Design Thesis: Research Manual

RETHINKING the WHEN + WHERE of POST-PANDEMIC LEARNING OLIVER CHURCH Post-Pandemic Architectures: The Case for Hybrid Spaces ARCH 4020 Karen Van Lengen

ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 01

FRAMING THE TOPIC

CONCEPT STATEMENTS

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

6

ABSTRACT

SECTION 02

RESEARCHING THE TOPIC

SECTION 03

DIAGRAMMING THE TOPIC

TOPIC TAXONOMY

10-11

LITERATURE REVIEW

12-13

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

14-19

SELECTED PRECEDENTS

20-29

PROJECT TAXONOMIES

30-37

DESIGN ARTIFACTS + DIAGRAMS

38-43

PROPOSED SCHEDULE + PLAN

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CONCEPT STATEMENTS

1 0 0 W O R D S TA TE MEN T The Covid-19 pandemic brought dramatic interruptions to most parts of life, and systems of education were no exception. Even as the world slowly returns to normal, phrases like “hybrid classroom” and “zoom lecture” — previously unknown — are here to stay in our vocabulary and our lives. Learning during the pandemic opened the door to a much wider variety of learning modes, spaces, and schedules — and standardized classrooms and school buildings will no longer be sufficient. Our spaces of learning must grow to be more flexible to fit these changing patterns of education and support the students and teachers who inhabit them.

25 WORD ST AT EM E NT The pandemic introduced many variations in how students learn, and these changes are here to stay — requiring us to design more adaptable spaces of learning.

6 W O RD S TA TE M E N T Redesigning more flexible frameworks for learning.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://inspiration.detail.de/melopee-school-in-ghent-a-steel-frame-filled-with-life-115127.html Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS How should our spaces of learning change and develop in response to the pandemic?

What aspects of online-centered learning are here to stay? Which should be embraced? Which should be avoided?

How can architectural design enable greater flexibility between online and in-person modes of learning?

How should “flexibility” be defined in a design context?

How can design give students greater control over their space so they can learn in the way that suits them best?

How can spaces of learning facilitate greater connection with the outdoors? What are the health impacts of this?

What key functions does a school building serve? Which of these should be re-emphasized as these spaces are reoccupied? How have these functions changed?

What is the role of collective space in the school?

How can spaces of learning be hybridized with other programs and types of buildings? Can these spaces begin to occupy increasingly empty post-pandemic offices?

IMAGE SOURCE: https://inspiration.detail.de/comprehensive-school-in-odder-114251.html Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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ABSTRACT In-person. Hybrid classroom. Zoom lecture. Just two years ago, words like these would have been confusing and largely meaningless to the vast majority of people — now, in the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, these phrases have become part of our regular vocabulary. The pandemic has clearly impacted many aspects of our society and daily life, and our systems of education are no exception. Previously steady norms of in-classroom learning were overturned overnight, as well as much of the communal interactions that schools brought to lives.

Even as the country has just barely begun to emerge from the pandemic, it is increasingly clear that our objective of “returning to normal” is aimed at a moving target — and this is true of spaces of education as well. Many aspects of pandemic-altered learning will likely continue to be present, and this then begs the question: How should our spaces of learning change and develop in response to the pandemic?

At the core of the answer to this question is design for flexibility. The pandemic forced students around the country to adapt from standardized classrooms and class schedules to increasingly varied modes, places, and schedules of learning. This forced, sink-or-swim style of adaptation undoubtedly brought many challenges; however, having greater control over the when + where of their learning was also a positive to many students. In the face of a future where hybrid class formats, zoom guest lectures, and many other “new” modes of learning are abundant, our spaces of learning should respond to those needs for flexibility — even if that means branching out and tapping other types of buildings (such as former industrial or office buildings) to fit these new spaces.

However, the pandemic doesn’t just call for a redesign of the utility and function of our systems and spaces of learning — it also highlights the vital role that these spaces play in maintaining our sense of Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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social connection, and thus, overall health. Consideration of the mental and social health impacts will help drive design choices. This could take the form of increased indoor-outdoor connections, the provision of a thoughtful gradient of sheltered + private to open + communal spaces, or other strategies.

Ultimately, this project is more than just a redesign of our spaces of learning in response to the issues of the pandemic — it is also intended to address pre-existing issues facing our education system, which the pandemic only highlighted. The standardization that surrounds schools is out of touch with both the increasingly growing variety of methods of learning, and the substantial inequalities in access to key resources — including internet — that exist around the country. This project will propose a flexible framework or prototype of how a space of learning can address these issues — not a onesize-fits-all solution for any site, but rather a collection of design strategies that can then be adapted to the specific needs of a community.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://inspiration.detail.de/secondary-school-in-neubiberg-110093.html ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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ARCH 4100: Design Research Seminar Prof. John Comazzi

TOPIC TAXONOMY

HIGHER ED. SECONDARY ED.

EDUCATION

CIRCUMSTANCE

PRIMARY ED. AGE GROUPS

BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Many Building

URBAN

SITE SUBURBAN

RETHINKING the WHEN + WHERE of POST-PANDEMIC LEARNING

RURAL

Fully In-perso

Hybrid In-per

LEARNING

Fully Online

TEACHING

PROGRAM

Through Eatin Through Mak Through Pass Through Lear

CONNECTING

Together in V

STUDYING

PRIMARY DRIVERS

Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

DRIVERS

TOPIC

PHYSICAL

KEY CATEGORIES + SUB-CATEGORIES

TECHNOLOGICAL

ASSEMBLIES

RESPONSIVE DRIVERS

Together in P

TOPIC TAXONOMY Oliver Church Connection of Learning + Living Space Hybrid Virtual/In-person Classes Providing Community + Connection More accessible Outdoor Space Flexible + Mutable Spaces Hands-on Learning Growth in Interpersonal Skills

HEALTH-FOCUSED GOALS

Design for Indoor-Outdoor Connection Design of more Healthful Spaces

Design for Mental Health Re-use of Empty Post-pandemic Spaces

gs are Sitting Empty

Hybridize with Other Programs

More Efficient use of Space

HYBRIDITY-FOCUSED GOALS

Address Inequality

Space as a Full-Day Resource Center

Improve Internet Accessibility

on

rson/Online

ng king Together sing By rning Communally

Activated Hallway Occupied Stair Private Spaces within Communal Space

Virtual Space

Choice in the Level of Social Interaction

Physical Space Virtual-enabled Classroom Adaptable for Changing Situations

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OPPORTUNITIES

Outdoor Connectivity

NEEDS + CONCERNS

CONDITIONS

“Catalog” of Classrooms

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LITERATURE REVIEW “We are living in unprecedented times” has become a commonplace phrase in the last two years, and not without good reason.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought drastic, unseen-before changes to all areas of life, education included; the nationwide closure of schools in Spring 2020 was one of the earliest large-scale changes to daily life, as students and teachers alike were thrown into an unfamiliar online learning environment with little training or preparation. However, despite the uniqueness of learning during the pandemic, this project’s design response for learning in a post-pandemic world is not done without precedent or research to rely upon. Even in the brief time that has passed since the onset of the pandemic, large amounts of data have been collected to study the impact of the pandemic period on learning progress; this data highlights how the pandemic worsened existing inequalities in education systems, which are critical to address.

Further research reveals that — while the pandemic has been a very unique event — there are other movements and periods in US history that have resulted in similar calls for greater flexibility and accessibility in educational spaces. This highlights an important fact — that designing for the future of post-pandemic spaces of learning is not solely about responding to the pandemic. This project also focuses on evaluating and collaborating with existing movements in educational design, which have only become more essential issues in light of the pandemic’s effects.

Many researchers and organizations have studied the effects of the pandemic on student learning in real time, as pandemic-altered learning structures continue to persist in many schools and areas.

Two such groups are the Economic Policy Institute and McKinsey + Company. The latter attempted to quantify the impact of “unfinished learning,” the term they used to summarize the reality that nearly all students — particularly those in primary school — learned less during the pandemic than they would have during a “normal” school year. Standardized reading and math assessments from a sampling of elementary schoolers from around the nation trended 4-5 months behind a normal year. Both studies looked into how these learning gaps were correlated with different demographic characteristics: race, socioeconomic class, and level of urbanization. Trends clearly show that students from poorer families and racial minorities — already with less opportunities than wealthier students — suffered more severe learning setbacks, worsening existing inequalities.

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However, the pandemic was not the first period of educational “shock” in the US. The book Politics of Learning, Politics of Space, written by Tom Holert, describes the drastic changes brought about in education systems due to the Civil Rights Movement, and the 1960-70s as a whole. With racial integration and accessibility in the public eye, the existing design of educational systems was challenged — leading to a growing movement towards increasing openness, flexibility, and accessibility in spaces of learning. These goals have remained quite relevant — especially after, but also before the pandemic as well. Books such as Jos Boys’ Towards Creative Learning Spaces even before the pandemic were discussing the need for new types of informal, flexible learning environments, as alternatives to traditional, formal classroom settings.

As this project aims to develop a prototype of that vision of flexible learning environments, it will draw knowledge from multiple fields outside of design itself. Most clearly, the changing methods of education should have an effect on spaces of learning. As society sifts through which aspects of online pandemic learning should be avoided and which are here to stay, the technologies and methods of knowledge delivery will clearly be changed — requiring a responsive change in the design of schools. As Alice Bradbury pointed out in her book Ability, Inequality and Post-Pandemic Schools: Rethinking Contemporary Myths of Meritocracy, the pandemic highlighted many of the flaws in the standardized methods of learning and assessment that are so prevalent — might that be reflected in the design future of educational spaces? Additionally, articles such as Bettina Ruhm’s “Focus on Playing and Learning: Places of Education and Encounter” and books like Schools for the Future: Design Proposals From Architectural Psychology approach design by considering the psychological and sensory experiences of those who occupy schools. This type of consideration is especially critical in light of the widespread mental health impacts of the pandemic. Effective design can make a substantial, positive impact on occupants’ mental health, but in the average current school building, little attention has been paid to these concerns.

The rethinking of spaces of learning in this post-pandemic world is about more than simply responding to the pandemic. Instead, through the intense disruption to society that it posed, the pandemic represents an opportunity to spark change in a type of design that has remained largely stagnant, despite the rich research and new ideas continually emerging in the educational architecture and connected fields. In order to effectively tackle this design challenge, this project will need to draw upon the conclusions from each of these related fields — conclusions which, in many cases, are actively still being made.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://big.dk/#projects-wils ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Boys, Jos. Towards Creative Learning Spaces. Re-Thinking the Architecture of Post-Compulsory

Education. Abingdon, Oxon, New York: Routledge, 2011.

Summary: This book investigates the recent growth in popularity of “informal spaces” in higher education. Considering these spaces from the perspective of both designers and educational policy-makers, the author claims that we shouldn’t simply think of informal spaces as the binary opposite of traditional formal lecture halls and classrooms, but rather focus on the question: What kind of creative learning spaces are necessary for the education of the future? Another critical question is: What does the phrase “flexible space” mean? Does it primarily mean the ability to move around furniture, or the ability of a space to support multiple functions occurring simultaneously, or some other meaning?

Relevance: Unpacking the meaning of “flexibility” and “informal space” in reference to spaces of learning — two critical concepts for schooling in the post-pandemic world.

Bradbury, Alice. Ability, Inequality and Post-Pandemic Schools: Rethinking Contemporary Myths

of Meritocracy. Bristol University Press, 2021. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/84358.

Summary: This book, also written with a focus on education in the UK, challenges the assumption that an education system based on meritocracy is fair and equitable. Supporting this assumption is the educational notion of “fixed ability” — that students’ academic abilities are measurable and directly comparable to one another. Both of these notions place too little weight on the numerous external factors that affect a child’s ability to “perform well” in school — factors that were brought to light more clearly by the pandemic. The pandemic highlighted some of the flaws in using traditional standardized assessments as the sole measure of learning progress, and suggested the need for alternative methods.

Relevance: The pandemic altered perception of how ability and performance are viewed in education, highlighting the need for changes in how schools function in this area.

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Chan, Roy Y., Krishna Bista, and Ryan M. Allen, eds. Online Teaching and Learning in Higher

Education during COVID-19: International Perspectives and Experiences. New York:

Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003125921.

Summary: Through documenting a series of perspectives from educators around the world, this book calls attention to several key themes in the online education response to the pandemic. While the pandemic certainly highlighted that effective online learning could be possible, this will require a certain level of inventiveness — on the part of teachers, administrators, and students — and a conscious effort to address the digital and technological resource gaps that hold online education back. This is especially critical on the global scale, where there are dramatic differences in the resources available in wealthy countries relative to ones with developing economies.

Relevance: Discusses strategies for creative approaches to online education — since this is a teaching and learning format that is here to stay in many situations.

Dorn, Emma, Brian Hancock, Jimmy Sarakatsannis, and Ellen Viruleg. “COVID-19 and Education:

The Lingering Effects of Unfinished Learning | McKinsey.” McKinsey & Company, July

27, 2021. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/covid-19-and-ed

ucation-the-lingering-effects-of-unfinished-learning.

Summary: This article examines trends in “unfinished learning,” the term the authors chose to communicate the reality of how the pandemic led to a year (or more) where, on average, students simply learned less than they would in a normal year. The researchers study how these effects are shown in elementary-aged children’s reading and math assessments from May 2021; the data is broken down into categories by race, socioeconomic class, and school environment (urban, suburban, or rural) for further analysis. This study suggests — as others have — that minority, poor, and rural students experienced a greater amount of unfinished learning, across both primary and secondary levels of education — and with potential long-term harm to career goals, lifetime earnings, and standards of living.

Relevance: Studies the ongoing effects of the pandemic on learning progress in the US, broken down into categories by race, socioeconomic class, and urbanization of school areas.

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Earthman, Glen I. Planning Educational Facilities: What Educators Need to Know. 4th ed.

Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2013.

Summary: This book is a broad overview from an educational policy perspective, considering the variety of types of planning required for creating spaces of learning — financial planning and fundraising, administrative organization, site selection, hiring an architect, and many other important decisions. The most recent edition adds in notes about the conversion of non-educational spaces into schools, as a possible alternative to full new construction.

Relevance: While not primarily dealing with design concerns or the effects of the pandemic, this provides useful context in education policy.

Garcia, Emma, and Elaine Weiss. “COVID-19 and Student Performance, Equity, and U.S.

Education Policy: Lessons from Pre-Pandemic Research to Inform Relief, Recovery, and

Rebuilding.” Economic Policy Institute, September 10, 2020. https://www.epi.org/

publication/the-consequences-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-for-education-performance-

and-equity-in-the-united-states-what-can-we-learn-from-pre-pandemic-research-to-in

form-relief-recovery-and-rebuilding/#.

Summary: Mimicking Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal era call for relief, recovery, and reform to confront the economic impacts of the Great Depression, the authors of this article outline a potential strategy for addressing the effects of the pandemic on education systems. Writing at the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, they highlight the need for immediate relief to enable effective virtual instruction and learning, gradual recovery of lost schooltime, and working towards rebuilding the education system to focus on “nurturing the whole child”. This last stage of the strategy is particularly important, as it highlights — with supporting data — many aspects of our education systems that were problematic even before the pandemic forcibly shifted us to virtual learning, as there are significant opportunity gaps between higher income and poorer communities and students, especially those who are part of racial minorities.

Relevance: Outlines a potential pandemic response from an educational policy and economic point of view, and highlights how the pandemic heightened existing inequalities in education systems in the US.

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Gillen, Nicola, Pippa Nissen, Julia Park, Adam Scott, Sumita Singha, Helen Taylor, Ian Taylor, and

Sarah Featherstone. Rethink Design Guide: Architecture for a Post-Pandemic World.

1st ed. RIBA Publishing, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003137078.

Summary: Written and compiled by a team of designers from around the UK, this book examines potential architectural responses to the pandemic, with a series of chapters focusing on different types of spaces — workplace, home, civic and cultural, schools, healthcare, etc. The section on schools focuses primarily on how the pandemic has highlighted the importance of expanding the presence of outdoor spaces and indoor-outdoor connection in schools, as well as the overall connection between sustainable design and positive mental health effects. At the end of the chapter, the author makes an interesting speculation about how the school could become distributed throughout a neighborhood, creating an environment that is a “tool and resource for learning” in and of itself.

Relevance: Considers possible implications of the pandemic on the design of schools, including the greater prioritization of sustainable design — both for its own sake and for its related mental health benefits — and the concept of a “distributed” school with expanded access for its community.

Haar, Sharon and Robbins, Mark, eds. Schools for Cities. Washington, D.C., New York, N.Y.:

National Endowment for the Arts, Distributed by Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.

Summary: A collection of case studies and essays by a variety of designers and educators, this book focuses on the importance of school buildings in forming and shaping communities. Many cities and suburbs have an academic building — especially a historic school — as a focal point. However, many school district policies — aiming to ensure minimum area standards and relatively low costs — are decreasing the community-focused nature of the school, and increasing urban sprawl.

Relevance: Discusses the importance of school design in positively shaping the overall character of urban communities.

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Holert, Tom. Politics of Learning, Politics of Space: Architecture and the Education Shock of the

1960s and 1970s. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021.

Summary: This extended essay compares the current post-pandemic period’s dramatic shifts in educational form and practice to the “education shock” of the mid-to-late 20th century. Just as in current times, the 1960s and 1970s were a moment where openness, flexibility, and access were highly sought-after qualities in spaces of learning (due to broad societal changes taking place during the civil rights movement, as well as the increasing consideration of accessibility for individuals with disabilities). This made this period a precedent for certain school design principles — such as “open plans” and open classrooms — which are now becoming discussed more frequently again.

Relevance: Draws similarities between the education shock of the 1960-70s and the concerns of post-pandemic schools, with openness, flexibility and accessibility again of high importance.

Ruhm, Bettina. “Focus on Playing and Learning: Places of Education and Encounter.”

DETAIL Inspiration. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://inspiration.detail.de/fo

cus-on-playing-and-learning-places-of-education-and-encounter-114152.html.

Summary: This article, while dealing primarily with early primary schools, discusses design strategies for educational spaces that can be applied across ages. Focusing on the importance of supporting activities like play, movement, and restful retreat as a critical part of learning in addition to traditional instruction, the author outlines how schools can be designed with closed, open, or semi-open plans. While traditionally schools have been designed as “closed” buildings — with a clearly defined sense of the “group” that structures space and schedule — they can also be treated more openly, encouraging activity and encounter outside the classroom.

Relevance: Discusses different strategies of spatial ownership within educational institutions, and the importance of active learning and other non-classroom based programs to a more full learning experience.

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UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education. “Education in a Post-COVID

World: Nine Ideas for Public Action.” UNESCO, June 22, 2020. https://en.unesco.org/

news/education-post-covid-world-nine-ideas-public-action.

Summary: Like it did for many areas of life, the Covid-19 pandemic stressed the need to reevaluate systems of education; this report from the UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education details nine general principles that they believe are essential for nurturing education in the post-pandemic world. In particular, they emphasize the importance of schools as a social space. Even as modes and methods of learning have undergone radical — and likely lasting — change, the physical space of the school is vital for facilitating the types of human interaction that are just as important for education as traditional in-classroom learning. This principle clearly carries with it immediate design implications.

Relevance: Changes imposed by the pandemic highlighted the important function of schools as spaces of social interaction and development.

Walden, Rotraut, Henry Sanoff, Jeffery A. Lackney, and Kaname Yanagisawa. Schools for the

Future: Design Proposals From Architectural Psychology. S.l.: Springer, 2015.

Summary: This multi-author book tracks the development of the architecture of schools in the US, Japan, and Germany over the last century, with a focus on design’s role in shaping the success of a learning environment. Many design features — from organizational concerns such as scale of space or varying levels of privacy to finishes such as color and material — shape the sensory experience of users, and this sensory experience has the power to help or harm students’ learning success. The book also considers possibilities for integrating student and teacher preferences into the design of educational spaces, and presents some case studies that are effective examples of these principles.

Relevance: Discusses trends in school design across three countries, and focuses on the role of design-produced sensory responses in creating positive learning environments.

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SELECTED PRECEDENTS “LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE” LOCATION: Crossville, TN, USA ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: 1898

The “little red schoolhouse” in Crossville, Tennessee is simply one of hundreds of thousands of oneroom schoolhouses that were dotted across the rural United States up through the 20th century. The precursor to institutionalized schools, these schoolhouses were simple wooden structures that would house an entire community’s population of schoolchildren across all ages — ranging from 5 to 18 year olds — taught by a single teacher who was often not much older than his/her oldest pupils.

While at first glance this educational model seems quite unrelated to the challenges faced by systems of learning in the post-pandemic world of today, there is a sense of familiarity in this image as well. The pandemic challenged the settled notion that the classroom should be a place of standardization — suddenly, students were at home and learning alongside parents, siblings, extended family of all ages — together, but engaging in their own individual work and learning. Parents and children had to find ways to adapt spaces within their homes to suit a variety of activities and learning methods, with mixed success. The one-room schoolhouse provides a parallel example of this flexibility, but with even more restricted spatial limitations — without anything more than benches and a woodstove, structuring the learning environment was up to the lone teacher.

In my mind, this raises the question: how could a space be designed so that it both breaks down the standardization of the classroom AND builds up an environment that supports flexibility in learning styles and modes?

IMAGE SOURCE: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f33f13f0-da35-0132-3212-58d385a7bbd0

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CIRCUMSTANCE ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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BAILEY’S UPPER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LOCATION: Falls Church, VA, USA ARCHITECT: Cooper Carry (design of renovation) DATE: 1982 (original construction); 2014 (renovation)

One key spatial consequence of the pandemic is how it accelerated the decline of the traditional office building. Already becoming outdated as stereotypical enclosed offices and cubicles became less and less popular in the face of collaborative environments and remote working, many office buildings were suddenly emptied — some temporarily, but many permanently — raising the question of how can designers create new purposes for these spaces?

Bailey’s Upper Elementary School, serving 3rd - 6th graders in suburban Northern Virginia is an example of this type of hybrid space. As growing populations in the densifying node of Seven Corners caused the school to outgrow its old space, the school district turned to an existing 5-story brick office building from the 1980s, which was sitting only partially tenanted. The school district bought the building for $9 million, and then turned to architect Cooper Carry to renovate it. Key concerns in this conversion from office to educational program were upgrades to fire proofing and egress routes, and the opening up of more points of vertical connection between floors, allowing the various learning “pods” to be connected by flexible, collective spaces.

While this project was completed pre-pandemic, it represents an effective blueprint of how spaces of learning could respond well to the changes of the pandemic. How can we better support the learning needs of students while at the SAME time reducing the number of underused buildings sitting largely empty, as some adults will NEVER return to a full-time office job at all?

IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2014/10/08/what-to-do-with-dying-suburbanoffice-buildings-turn-them-into-schools/

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SITE ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL IN ODDER LOCATION: Odder, Denmark ARCHITECT: Cebra DATE: 2017

This image of the Comprehensive School in Odder, Denmark — designed by Cebra architects and completed in 2017 — begins to show an expanded vision of the school, similar to what I am envisioning for my program. As the pandemic highlighted, school is about much more than in-classroom education: it is a place of social interaction and development as well — and these functions were much harder to replicate in an online environment. The design of this project is centered around a collective central atrium, naturally lit by skylights, and intended to give students and teachers the ability to flexible mold the space to fit their needs. The program doesn’t just include learning activities, but also includes designed paths for movement and play — all within close access of the traditional classroom spaces, which are given direct access to this airy atrium (instead of being accessed off of dark, narrow hallways).

While educational norms differ between the United States and Denmark (and other European countries), there is no reason why this can’t be used as inspiration for a rethinking of American schools.

The pandemic revealed more clearly how schools in themselves are hybrid spaces, fulfilling both the need for learning and the need for group interaction — and this design shows a positive example of how that hybrid purpose can be encouraged.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://inspiration.detail.de/comprehensive-school-in-odder-114251.html

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PROGRAM ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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INTRINSIC SCHOOLS, BELMONT LOCATION: Chicago, IL, USA ARCHITECT: Wheeler Kearns Architecture DATE: 2013

The concept of “blended learning” — an educational model that includes learning modes along a spectrum from the standard “teacher at the front of the classroom” to individualized online learning — is at the heart of how education systems should respond to the pandemic. Intrinsic Schools, a public charter school in Chicago, Illinois is an early example of designing for this learning model.

Designed by architecture firm Wheeler Kearns, the school was completed in 2013. The architects, looking for an existing building to renovate/retrofit, were drawn to an old industrial building — which, with its wider-spanning structural grid, was better prepared to support the open, collective spaces they envisioned (in contrast with the compressed “classrooms bisected by central hallway” layout that dominates in the design of many schools).

Like other examples of innovations in educational design, the school is based on a collection of “pods,” each for a certain subset of grade levels. These pods are divided into spaces focused on the Arts and Humanities, and those focused on STEM fields, each with its own learning “commons.”

In between these commons are lecture and lab spaces, available for use when more “traditional” classrooms are needed. Different furniture layouts and arrangements support learning activities along this gradient of “blended” instructional modes — some for individual online learning, some for group collaboration, and others for “office hour”-type targeted instruction from teachers, to name a few.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://intrinsicschools.org/belmont-campus/

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ASSEMBLIES ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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THE HEIGHTS BUILDING LOCATION: Arlington, VA, USA ARCHITECT: Bjarke Ingels Group DATE: 2019

Like many of the firm’s projects, this Bjarke Ingels Group-designed school is notable for its ambitious form and geometric approach to its design. Completed in 2019 in an urban site in Arlington, Virginia (just across the Potomac from Washington DC), the school is made up of a series of bars (corresponding to different grade levels) that are stacked and then rotated, providing views down the urban corridor, a series of stepped rooftop terraces with spaces for students, and a gently spiralling diagonal of occupiable stairs connecting communal spaces on the interior.

However, I would highlight this project as an example of educational design that is not innovative enough, at least relative to the massive shifts brought on by the pandemic. While the overall form of the building and its spiralling corridor of collective spaces are innovative, the bulk of the school sticks closely to the standard of repetitive classrooms annd locker-lined hallways. As the pandemic has created (and also simply exposed) needs for greater flexibility in education systems, addressing the largest, most-collective spaces in the school will not be enough — design reconsideration much reach into the scale of the classroom as well.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://big.dk/#projects-wils

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REPRESENTATION ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

30 ARCH 4100: Design Research Seminar

PROJECT LOGIC: CIRCUMSTANCE Prof. John Comazzi RETHINKING the WHEN + WHERE of POST-PANDEMIC LEARNING

PUBLIC

HIGHER ED. PRIVATE

In-person Learning + Int

PUBLIC

EDUCATION

SECONDARY ED. PRIVATE

Virtual Learning + Intera

PUBLIC

PRIMARY ED.

CIRCUMSTANCE

AGE GROUPS

PRIVATE

Typically very Standardiz

EDUCATIONAL SPACES

Frequently Overcrowded

BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Many ar OFFICE

RESPONSIVE DRIVERS

DRIVERS

PRIMARY DRIVERS

Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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NON- EDUCATIONAL SPACES

Increasin

RETAIL

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INDUSTRIAL

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action

zed

DESIGN LOGICS Oliver Church How should we define flexibility as a design principle? Is it about having the ability to reconfigure furniture to suit different activities, or the ability of a space to support multiple kinds of spaces simultaneously? Or some other form of flexibility?

More Accessible Outdoor Space Flexible + Mutable Spaces Fostering Social Connection + Development

Should design enable adaptability by providing a selection (or “catalog”) of different spaces to support different functions, or by providing a single, large multifunctional space?

Hands-on Learning

Hybrid Class Formats How can design respond well to the mental health impacts of the pandemic?

Flexibility to Provide Virtual Option

Double-loaded Hallway

d

re Sitting Empty

ng Prevalence of Remote Work

Vertically Stacked Bars Wrapped Around Courtyard

Chance for Adaptation Re-Program Unused Spaces

hing Role of Manufacturing in US

Hybridize with Existing Programs

CONDITIONS + NEEDS + CONCERNS + OPPORTUNITIES

owards Online Shopping

ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

What are trends in the design of existing schools? (particularly public secondary schools) Are these designs adequate for the needs of a post-pandemic school?

Are there possibilities for the growing need for educational space to be filled by pre-existing, non-educational buildings that are currently underused?

What are the design and sustainability impacts of this strategy?

PROVOCATIONS

teraction

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PROJECT LOGIC: SITE Prof. John Comazzi

Addressing Inequality

RETHINKING the WHEN + WHERE of POST-PANDEMIC LEARNING

Relation to the Street

URBAN

Relation to Nearby Space

School as Internet Acces

School as Community Re

Addressing Inequality

TYPE

SUBURBAN

Relation to Nearby Space

School as Internet Acces

School as Community Re

Improving Physical Acce

RURAL

School as Internet Acces

SITE

Address a Site with Limit

Adapt a Currently Under

SPECIALIZED SITE

Respond to A Vulnerable

TREATMENT

New Prototypical School PROJECT AS PROTOYPE

RESPONSIVE DRIVERS

DRIVERS

PRIMARY DRIVERS

Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

KEY CATEGORIES + SUB-CATEGORIES

“Catalog” of Classrooms

33 DESIGN LOGICS Oliver Church More Individualized Instruction Options Open Facade Exposes Activity Sheltered with Specific Entry Points Distributed Throughout

es

How do school buildings typically engage their surroundings? How did this change during the pandemic? What is the ideal relationship between a space of learning and its context?

Isolated + Self-enclosed

ss Resource

How can the design of schools balance both security and open accessibility?

Adult + Continuing Education

esource Center

Community Events Public Library + Workspace

Concurrent Off-hours

More Individualized Instruction Options Distributed Throughout

es

Isolated + Self-enclosed

ss Resource

esource Center

Adult + Continuing Education Community Events Public Library + Workspace

Concurrent

Are there other programs or types of spaces that can be effectively hybridized with schools, enabling a more efficient use of space?

How is the average public high school typically sited? Is this a satisfying design strategy?

Off-hours

essibility

ss Resource

Rapidly Expanding Suburb Expand an Existing School Building

rused Space

Adapt a Non-Educational Space

e Community

s

With Lacking Educational Resources Particularly Affected by the Pandemic Facing Social Challenges

“Siteless” Picking a “Generic” Site

If selecting the “prototype” approach, what characteristics are key for building up the vision of the generic site?

Suburban Urban

CONDITIONS + NEEDS + CONCERNS + OPPORTUNITIES

l

What are the specific concerns of a project that is sited? How do these differ from a more prototypical or “siteless” project?

Dense Urban Area

ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

PROVOCATIONS

ted Space

34 ARCH 4100: Design Research Seminar

PROJECT LOGIC: PROGRAM Prof. John Comazzi RETHINKING the WHEN + WHERE of POST-PANDEMIC LEARNING

Supervised By Teacher

LEARNING

Independent

Classroom Instruction

“Office Hours”-style Sup

TEACHING

Collaboration with Other

Through Eating Together

USES

Through Making Togethe

Through Playing Togethe

CONNECTING

Through Passing By

PROGRAM

Through Learning Comm

Together in Physical Spa

STUDYING

Through Virtual Space

STRUCTURED USES

SPACES

RESPONSIVE DRIVERS

DRIVERS

PRIMARY DRIVERS

Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

KEY CATEGORIES + SUB-CATEGORIES

UNSTRUCTURED USES

DESIGN LOGICS Oliver Church What mix of online, in-person, and hybrid learning modes is here to stay?

How will this differ by type of learning space or geographic area?

Online Active Classtime Instruction

Hybrid

Providing Help + Support

In-person

Individual

What are the differences between the student and the teacher experiences with online or hybrid learning? What are the similarities?

Together With Classmates

In Classroom with Students Remote Instruction Hybrid Instruction

r Teachers

r

er

During School Day Outside of Hours During School Day Outside of Hours

er

Community Nutrition Resource Accessed by wider community Accessed by students + staff

Scheduled Circulating Free Times of Wandering

munally

Outside of Hours

Classrooms

How should our idea of the classroom change in response to the pandemic?

Single-Activity Multi-Activity

Offices Libraries Dining Areas

How can design encourage inter-personal connection through moments of passing by? What is the role of unstructured (or less-structured) times of free wandering during the schoolday?

After the pandemic, what types of spaces are students seeking to do their work in?

During School Day

Concentrated Distributed

Indoor Outdoor

What should be the balance between structured/supervised and more unstructured time during the schoolday? How do different spaces support these different kinds of activities?

Study Commons

CONDITIONS + NEEDS + CONCERNS + OPPORTUNITIES

ace

How do schools serve as a nutrition resource for children and families in their communities? How did the pandemic affect this? How should this function of spaces of learning adapt?

ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

PROVOCATIONS

pport

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36 ARCH 4100: Design Research Seminar

PROJECT LOGIC: ASSEMBLIES Prof. John Comazzi

Steel

RETHINKING the WHEN + WHERE of POST-PANDEMIC LEARNING

Glass

MATERIAL Concrete Masonry

Stone Brick

Timber

PHYSICAL

For Learning from a Rem

TECHNOLOGICAL

For Presenting to a Remo

For Collaborating with R

ASSEMBLIES

In Clustered

In

ORGANIZATIONAL

Li Distributed

RESPONSIVE DRIVERS

DRIVERS

PRIMARY DRIVERS

Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

KEY CATEGORIES + SUB-CATEGORIES

Ra

37 DESIGN LOGICS Oliver Church Framing

What structural systems are most suitable for the post-pandemic school?

How can these be related to the changing collection of spaces that are needed to support learning and teaching?

Roof

Cladding

Wall

Modular Units

What finish materials are typically used in US public schools? How are these materials applied and what are the effects?

Light Timber

Framing

Mass Timber

Wall

Interior

Cladding

What are the psychological effects of different finish materials and colors in a space? What is the role of these design choices in shaping a positive learning environment?

Ceiling

Exterior

mote Instructor

What new technological assemblies and set-ups will become widespread for supporting new hybrid learning practices? How will these affect spaces of learning?

ote Audience

Remote Peers

ndividual Spaces around Communal Space

Nodes Regions Bands Nodes

Vertical

How should the organizational layout of a school change in response to new patterns of learning methods? Is the standard “double-loaded” hallway sufficient?

Can a school or other space of learning be distributed throughout a community?

Horizontal Grouped by Program Grouped by User Characteristics Of Varying Enclosure Of Circulation

ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

PROVOCATIONS

Arteries

Multiple Cluster

CONDITIONS + NEEDS + CONCERNS + OPPORTUNITIES

adial

Pods

Across Multiple Floors Single Cluster

ndividual Spaces within Communal Space

inear

On a Single Floor

38

DESIGN ARTIFACT: ASSEMBLIES

EXISTING: Rigid / Tight / Bounded

RETHOUGHT: Flexible / Open / Expansive Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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DESIGN ARTIFACT: SITE

Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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DESIGN ARTIFACT: PROGRAM

Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

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PROJECT WORK PLAN SECTION 01

RE SEAR C H

DE VE LOP I N G THE TOPIC

Research Questions

Literature Review

Annotated Bibliography

P R E CE D E N TS

CAPS project briefs

In-depth Case Study Analysis

SI T E SE LE CTION

F 21

W 21-22

S 21

Mapping

Diagramming SECTION 02

DESI G N

R E F I N I N G P ROGRAM

Defining the Hybrid Space

CO N CE P T DESIGN

Massing Schemes + Systems

Develop a Catalog of Spaces

DE SI GN DE V EL OPMENT

SECTION 03

P RESEN TA TI O N

Determine Materiality

Develop Drawings

F I N A LI Z E N ARRATIV E

Project Statement + Abstract

T H E SI S BOOK

Finalize Drawings + Graphics

IMAGE SOURCE: https://oerestadgym.dk/ Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning

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ARCH 4100: Design Research Manual

TO BE CONTINUED...

Rethinking the When + Where of Post-Pandemic Learning