Abstract:

Pedagogical objectives, learning conditions, and teaching methods are in constant flux, which has significant implications for the reconfiguration of school spaces. Continuous scrutiny of the interdependence between pedagogical ideas and spaces intended for education results in the transformation and diversified interpretation of all areas within the school, including circulation spaces.

The predominantly corridor-based system of traditional schools is gradually evolving toward an educative landscape. Beyond their primary functions of distribution and evacuation, circulation spaces in schools now fulfill substantial social roles, and increasingly, pedagogical functions as well. These multiple roles generate ambivalent spatial requirements.

Spaces designed primarily for evacuation are strictly regulated by safety codes to ensure optimal conditions for secure and rapid egress. This rigid, fire-code-determined framework often conflicts with the desirable qualities of spaces for socialization—and more recently, education—which school corridors are increasingly expected to support. Such spaces typically exceed the dimensions dictated by fire regulations, benefit from natural lighting, and are visually and, where possible, physically connected to adjacent areas. Boundaries between the public corridor space and the private classroom space become less explicit, while the path through the school is less canalized and more rhythmically structured through spatial sequences and density of experience.

National standards and regulations for planning, programming, and designing educational facilities generally prescribe minimum widths and heights for circulation spaces in classroom areas, typically derived from fire safety codes. There is little ambition in these guidelines to program or regulate circulation areas in terms of creating a hospitable and inhabitable environment.

Circulation areas are calculated as part of the non-net area alongside vertical circulation, ancillary spaces, technical installations, and the areas occupied by structural elements and walls. In the context of energy-efficient buildings—where wall thickness and the complexity of installations and energy infrastructure vary significantly depending on the building’s energy concept—there is limited opportunity for a high-quality and creative interpretation of circulation dimensions, especially in typologies featuring longer corridors.

Despite the evident need to articulate school circulation spaces as generators of school life, most national regulations continue to treat them as optimally designed evacuation devices. This research, through a comparative analysis of historical and current national standards and numerous school building examples, seeks to identify good practices for the optimal programming and dimensioning of circulation spaces as multifunctional environments.

Keywords:

Educative landscape, school circulation spaces, designing educational facilities.