RESEARCH ASPECT 2 REPORT

A COMMUNITY SCHOOL
A Community School 2

Table of Contents
1. Aspect 2: School as an education centric environment 3
1.1 Background 3
1.2 History and Evolution of school 4
1.3 A visual history of school 5
3. References 13
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ASPECT 2: “SCHOOL AS AN EDUCATION CENTRIC ENVIRONMENT”

BACK GROUND
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning
environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have
systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, student’s
progress through a series of schools. The names for these schools vary by country the but
generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who
have completed primary education. An institution where higher education is taught, is commonly
called a university, college or university, but these higher education institutions are usually not
compulsory.
A school may be dedicated to one particular field, such as a school of economics or a school of
dance. Alternative schools may provide nontraditional curriculum and methods.
There are also non-government schools, called private schools. Private schools may be required
when the government does not supply adequate, or special education. Other private schools can
also be religious, such as Christian schools, madrasa, hawzas (Shi'a schools), yeshivas (Jewish
schools), and others; or schools that have a higher standard of education or seek to foster other
personal achievements. Schools for adults include institutions of corporate training, military
education and training and business schools.
In home schooling and online schools, teaching and learning take place outside a traditional
school building. Schools are commonly organized in several different organizational models,
including departmental, small learning communities, academies, integrated, and schools-within-
a-school.
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HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL
The concept of grouping students together in a centralized location for learning has existed
since Classical antiquity. Formal schools have existed at least since ancient Greece, ancient
Rome, ancient India , and ancient China.
The Byzantine Empire had an established schooling system beginning at the primary level.
According to Traditions and Encounters, the founding of the primary education system began in
425 AD.  Although Byzantium lost much of the grandeur of Roman culture and extravagance in
the process of surviving, the Empire emphasized efficiency in its war manuals. The Byzantine
education system continued until the empire's collapse in 1453 AD.
In Western Europe a considerable number of cathedral schools were founded during the Early
Middle Ages in order to teach future clergy and administrators, with the oldest still existing, and
continuously operated, cathedral schools being The King's School, Canterbury (established 597
CE), King's School, Rochester (established 604 CE), St Peter's School, York (established 627
CE) and Thetford Grammar School (established 631 CE). Beginning in the 5th century
CE monastic schools were also established throughout Western Europe, teaching both religious
and secular subjects.
Islam was another culture that developed a school system in the modern sense of the word.
Emphasis was put on knowledge, which required a systematic way of teaching and spreading
knowledge, and purpose-built structures. At first, mosques combined both religious performance
and learning activities, but by the 9th century, the madrassa was introduced, a school that was
built independently from the mosque, such as al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 CE. They were also
the first to make the Madrassa system a public domain under the control of the Caliph.
Under the Ottomans, the towns of Bursa and Edirne became the main centers of learning. The
Ottoman system of Külliye, a building complex containing a mosque, a hospital, madrassa, and
public kitchen and dining areas, revolutionized the education system, making learning accessible
to a wider public through its free meals, health care and sometimes free accommodation.
In Europe, universities emerged during the 12th century; here, scholasticism was an important
tool, and the academicians were called schoolmen. During the middle Ages and much of
the Early Modern period, the main purpose of schools (as opposed to universities) was to teach
the Latin language. This led to the term grammar school, which in the United States informally
refers to a primary school, but in the United Kingdom means a school that selects entrants based
on ability or aptitude. Following this, the school curriculum has gradually broadened to include
literacy in the vernacular language as well as technical, artistic, scientific and practical subjects.
Obligatory school attendance became common in parts of Europe during the 18th century.
In Denmark-Norway, this was introduced as early as in 1739–1741, the primary end being to
increase the literacy of the almue, i.e. the "regular people". Many of the earlier public schools in
the United States and elsewhere were one-room schools where a single teacher taught seven
grades of boys and girls in the same classroom. Beginning in the 1920s, one-room schools were
consolidated into multiple classroom facilities with transportation increasingly provided by kid
hacks and school buses.
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“A visual history of school design”

In the decades after the Industrial Revolution, educational reformers led the effort to modernize
schools and classroom spaces, and the ubiquitous one-room schoolhouse gradually gave way to
bigger and more sophisticated designs. Scholars such as Lindsay Baker at the University of
California, Berkeley have traced the subsequent history of these school designs, and have noted
the surprising ebb and flow of attention to details such as indoor air quality and access to
daylight. 
This explores some school designs from across these decades in the USA and Europe.

Wiley Elementary School, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1924.

Turn of the century: 1870s to 1920s

With a rising school-age population and stricter child labour laws, many urban centres required
bigger school buildings to meet the surge in enrolment. In the USA early classroom designs
tended to feature stately neoclassical facades and standardised, utilitarian classrooms with
multiple rows of desks. In the UK newly empowered school boards tried to outdo the traditional
church-sponsored schools with more expensive variations of a Queen Anne-style building.

Daylighting and natural ventilation were fundamental to many of these plans, although more
advanced ventilation systems and incandescent lights began to appear in some later schools. As
Baker notes, some designers also emphasised the importance of views so that students could
“rest their eyes at times”.
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Uffculme Open Air School, Birmingham, England, 1911.

Open air schools of Europe: 1900s to 1910s

In Europe the first ‘open air’ schools, such as Waldschule (or ‘forest school’) in Charlottenburg,
Germany, were aimed at quelling the spread of tuberculosis through exposure to air and
sunshine. Classes were often held outdoors or in small buildings with folding glass doors, while
the architecture of some larger buildings mimicked that of hospitals, reinforced by the notion of
‘hygienic architecture’.
 Open Air School, designed by Johannes Duiker, Amsterdam, 1930.

‘Progressive’ and Depression-era schools: 1920s to 1940s

Beginning in the 1920s, leading architects began to lend their vision to schoolroom designs,
including luminaries such as Eliel Saarinen, Walter Gropius and Richard Neutra. As Baker
writes, these progressive schools began to be grouped together as examples of the ‘open air
school’ movement. Collectively, they were characterised by their emphasis on fresh air, daylight,
outdoor learning and an easy flow through the structures that might aid students’ physical health
and mental wellbeing. In the USA ventilation standards were set at 30 cubic feet per minute per
student.

In the 1930s the intervention of the Public Works Administration in the USA allowed school
construction to continue despite the nation’s financial woes, and many features of earlier schools
were retained, if simplified. By the late 1930s fluorescent lights had begun to appear in some
schools.

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McDonogh 39 Elementary School, New Orleans, 1952.

Postwar schools: 1940s and 1950s

Postwar schools featured more standardised and cost-conscious designs, in part due to tight
budgets amid the Baby Boom spike in school enrolments. One style that became popular in
California and other relatively warm climates was the ‘finger-plan’ design, which followed the
eras more modern, one-storey, flat-roof design aesthetic. Finger-like corridors, however, gave
each school’s classrooms maximum access to fresh air, daylight and the outside. Across the USA
air conditioning also debuted in schools, while ventilation standards were lowered from 30 to 10
cubic feet per minute per student. Although artificial lights proliferated, most schools still
provided plenty of natural light.
 Wink Leigh Primary School, Devon, 1970s.

Experimental schools: 1960s and 1970s

Dwindling enrolments and budgets in many school districts forced schools to economize or
reconfigure existing spaces wherever they could. The 1960s also brought a greater emphasis on
prefabrication techniques to the school construction industry, and an increasing reliance on
technology de-emphasized the need for large windows and natural ventilation.

After the energy crisis of 1973 some schools replaced all of their large windows and natural
ventilation with fluorescent lights and mechanical ventilation systems. Some schools, in fact,
took on the appearance of shopping malls: air-conditioned spaces with few or no windows at all.
The age of experimentation also led to open plan (or open space) classrooms, which often lacked
windows and suffered from poor acoustics. The US Department of Defense, for its part,
proposed underground classrooms – which could double as fallout shelters.
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Baubiologie (Building Biology) schools: 1970s–present

The Baubiologie movement, which began in Europe in response to a post-World War II rise in
illnesses attributed to faulty construction practices, has placed an emphasis on buildings that are
both healthy and environmentally friendly. A new kindergarten in Sluštice in the Czech
Republic, designed according to the 25 principles of Baubiologie, has taken a back-to-basics
approach. Its design, by Prague-based architect David Eyer, features natural materials, day-lit
rooms and a central courtyard for children to play in.

Portable classrooms at Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School in Markham, Ontario, Canada .

Schools in decline: 1980s to 1990s

As a backlash to the experimentation of the preceding decades, designs and renovations of the
1980s emphasised more modest investments and traditional features. In 1981 US ventilation
standards within buildings dropped to a low point of 5 cubic feet per minute per person; eight
years later, though, the standards rebounded to 15 cubic feet per minute per person. By the mid-
1990s US officials had begun to note the state of disrepair affecting the nation’s schools.
Portable classrooms also began receiving greater scrutiny after an influx of the structures in the
1980s and the subsequent realisation that most were more permanent additions rather than
temporary solutions.

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Sidwell Friends School, Middle School building, Washington DC, 2006.

Green schools: 2000s to present

The debut of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system by the
US Green Building Council in the late 1990s and the LEED for Schools programme in 2007
spurred an emphasis on environmentally friendly buildings that also improved indoor air quality.
Features such as low- or no-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint and finishes became
increasingly common, along with a renewed interest in natural ventilation and daylighting.

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‘Living building’ schools: 2010–present

The Living Building Challenge, begun by what is now called the International Living Future
Institute, uses a flower as a metaphor for how all buildings, including schools, should be
designed. Among its seven ‘petals’ the challenge requires buildings to collect their own
rainwater, generate their own electricity, abstain from toxic materials, and promote the health
and wellbeing of occupants. So far, the Hawaii Preparatory Academy Energy Lab and the
Bertschi Living Building Science Wing in Seattle have achieved full certification, while the
SEED Collaborative has applied the same ‘living building’ concepts to a portable classroom
model.

Smart Academic Green Environment (SAGE): 2010–present

The SAGE portable classroom emphasizes daylight and fresh air. Its design also features a
reinforced steel frame to reduce the need for exterior infrastructure and a natural wax material
within the walls that captures students’ excess energy and uses it to change from a solid to a
liquid. Instead of needing fans to expel all of the heat, the classroom instead only requires an air
exchange system.
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REFERENCES
https://mosaicscience.com/story/school-design-through-decades/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School#History_and_development