Söylev / Schools with Future Value

Schools with Future Value

Author: Yağız Söylev, Teacher and Researcher, TU Delft

Supervisor: Bart Reuser, Founding Partner, NEXT Architects

Research stage: initial stage of a funded research-by-design project, pre-doctoral

Category: Extended abstract

DDR Statement

The architecture of education buildings is a crucial yet complex and interdisciplinary field that requires critical investigation to reflect and reshape the cities and society. After researching the transformation of education buildings from a historical perspective, I realized that the DDr approach is crucial to grasp these projects and their processes. Different aspects of schools can be probed in isolation for analytic review, yet their integration can only be observed by the intuitive nature of design and reflection iterations. Furthermore, I find the opportunity to tap into tacit knowledge1 inherent in school design processes due to my background in practice and my collaboration with the architects and engineers in this DDr project.

Design is applied in two ways throughout the project. Firstly, design is used to analyze school buildings' social, spatial, and pedagogical aspects. I am conducting a typological analysis on the school's organization, urban connections, and potential for adaptation. Reproducing the drawings of these schools will help synthesize the ideas and strategies while providing design tools and guidelines. Secondly, research-through-design is used to propose new school typologies by integrating generic design strategies and guidelines developed in the research phase. Design and research phases are conducted in parallel, and the feedback loops between multiple iterations are the key moments to revise and reflect on the research findings and methodology, as well as the design direction. The generic design approach creates possibilities for design to become a research method.

  1. Polanyi, Michael (1966): The Tacit Dimension, Doubleday & Company, inc., Garden City, New York.