From Enclosure to Partition
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with a private garden, separate workshop areas and wet-services, resembling a suburban house in their disposition. The autonomy of the classroom is also visible architecturally in the other two schools. In each of the three schools, classrooms are not constructed as subdivisions of a predefined form, but were given singular masses. In Geschwister-Scholl Girls High School designed by Hans Scharoun, the autonomy of the classroom was not driven by a necessity for supervision, but based on a pedagogical - psychological assumption. Accordingly, three kinds of classrooms (Klassenwohnungen) were created. They were composed of main lecture room, cloak room, group room, and an outdoor learning and play area. They correspond to three age groups and their specific needs. The dimensions, colours, and openings of each classroom differed following the anthroposophical theories of Rudolf Steiner, who argued the spiritual development of a person is linked to direct experience and observation.11 The space, colour, and light of the classroom, thus, followed the biological and spiritual development of the children in their recognition of themselves and their surroundings.12 Each age group was grouped along a corridor, all of which connected to the main block housing common classrooms and areas. The Montessori School in Delft, designed by Hertzberger, also follows similar disposition in massing the classrooms separately. However, it does not aim to give autonomy to the classroom. The child-centred Montessori education suggests self-directed activities, learning by doing and play, and leaves the teacher as a guide. The architecture of the school, therefore, follows to provide areas in different characters by articulating the walls, 11.Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf Education And Anthroposophy, 1st ed. (Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1995). 12. “Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium In Luenen”, Bauwelt, (1960), pp.1072-1083.
Figure 3.20—Plan, Section and Organisation Diagram of Delft Montessori School. Hertzberger, Herman, Space And Learning (Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2008)