Schools with Future Value

Abstract

Schools with Future Value investigates the school buildings as public buildings and expands the definition of their value with architectural and social aspects beyond their education function. Schools are increasingly becoming social catalysts in the Dutch context, providing a meeting ground for students, parents, and neighborhood inhabitants. Despite their significance on society, the school buildings are among the most cost and space-efficient buildings, resulting in poor quality and minimum possible spaces optimized only for the purpose. The uncertainty of the future use of these buildings adds to the further diminishing of the ambition in design and development processes. The project aims to conduct a typological analysis of the school buildings' social, spatial conditions and pedagogical aspects; and finally, propose new school typologies and generic spatial strategies that resist the limitations of current design trends and financial models while offering design possibilities for future adaptation.

Keywords: School design, typology, programmatic diversity, social infrastructure