Context as the beginning of the design
When designing a school, we always start from the context of the place we are designing it for. The setting, landscape and character of the village or town are the first conceptual considerations for how to shape the school in that place. When we design a school on the outskirts of Bratislava, we are not just designing a building, but an entire campus where one can spend the whole day. A place to go for sports, exhibitions or concerts. Such a school becomes a natural part of the city that makes sense to drive to from the centre.
Conversely, when designing schools in smaller communities, we look at how the school can strengthen community life and offer suitable indoor and outdoor spaces for spending time together. The outdoor public space is as important to the school as the indoor one, because the school no longer functions only during school hours. Today it is an open house that lives on in the afternoons and evenings, offering its spaces for clubs, art or music activities, ceramics, or for the use of sports facilities by the public and local clubs.
The environment into which a school enters fundamentally influences its design. The school should be a legible and confident point in the urban design that refers to the importance of this public institution. At the same time, it should create a quality public space around it that supports life outside the classroom. The school building today is not a closed building but an open house for all.
Internal arrangement
The internal space of a school is always defined by its users. An elementary school will have a different spatial arrangement than a middle or high school. In primary schools, where the main users are children acting spontaneously, it is important to work with two basic spatial principles – classrooms for focused learning and communal spaces.
Classrooms must provide the best possible conditions in terms of light, acoustics and thermal comfort. They should also allow for outdoor learning and give pupils the opportunity to personalise the space so that they can relate to it and feel responsible for it. At the same time, they should be as flexible as possible and allow for different arrangements.
The common areas of the school are its heart – like the town centre square. This is where everyone meets and informal learning takes place. These are spaces that encourage discovery and exploration. They offer a large open atrium with a seating staircase that can function as a school auditorium or an amphitheatre for group events. At the same time, they create quiet corners for individual work or small groups.
The spaces are distinct in character and create a natural transition from the large open world to smaller squares in front of several classrooms where informal learning takes place. Around the main atrium, our “school square”, we place functions that support school life and social interaction: the library, the school club or exhibition spaces. Just as the most important buildings in the city stand on the square, the places that connect the school community are concentrated here.
School as a landscape of learning
For us, every school we work on is the result of the connection between the outdoor environment, the context and the building itself.
We strive for the school to create a holistic landscape of learning that allows learning all around, not just in the classroom, but in the hallways, atrium, courtyard, or garden. The entire school space should actively promote learning, foster curiosity and allow for various forms of social interaction, whether in small groups or in a larger community.
A well-designed school gives children and adults the opportunity to change, discover and transform the environment as needed. This creates a place that inspires, develops and teaches naturally. The well-known philosopher’s idea: “School through play” still applies.
