Abstract:

Schools play an important role in providing an enriching education to children. In India, more than 70% children in the age of 6-14 years go to public primary school. It is thus very crucial to provide a nurturing environment as most children come from a very underprivileged background. However most of the public schools are built with minimal funds and have very basic infrastructure.

Many schools have 2-3 rooms which house 5 grades of schooling. Apart from the multi-grade classrooms, they often have only 1-2 teachers appointed per school. These scenarios give rise to challenges of pedagogy as well as demands for innovative learning spaces.

This study seeks to reinterpret architectural elements like walls, doors and windows that form boundaries of an enclosure to a pedagogical aid for activity centered learning. The study also aims to support the existing single mode learning through lectures with multi-modal learning through decentralized learning spaces. It looks at the school building as a mode to strengthen the development of a child through different stages of individual and social growth.

The research method involved studies to understand the context of educational environment in present public primary schools in India. Qualitative and quantitative data collected from students and teachers at the public schools gave insights into the activity and usage patterns. The study suggests the needs for spaces which promote learning through physical activities like climbing, crawling, hiding and peeping in the classroom and school space. The study also highlighted the needs for spaces which allowed for group, peer to peer learning and spaces for individual reflections.

With the insights the study proposes a catalogue of architectural elements designed for children and their specific needs. The designs and guidelines can be used by society and authorities who would be involved in the process of designing public schools as learning spaces.

Keywords:

Learning spaces, pedagogy, schools architecture, Primary education.