Towards Creative Learning Spaces: Rethinking the Architecture of Postcompulsory Education

In Higher and Further Education there has been considerable recent interest in shifting from formal to Informal models of learning. Much current design has tended to rely on the belief that we should be moving away from formal lecture halls and classrooms, towards technology-rich and social learning spaces. This book challenges the underlying assumptions in this approach, arguing that we need a rethinking of the relationships between learning and space.

There remains a surprising lack of underlying analysis about what is changing in learning and teaching practices and about what role architecture has in this process. Architectural provision for the post-compulsory educational sector needs to develop learning spaces based on greater clarity and creativity.

This book first engages with recent educational and architectural theories in a critical way. It then considers alternative ways of mapping relationships between spaces and their occupation so as to better understand the social and spatial practices of learning at a variety of scales. Finally, it explores examples of innovative ways for articulating learning and considers the implications for the development, design and occupation of different learning spaces.

Relevant both to architectural practice and to the education of the next generation of design students, this book integrates issues of education, design and cost. It is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking text which supports a better understanding of how to make enhanced and sustainable spaces.