Education Rethinking Schools and Redesigning them Together

This paper presents a project based on collaboration between architects, education specialists, teachers, and students. It originated in 2015 from a basic research project funded by DAStU, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at the Politecnico di Milano, on the theme of existing school buildings, livability, and the wellbeing of students and teachers. The research aim was to build up a knowledge base on the condition of school buildings, and the relative problems and expectations, to be shared with all salient actors: architects, teachers, policymakers, etc. The first steps in the research process included a comprehensive review of the literature, encounters between architects and education specialists, and interviews with the head teachers of lower secondary schools, a segment that is often overlooked in innovation projects. Field work was then conducted involving: observation of school spaces by a group of architects and education specialists, with the help of floor plans; an on-site visit during which the research team first engaged in free exploration before being given a guided tour by school staff; further in-depth observation of the use of the spaces; focus group discussions with students and teachers to elicit their opinions and suggestions for change; administration of a questionnaire adapted from a European project in keeping with the local research aims and context. The results were analyzed, compared, integrated, and ultimately disseminated, mainly via open access outlets. The study gave rise to further developments. On the one hand, it led to the setting up of the transdisciplinary work group Ambiente Scuola [School Environment], which continues to promote cooperation across a growing network of schools, local authorities, associations, etc. On the other hand, the field work fostered enhanced awareness, on the part of the participating schools, of the topic of school spaces, leading in some cases to continued reflection on the innovation goals to be pursued and/or the independent implementation of improvements. Thus, teachers and students have become direct actors in the revisiting of spaces and their uses, and the enhancing of the physical school setting with help – proactively offered in some cases – from parents. An example is the A.B. Sabin school in Segrate, where renewed interest in school spaces inspired both an educational project that qualified for national funding and engaged the students themselves in redecorating the school, and the design and implementation of maintenance and furnishing projects by the students’ families.