Does being determine consciousness? What can we do right now to change the school environment for the better? The participants in the discussion “Architecture and design of the school. Finnish Experience”, which took place at the end of April at the DI Telegraph site in Moscow. The interest in Finland's experience is understandable: this country is a recognized leader in the field of secondary education, and, trying to unravel the secret of its success, many are beginning to study such external features as the architecture of educational institutions. One of the organizers of the discussion was "Smart School", which a couple of years ago turned from a kind of forum for discussing the problems of the domestic school system into a company that announced its intention to build a large educational cluster in Irkutsk, intended primarily for orphans. In November 2014, its CEO, Mark Sartan, went on a big trip to Finnish schools with like-minded people to understand what principles of their spatial organization and design are applicable in Russia - when designing new schools and transforming the interiors of existing standard buildings. His story about what he saw, coupled with the speeches of his Finnish colleagues, became a prelude to an interesting story of Russian specialists about their own developments and an exchange of views on what architectural and design techniques will allow “re-inventing” classes and recreation in Russian schools.
The etymology of the word "school" is not obvious. It comes from the ancient Greek "schole", which means "idleness, leisure": the ancient Greeks in their free time loved to attend philosophers' conversations in order to partake of their wisdom. The system of state free and universal school education, as we imagine it - with a single curriculum for everyone, a rigid lecture format of classes and an almost factory schedule with calls announcing the beginning and end of the lesson, appeared at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, shaded by the ideas of the Enlightenment and meets the needs of the economy during the Industrial Revolution.
Since the 1970s, the Finnish school began to move away from the model of the industrial era: it was replaced by a post-industrial approach to teaching, which implies, among other things, a curriculum adjusted to a specific student, a freer form of interaction between the teacher and students in the lesson, less obsession with control tests. works and grades, as well as greater independence of the student. This inevitably affected architecture: the layout of schools became noticeably more diverse in terms of the set, configuration of premises and their possible transformations. In pre-design work, architects often listen to the wishes of the end users - teachers, parents, and even schoolchildren. The combination of a new educational paradigm and a qualitatively new architecture has borne fruit over time. Since the 2000s, everyone has been talking about Finland as a country with the best teachers who nurture children and adolescents without pressure about grades and exams in bright, comfortable classrooms. This fame is confirmed by the high literacy rates that young Finns demonstrate over and over again on international tests. To complete the image in 2010, Finland showed at the next architecture biennale in Venice an exposition with the loud name "The best school in the world", where one could see seven recently rebuilt excellent school buildings.
One of them, the Enter school in Sipoo near Helsinki, was presented at the Moscow discussion by one of its authors - architect Mikko Summanen from K2S Architects. He explained that this is a pilot project implemented in 2007, where a secondary school for the first time in Finland is combined in one volume with a vocational school - an IT college. The institution is attended by adolescents aged 15 to 19 years old, and if they wish, they can graduate with two diplomas at once. The 4150 m2 building has a capacity of 400 people and is considered relatively small. All the characteristic features of Finnish school architecture are evident - a humane scale, floor plans that are dissimilar to each other, panoramic glazing that provides natural light and a visual connection with the urban environment and nature, restrained colors and natural textures in interior decoration, which create a neutral background for children's creativity. Glass partitions are often used indoors. The central space is a hall with a spectacular spiral staircase connecting the first and second floors.
Kristina Falkenstedt, headmaster of the Mårtensbro skola school in Espoo, whose new building was erected in 2012, spoke about how teachers and children exist in such buildings. The project program is rather complex: a building with a plan of two "arms" accommodates includes a kindergarten, preparatory classes, primary school for grades 1-6, premises for grades 7-9, as well as an after-school school. According to the director, the role of the center of social life is played by the dining room, where children of all ages meet and communicate. Before and after lunch, this hall serves as an ordinary hall, and if necessary, through simple transformations, it turns into an auditorium with a stage.
An important task was to ensure maximum "visual permeability" of the classrooms so that the teacher could always see what was happening in them. Therefore, the classrooms are separated from the corridor by glazed doors and, sometimes from each other, by glass partitions. This allows the teacher to divide students into groups working in isolated rooms, while easily controlling the process. The building is reusing full-height windows.
In his speech, Mark Sartan summarized the remarkable features of the structure of these and other Finnish schools, which he and his colleagues had visited, and suggested that some of the techniques of spatial organization and interior design he saw are quite applicable in typical Russian schools: for example, the principle of a variety of premises and their proportionality to the human scale. In Russian schools, small audiences are usually set aside for methodological cabinets or are intended for the work of individual specialists. “It probably makes sense to change their purpose, transferring the current functions to common office areas, and use them for individual, group, some kind of specialized work,” he said. And large spaces, for example, spacious recreation and corridors, on the contrary, should be equipped for communication or privacy, so that children do not have a desire to rush around them. Mobility and transformability of spaces is achieved by using folding furniture and sliding partitions. The active use of color, for example, for zoning, and interesting textures in the interior is in no way limited by SanPiNs, so you just need to be open to experiments. Another principle - visual permeability and transparency - is quite realizable with the help of reinforced glass partitions, since ordinary glass partitions are prohibited in our schools. Replace blackout curtains with easy-to-open blinds and thin out overgrown green spaces near the school, which often unnecessarily shade classrooms. These measures also provide a visual link between the classes and the outside world. But what, according to Sartan, it will not be possible to implement in existing typical buildings is a pronounced vertical structuring of space. In Finnish schools, there are a lot of all kinds of podiums, amphitheaters, balconies, atriums, galleries, transitions from floor to floor, "captain's bridges", from where you can observe the bustle of school life. It is impossible for us to create spaces of such complex configurations, the expert stated.
Generally speaking, the topic of the practical application of the Finnish experience of school design in Russian conditions is not new. Back in November 2013, this topic was discussed at the seminar of the Institute of Education of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. Then the focus of attention was the speech of Maria Weitz, co-founder of the association of architects "TOK" from St. Petersburg, who spoke about the already completed project of changing the design of one of the typical schools in the city. Scandinavian charitable foundations helped to invite designers from Finland, who developed a concept for transforming the interiors of school No. 53, taking into account the wishes of users - students, teachers and parents. Their requirements turned out to be simple: create places where you can sit and read quietly, and places where you can play, put individual lockers for children and teachers. But even at that stage, doubts were expressed about the feasibility of the project because of the existing SanPiNs in our country, and it still remains on paper.
The new face of old schools
The HSE School of Design has developed its concept of adapting the design of schools built before 1970 to new realities by order of the Moscow Department of Education. The project, as conceived by the authors, allows the space to be made more modern and adapted for different types of classes within the framework of a simple major overhaul, without a fundamental restructuring of the building.
According to the head of the School of Design office Natalia Logutova, the initial sketches were very similar to the design of Finnish schools with their restrained palette and natural textures - wood, concrete. School principals were not ready for such a decision: “Is this an operating room? Or a sauna? In some places, designers have suggested painting the walls with slate paint to give children the opportunity to express themselves in the interior. This was also met with hostility: wouldn't children start drawing everywhere?
“Our idea was to initiate a public discussion about both SanPiNs and, in general, work with consciousness and behavior. We perceive the school of the future as an interface. We are all used to mobile phones and gadgets. Space in reality is the same interface. It is either convenient to interact with him or not. If there is a clear understanding of where it is possible to draw and where it is not, then, it seems to me, children are trained enough not to draw where they cannot. Well, nobody canceled the theory of broken windows: if the interior is beautiful, it probably won't be spoiled in the near future."
It is important to note that the authors of the concept proposed options for the design of the school space for students of different age groups, realizing that younger children love bright colors, and adolescents prefer a more restrained palette.
Other universities are also involved in the study of various aspects of school architecture. MARCHI, commissioned by the Moscow Department of Education, conducted a large-scale design study of the interiors of Moscow schools and developed its recommendations based on the experience not only of Finland, but also of schools in Britain, Singapore, Sweden, France, the USA and Serbia. And the students of the studio of architects Olga Aleksakova and Yulia Burdova (Buromoscow) of the MARCH school, together with students of the University of Lucerne, study the urban planning situation of the school in the microdistrict. The teachers are trying to break the stereotype of the "protected zone of socialism" that has developed in relation to the school territory, and turn the school itself into a full-fledged public building open to all residents of the district. Finally, the pedagogical community also thought about updating the school design on its own. The Institute of System Projects of the Moscow Pedagogical University has assessed the potential of such spaces as libraries, school museums and corridors, which can be revealed with a minimum of imagination and effort.
New schools: design and social function
While some architects and designers are developing concepts for adapting old schools to new requirements, others are already embodying their vision in new buildings. Last year, in the village of Raisemenovskoye, Serpukhovsky District, Moscow Region, the “Absolute” school was opened - a special correctional institution for children with disabilities from low-income families and foster families and children left without parental care. The design of the complex with an area of 5132 m2 was carried out by the Bureau of Virtual Architecture (architects Stanislav Kulish, Maria Kazarinova). The object turned out to be very bright, almost variegated, and plastically complex, also due to the relief. The complex is divided into three blocks: educational, medical and economic. The design of both classrooms and spacious recreations is full of color, stained-glass windows are used, and a barrier-free environment has been created.
The school in Pushkin near Moscow, which has already been published on Archi.ru, which is not inferior to the desired Finnish models either in interior design or in planning, was designed and brought to fruition by the architects of the ADM bureau Andrei Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova. In addition to a spectacular courtyard, cheerful and stylish classrooms and recreation, the hallmark of this facility is the library, which is available not only to schoolchildren, but also to residents of the area. It is located in a part of the building isolated from the classrooms and has its own separate entrance.
An important social function is also performed by a school in the Zagorje microdistrict for 825 places according to the project of the PPF "Project-Realization" (architect Olga Bumagina). Here, the educational part is separated from the vast public block - concert, sports and dance halls, a swimming pool, a library, an Internet club. The architects understood that the school would most likely remain the only public building in the microdistrict for a long time, and considered it reasonable to make it a local leisure center as well. The volumetric solution of the building, unlike Finnish schools, is extremely compact and traditional due to the fact that the area it occupies is relatively small, explains the author of the project Olga Bumagina. This and many other schools appeared as part of a large-scale program of the Moscow government for the construction of social facilities. The chief architect of the capital, Sergei Kuznetsov, pays special attention to the quality of projects for new kindergartens and schools within the framework of the work of the Moscow Architectural Council.
The idea of how the interior design of a school affects the psychological well-being of schoolchildren and learning outcomes is based on research conducted by sociologists, psychologists, as well as by designers and architects themselves. Thus, according to data obtained by researchers from the University of Salford near Manchester, in elementary school, not only is there sufficient natural light, a comfortable temperature and fresh air, but factors such as the individualization of design, its complexity and the use of color can increase reading performance by 16%. spelling and math. Of course, one can doubt these calculations, but common sense dictates that engaging in intellectual activity is more effective in an environment that stimulates this activity. A very representative literature review published by the Center for Learning and Teaching at the University of Newcastle back in 2005 suggests that the most important is the direct involvement of users - teachers and students - in the design of their school: “The design of a school cannot be imposed or bought as in the store. Success lies in the ability of users to express their personal vision of what their school should be like, and then work with designers and architects to create generic solutions. In connection with this statement, a question arises: maybe, in order for the design of Russian schools to motivate schoolchildren to study, it is necessary not so much to use the Finnish experience as to study the needs of domestic children and teachers? Moreover, there is already a precedent: at that very discussion in the DI Telegraph, students of Moscow Lyceum # 1547 shared their ideas about the ideal arrangement of classes with the public, and these were not just fantasies, but a real guide to action.
