertzberger (2017): architecture as visual and social connection

An Interview with Herman Hertzberger from May 2017 about Architecture’s Role in Providing Visual and Social Connections

What Are We Building Schools For Again?

For OECD and UNICEF, the well-being of UK young people is not good. Is it time to rethink the aim of school architecture?

An Interview with Jill Blackmore on space, learning, feminism and the politics of education

Professor Jill Blackmore discusses learning spaces, teachers’ work, feminism and the complexity of education.

Flexibility, Time and Learning Spaces

If teachers don’t have time to make flexibility happen, a learning environment isn’t flexible. This post proposes a breakdown into 4 types of flexibility based on the temporal (& other) resources users need.

Hertzberger’s ‘cupboardness’

Should schools have cosy, secluded spaces for children? The architect Herman Hertzberger thinks so. His ‘little library,” is one example: … More

An educational paradox: where beginner readers learn in school

As a collaborative* doctoral research student in the field of architecture and education, I’m often asked to explain what my … More

Architecture and Education seminar: two-footed stories of exploration. May 11th 2016, University of Cambridge

Over the past three years, an innovative collaborative research partnership, funded by the AHRC has been established between the Faculty … More

Post-Occupancy Evaluation and Schools – an interview with Adrian Leaman

Adrian Leaman on what makes school buildings special, PoE and managing complexity.

Improving access in schools: an interview with Jane Simpson

An Architect and NRAC registered Access Consultant, Jane is the Director of her own company; Jane Simpson Access Ltd. She … More

Schools and School Design in Africa: An Interview with Ola Uduku

Ola Uduku (Edinburgh University) speaks about the historical influence of Western pedagogies and architectural traditions and their local adaptation in school design.

The importance of acoustics in learning: an interview with Shane Cryer, Ecophon

Shane Cryer manages the education sector in the UK and Ireland for Swedish acoustic experts, Ecophon. After a career in … More

Futures for English School Design

The following is a list of things we learned during the Education Estates conference, held in Manchester on 10-11th November … More

Why are people so fixated on area in schools and not on cost?

I returned home from the Education Estates* conference in Manchester earlier this week with one question lodged firmly in my head: … More

A less modern but more hi-tech primary: more from the DfE’s PSBP

Following yesterday’s cheaper, faster … and better?  post, I must apologise for a lack of thoroughness in my research of … More

PBSP school buildings in the UK: cheaper, faster… better?

A Victorian-era community primary has been rebuilt as a modern replacement primary academy in the West Midlands of England and … More

Interview preview: with special school deputy head Pamela Murphy

Pamela Murphy read Geography at the University of Cambridge before working as a University administrator and then training as a … More

AR’s School Awards: will the interiors count? That’s where students spend their 13,585 school hours…

As the Architectural Review’s School Awards close, let’s hope the judges give due emphasis to the design of the interiors … More

What is a class?

I’d never been inside an architect’s office until a couple of years ago but I’d always been curious to know … More

Wiping the slate clean: one way to declutter a primary school

When I asked Catherine Burke what she would wish for if she could change just one thing in all schools, … More

The phantom cloakroom

When I was considering whether to include my own childhood school as one of a series of research visits to … More

Interview with Ruth Benn and Rebecca Skelton, teachers at Sparrow Farm Infants & Nursery school, Feltham.

Ruth Benn and Rebecca Skelton teach at Sparrow Farm Infants & Nursery school in Feltham, close to Heathrow Airport. Rebecca … More

Interview with Georgie Hughes, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Tower Hamlets

Georgina (Georgie) Hughes is the Reading Recovery teacher leader for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and also trains teachers … More

Interview with Rima Tarar, architecture student

Rima Tarar was born in Paris in the early 1990s, where she attended nursery and primary school.  One year into … More

Open Space Good, Closed Space Bad? Problems with Architecture and Language

In which Marie, a 12-year-old student, explains how large, open-plan spaces feel claustrophobic.

School design podcast

Five minute sound montage featuring descriptions of school architecture