2.3.8.

THE LANGUAGE OF SCHOOL DESIGN – DESIGN PATTERNS FOR THE 21ST

CENTURY SCHOOLS by Nair, Fielding and Lackney

Compared to other building types, innovation in school architecture

does not come as fast. The development of designs on healthier learning

communities and creating said communities in the specific context and

conditions of its location and people is painstakingly slow and lagging behind

the changing cultures of the world. This is due to a number of factors that are

common worldwide:

 Schools are already “built” before they are actually built: educational

requirements, school standards, design guidelines, traditionality and

other regulations that influence the eventual school design restrains or

limits the possibilities of innovation of these learning environments,

resulting in very standard, typical and rigid spaces.

 Schools depend on their own system of quality/standards in terms of

physical development and design; no basis to build or innovate upon.

 There isn’t a common vocabulary in designing facilities that foster

modern methods of education and social interaction, therefore the

students are also limited to the very traditional way of the “factory

model” of schools.

 Although the physical aspect of schools (such as the building itself)

doesn’t change every decade or two, the curriculum does. Buildings

outlast their purpose for that curriculum, essentially losing their impact

on the users and on the educational program itself; planning of

1
 educational spaces should prioritize flexibility and assimilation of

changing needs, activities, cultures and pedagogies.

 Current reality of school design tends to view spaces in a linear, non-

versatile way (allocating spaces for a particular use and designing that

space for only that activity), which, to an extent, ignores innovation and

better development.

“Schools should be places in which children and young people are

granted opportunities to do/make/be/create or explore that are not available

anywhere else in their lives.”

– James Alexander Bacon, former Premier of Tasmania

Every designer should come across this question: “How does the

physical design of a school affect the social dynamics of the school

community?”, which brings two aspects into focus: the physical environment

and the social structure. In principle, these two aspects support one another

to provide the best development possible for every student; the development

of young people includes socialization in all phases, and the physical aspect

provides that space for students to learn and interact through its

programming.

Moreover, the physical environment and its social climate is relative

through two main perspectives: the teachers’ and the students’. Both parties

tend to perform better when they can feel a sense of respect and positivity

through the well-designed environments they inhabit. On the other hand, both

2
 parties incline to negativity when the space they are in shows little concern for

integrity and well-being. This goes to show that the physical dimension of

learning creates a significant impact to interaction and quality of the exchange

of information.

2.3.8.1. Realms of Human Experiences

The designing of learning environments brings much complexity

in many forms and that the solutions for these designs can never be

solved through one dimension only – the decisions made in one level

affects all the others in some degree. This talks about the realms in

which humans experience in the environments of schools. This was

derived from Christopher Alexander’s The Pattern Language in which

its focus is on larger spatial patterns such as towns and communities

and how different aspects of human experience affect thinking (refer

to Table 2.1.).

Table 2.1. The four realms of human experience and their corresponding attributes
Realms of Human
Experience Within the
Attributes
Purview of School
Planning and Design
Intimate, Open, Bright, Closed, Active, Quiet, Connected To Nature, Monumental,
Spatial
Technological
Soothing, Safe, Awe-inspiring, Joyful, Playful, Stimulating, Creative, Encouraging
Psychological
Reflection, Spiritually Uplifting, Creating a Sense of Community
Physiological Warm, Cool, Breezy, Healthy, Aromatic, Textured, Visually Pleasing
Independent Study, Collaborative Work, Teamwork, Physical Fitness Activity,
Research, Writing, Reading, Computer Work, Singing, Dancing, Performing,
Behavioral
Presenting, Large Group Work, Communicating with Nature, Designing, Building,
Teaching, Relaxing, Reflecting, Playing

One such example showcasing this pattern of

interconnectedness between these realms and how they are

implemented is an art room with abundant natural lighting and a

3
landscape view (physiological and spatial realms) intended to evoke

creativity (behavioral realm) by ensuring a calm and reflective frame of

mind (psychological realm). By designing the space to be fully

configurable for different kinds of artistic activities and displays and

people, with the consideration of applying the complete four realms

into the design, the room’s potential becomes robust and versatile at

the same time, preserving its usefulness as a physical space that caters

to a quality experience. This principle applies to school architecture as

well, as experience is a primary factor to the motivation and

performance of students of any age.

2.3.8.2. The Pattern Language Method

Also derived from Christopher Alexander’s The Pattern

Language, the Pattern Language Method presents design patterns that

suit the modern pedagogy, which considers the previously mentioned

Realms of Human Experiences, only that it was refined further into six

pattern types that better describes the architecture aspect of school

design:

 Parts of the Whole – design patterns that focus on particular

functional areas in the school.

 Spatial Quality – Quality, functionality and flexibility of given

spaces.

 Brain-Based – Design of spaces that stimulate the brain in ways

that are beneficial to learning and experience.

4
  High Performance – Efficient operation of the building; how to

get the best performance from the users.

 Community Connected – Social ties and influences of spaces

(and schools to a larger extent) to its surrounding

neighborhoods and environments.

 Higher Order – Combination and configuration of other

patterns; putting together smaller, minor elements to form a

wholistic aspect of a school.

Below is the list of design patterns (devised from the authors’

experiences in school designs) and their corresponding pattern type

(refer to table 2.2.).

Table 2.2. Classification of Design Patterns

Pattern Type
Pattern
Description
Number Parts of the Spatial High Community
Brain-Based Higher Order
Whole Quality Performance Connected
Principal
Learning Areas –
Classrooms,
1 Learning Studios,
Advisories and
Small Learning
Communities
Welcoming
Entry: Home as a
2
Template for
School
Student Display
3
Space
Home Base and
4 Individual
Storage
Science Labs, Art
5 Studios and Life
Skills Areas
Music and
6
Performance
Health and
7
Physical Fitness
Casual Eating
8
Areas

5
 Pattern Type
Pattern
Description
Number Parts of the Spatial High Community
Brain-Based Higher Order
Whole Quality Performance Connected
Transparency
9 and Passive
Supervision
Interior and
10
Exterior Vistas
Dispersed
11
Technology
Indoor/Outdoor
12
Connection
Furniture: Soft
13
Seating
Flexibility,
14 Adaptability and
Variety
15 Campfire Space
Watering Hole
16
Space
17 Cave Space
Designing for
18 Multiple
Intelligences
Daylight and
19
Solar Energy
Natural
20
Ventilation
Learning.
21 Lighting and
Color
Sustainable
Elements and
22
Building as 3-D
Textbook
23 Local Signature
Connected to the
24
Community
Home-like
25
Bathrooms
Teachers as
26
Professionals
Shared Learning
27
Resources
Safety and
28
Security
Bringing It All
29
Together

6
DESIGN PATTERN #1 – Principal Learning Areas – Classrooms, Learning

Studios, Advisories and Small Learning Communities

Early 20th century school design started with the “cells-and-

bells” model – a standard, factory-like school layout that still exists and

is sadly still being used in many institutions today.

Figure 2.1. Traditional Plan and Ford Model Evolution.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

The Ford Model implies that students are “empty vessels to be

filled with knowledge”, treating the programming of the school the

same way factories are treated. The traditional understanding of a

classroom is that it is the building block of a school and that a

predetermined number of students has to learn the same lessons at the

same time from the same teacher in the same way in the same place

for a number of hours in a day. While this may hold some truth in some

degree, this method, which became a tradition of programming

schools, is suppressive, out-of-date and not flexible to the changing

cultures of the world. This is proved true as the parallel to this method

7
of teaching is the method of production by the Ford company itself that

eventually failed because the “same products do not work for

everyone”, so they had to diversify and customize their products to fit

the different preferences of different people from different cultures.

Figure 2.1. shows a diagram for the Ford Model and how it started to

evolve into a more versatile setup through the integration of a double-

purpose corridor.

Figure 2.2. Finger Plan setup of classrooms.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

The most basic step to avoid planning schools the same way the

Ford Model suggests is the Finger Plan (see Figure 2.2). It reconfigures

the traditional plan into clusters of classrooms with communal spaces

in the middle connected to a major open space/axis. This gives each

cluster its own identity and becomes a “home base” for students.

This configuration of traditional school planning makes a

significant change to the students’ experience; the simple addition of

common open spaces provides places to relax, interact and experience

things outside the classroom. Informal learning experiences that take

place in these commons are essential to the development of a person.

8
Learning is not a unidimensional activity but is a multi-faced process

that should assimilate all aspects of life in some form in the school. The

traditional cells-and-bells setup can virtually never cater to this need.

A much more expounded characterization of this holistic

learning is a list of 20 learning modalities that the physical school should

ideally support:

1. Independent Study 10. Student Presentation

2. Peer Tutoring 11. Performance-based Learning
3. Team Collaboration 12. Seminar-style instruction
4. One-on-one learning with 13. Inter-disciplinary learning
Teacher 14. Naturalist Learning
5. Lecture format – teacher- 15. Social/emotional/spiritual learning
directed 16. Art-based learning
6. Project-based Learning 17. Storytelling
7. Technology with mobile 18. Design-based learning
computers 19. Team teaching/learning
8. Distance Learning 20. Play-based learning
9. Internet-based research

With this list in mind, and with the fact that the many of the

already established schools around the world are designed after the

Ford model, one may say that the concept of the traditional

“classroom” is now obsolete on some pure level.

Figure 2.3. The Learning Studio (left) and the Learning Suite (right).
Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

9
 Figure 2.3. shows another, more modern configuration of the

traditional classroom. The learning studio (left) incorporates other

aspects of learning within its boundaries, creating a much more flexible

and versatile space for education. The learning suite (right) is a

combination of two or more studios - a modular and more versatile

space, allowing for more interaction between peers and teachers

through team-teaching and collaboration and socialization.

Figure 2.4. A Small Learning Community (or SLC).

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

A small learning community is a cluster of studios that aims to

create a self-sustaining learning environment. The Small Learning

Community Model is an additive configuration to the previous learning

suite model that emphasizes socialization and interaction. Ideally, it

comprises of 80 to 150 students in a “community”; 150 being the

maximum number as it is enough for a student to know everyone else.

One may view the SLC as a part of a small town (the entire school)

comprised of various distinct neighborhoods (SLCs), and are tied

through “learning streets” or common, social spaces.

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 Figure 2.5. An Advisory Model-based Small Learning Community.
Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

Figure 2.5. shows a further configuration of the small learning

community; each class is clustered into advisory groups. This model is

built around activities, not division of spaces. There are no corridors for

each cluster and minimal partitions are used; what bounds the spaces

are the furniture themselves and the clear functions they serve.

Figure 2.6. Flexible Small Learning Centers.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

The variation of a small learning community shown in Figure

2.6. allows teachers to collaborate and manage a population of 100

11
students, sharing various spaces of different characteristics and

functions with open boundaries and outdoor connections wherever

possible. This model encourages a great amount of socialization and

interaction between peers, adults, instructors, and additional

environmental resources.

Figure 2.7. Neighborhood Community Center Model configuration.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

Figure 2.7. shows a configuration based entirely off of the 20

learning modalities mentioned earlier, which produces an organic,

versatile overall space that encourages constant interaction between

the different groups and maximizing the different learning

opportunities offered in the learning environment. This model also

aims to encourage autonomy of students, in the sense that students

shall be allowed to direct their own learning.

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DESIGN PATTERN #2 – Welcoming Entry

Figure 2.8. Welcoming Entry model.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

This design pattern emphasizes the importance of entrances

and entrance lobbies to be welcoming, inviting, and friendly, not

institutional-looking or forbidding. This shall be balanced with the

security requirements every school need and its segregation of public

access to its students’ access.

The ideal welcoming entry shall contain the following, but is not

ultimately limited to (refer to Figure 2.8):

 A Signature Element – something in an entryway that catches

the attention of passers-by / stands for something that the

school values / a symbol of something that makes the school

special / a combination of all these characteristics.

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  Covered Entry – provides shelter and functionality, a meeting

place for visitors and users, as well as a dramatic, ceremonial

quality to the school as a whole.

 School Offices – school offices are best located near the main

accesses as to provide convenience and ease for people not

used to the layout of the school.

 Student Displays – to showcase the students’ outputs; it makes

a dynamic and exciting space, especially if the work presented

is changed or updated periodically. It gives the students a

chance to give the school a sense of personality (refer to Design

Pattern #4 for further discussion).

“Traditionally institutional environments are stressful”, the

author states. This is why school in the past two decades have been

trying to look and feel more like homes as to reduce stress and increase

motivation and comfortability, logically aiming to improve the

performance of the users in the school. The inclusion of various

elements that make spaces more home-like and welcoming decreases

the anxiety of the users towards the school environment.

DESIGN PATTERN #3 – Student Display Space

Displays can strengthen the school’s mission through

impressions brought upon by the output of students, especially if the

outputs displayed are excellent and impactful.

14
 Displays may not be fixed to showcasing students’ works only;

displays may branch out to other forms such as a student-created

garden, personalized wall murals, electronic media works, and student

publications; any display that brings about interest and impact would

do as long as it is authentic and shows the personality of the students.

Figure 2.9. An example of a student display setup.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

All of the forms and kinds of displays mentioned above will

surely leave an impact to the visitors, teachers, and students but the

best and the truest kind of “student display” is seeing students

participating in meaningful activities particularly in active and

participative learning. Schools shall provide abundant open, flexible

spaces for students to have venues for conducting activities.

DESIGN PATTERN #4 – Home Base and Individual Storage

Providence of lockers gives a sense of accountability to each

student as they keep their belongings; it gives them a sense of

15
ownership and territory in the school environment – a “home base”

where they can store their belongings without the worry of theft.

The main modern goal of integrating lockers into the school

environment goes beyond storage alone; lockers should be able to

provide convenience to the students they belong to and be efficient in

a way that the lockers can be secure under passive, minimal supervision

which can also be solved by creative placement and planning.

The authors states that the ideal modern locker should be, of

course, lockable, 12”-15” wide and 18” deep (to allow for storage of

laptops, small bags, various book sizes, different tools and materials

and small student projects), shall be constructed mainly out of wood or

recycled plastic (to reduce noise and to make lockers feel less

intimidating in contrast to metal lockers). These lockers should also be

dispersed in different places in clusters to avert pedestrian traffic surge

in different locations.

DESIGN PATTERN #5 – Science Labs, Art Studios & Skill Areas

Traditionally, science labs and art rooms are viewed as a

specialized aspect of a students’ development as both disciplines are

more inclined to hands-on learning. Designs for these kinds of rooms

should be as equally rich and dynamic as the disciplines themselves to

match the context with the architecture.

 Technology-intensive labs such as CAD rooms & graphic design

rooms should not only foster quality technology-enhanced

16
 learning but should also still uphold the importance of

socialization and collaboration between students; these kinds of

student-to-desktop-only setups should emphasize that the real

world involves interactivity between co-workers.

 Horticulture Lab (Greenhouse): the presence alone of an

accessible and interactive greenhouse (or in the case of other

school setups: open, natural landscapes with great abundance

of greeneries) in the school intimately raises environmental

consciousness, sustainability, ecology, and exploration of living

science; humans are primally drawn to nature, and the

providence of such space satiates that desire.

 The “Da Vinci Studio” concept applied to small learning

communities (SLCs, refer to Design Pattern #1) is most effective

to the high school setup wherein the expanses of the classroom

already provides for the 80%of the formal learning needs of the

student through different amenities such as a workstation,

kitchenette, café, and more.

DESIGN PATTERN #6 – Music and Performance

Music and performing arts have somehow been viewed as a

separate aspect to the persons’ development when in fact the inclusion

of these to the pedagogy creates a well-rounded education. Many

students learn best when they are more exposed to this kind of creative

environment, but the sadly schools seem to leave out this fact and

17
disregard this potential to a lot of students, branding them as “non-

academics with ADD and prescribed Ritalin to help them comply with

[the] system of education” (Nair, Fielding & Lackney, 2013). Instead of

viewing arts as a standalone, different education, one should see this

as a boosting supplement and integral aspect to the person’s

education. Globalization calls for a more creative and innovative human

capital, bringing back the demand of artistic minds into the industries.

Figure 2.10. Outdoor stage area diagram.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

In the present, the technological world urges everyone to be

artistic in some way, with the ability to present ideas using any kind of

canvass or media; the value of art and art-related professions has

become significant in almost every field. Therefore, the modern school,

flexible as it is, must include elements in its architecture that promote

this rising importance as early as now. These elements shall not be

18
limited to mere “art wings” but should be part of the school itself, in

many areas or in many forms:

 Student participation in art-related building features.

 Prominent locations for students’ art projects display.

 Providence of areas where students can have impromptu

performances.

 Allocating locations where students can assemble stage sets,

large displays, or artistic props for theater productions.

 If resources allow, the school may provide a proper facility

where students can have their own broadcasting studio/radio

station.

 Provide the facility for students to produce and publish their

own newspaper.

 Providing high-quality multimedia arts tools and resources in

appropriate places like the library (or in its own facility), which

could also double as a commercial unit for rent. This may bring

community projects that involve students.

 Taking advantage of outdoor spaces and developing them into

iconic spaces that invoke creativity such as a green

amphitheater or a space with a musical sculpture.

 Equipping various areas around the school with quality sound

systems, providing appropriate and crowd-friendly music to

spaces that are heavy with informal activities and interactions.

19
DESIGN PATTERN #7 – Health and Physical Fitness

Even though curricula in all schools includes allocation of hours

for physical education classes, it is not enough to encourage students

to be actually physically fit. It is true that school offers sports programs

outside formal class hours but only a small percent of the total school

population are in the varsity teams, but what about the rest of the

student population?

While schools cannot directly and physically manipulate the

student into a physically healthy and fit human person, its architecture

can actually encourage physical activity, assisting students to develop a

life-long habitual impact towards a healthier lifestyle:

Figure 2.11. Diagram for possible outdoor physical fitness space.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

 Inclusion of spaces that cater to various fitness activities (that

are not offered as formal classes, and maybe a collaboration of

fitness groups found within the community) such as dance and

20
 aerobics, yoga, hiking, bike riding, boxing, kickboxing, walking,

and so on.

 Supporting inactive transport (walking and cycling) to school by

providing sheltered and secured bike slots/storage as well as

prioritizing human comfortability in the designing of the site.

 Serving healthy food in cafeterias and cafés.

DESIGN PATTERN #8 – Casual Eating Areas

Figure 2.12. The ideal school café.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

Cafés are as much important as the classrooms in the school

structure and shall be acknowledged as such, as eating is no different

from other forms of activities that can be considered as learning

opportunities available in the school. The ideal modern school café shall

consist of, but not limited to, the following characteristics:

21
  A centralized kitchen shall service other smaller cafés which

would be more intimate areas distributed around the school.

 Cafés shall have a seating of 4 to 6 students per table.

 Cafés may provide booths for a more private seating option for

informal study or group discussions.

 Cafés should have a view of the outdoors.

 Cafés should extend its expanse to the outdoors, offering an

outdoor seating option.

 Cafés shall have themes that are likeable and are unisex to

appeal to every student.

DESIGN PATTERN #9 – Transparency and Passive Supervision

Figure 2.13. A diagram showcasing visual transparency.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

Education should be visible, open, and transparent, hence this

design pattern. This breaks away from the very traditional school

ambience wherein the users are given the sense of openness and

security (through ample visibility across spaces and distances) while still

22
preserving the acoustic separation for each room. The school may

promote high levels of visibility in its interiors and exteriors through

planning and materials used in the designing of the facilities:

 School offices shall be designed to have maximum visibility to

give off a welcoming feeling and allow school employees to

passively monitor the surrounding spaces.

 Provide visible access from the entrance to informal learning

spaces in the school to showcase the students and the school’s

mission to the public.

 Visibility between formal and informal learning spaces allows

teachers to monitor these zones with ease where students can

collaborate or work individually.

 Corridors shall be of glazed material to evoke a sense of

openness and security in contrast to solid, obstructive

partitions. This allows the building to be planned with irregular

niches and forms without sacrificing security.

 As much as possible, provide transparency between the

outdoor and indoor spaces.

DESIGN PATTERN #10 – Interior and Exterior Vistas

School designers do make an effort to visually connect the

facilities to the outdoors through exterior vistas. However, with the

principle of transparency given great significance in modern schools,

23
the application of interior vistas can be further explored through the

extensive use of glass.

Figure 2.13. A diagram showing the ideal distance for an exterior

vista. Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

Providing students with different distances to look at can

relieve them of having focused on a constrained field of view in the

hours they have been spending in the room. This also provides them

with a sense of openness and open-mindedness and an influence to a

positive way of thinking, therefore, to an extent, ultimately improving

their performance and attitude towards learning.

DESIGN PATTERN #11 – Dispersed Technology

In today’s schools, with the current technology and the

technologically-renewed culture of the world, ICT should be accepted

as part of the pedagogy in all fields possible, not just “shackled to the

Computer Lab model.”

24
 Figure 2.14. Technology dispersed in the different aspects of the
school. Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

Listed below are some broad principles to keep in mind for the

21st century approaches to integrating ICT into the school environment:

 Students as significant contributors to the development of the

way we use technology – not only is this good for the

development of software and programs but this benefits the

students themselves as ICT drives them to think and innovate

and create based on the content they view on their screens.

Also, this involves students to use technology in an extensive

way for school matters such as communication.

 Educators should use technology as an extension of the

classroom; a means of communication outside the school

environment, where students and teachers can “meet” without

spending any travel time to converse and exchange information.

Educators may encourage the use of handheld devices for this

25
 function, as these devices present the most accessibility and

mobility for a student to use.

 “A school’s facility must be built to expect and embrace

innovation, rather than simply allow it” - the flexibility and

versatility of spaces to new methods of teaching.

The integration of ICT into the modern school involves matters

concerning hardware distributions:

 Hardware should be dispersed to different functions and

locations within the school.

 Installation of wireless and wired networks that enable a

globally connected campus.

 Provision of a central ICT office for administration, servers and

support.

 ICT administrative staff workspaces shall have abundant

daylight and visibility and should be located near the central

server room.

 Server rooms and hardware storage rooms should be air-

conditioned to protect the equipment.

DESIGN PATTERN #12 – Indoor-Outdoor Connection

Outdoor spaces must be seen as natural extensions of indoor

informal learning, and should be acknowledged as an equally important

aspect in the school system rather than just auxiliary spaces; foreseeing

26
opportunities and exploring them to create strong connections

between the outdoor and indoor spaces and producing spaces such as

terraces, shaded reading areas, water features, exterior courtyards,

walk paths, trails, and outdoor leaning areas.

Augmentation of fitness areas, soft seating and wireless

connections to these outdoor spaces make them more robust, more

preferable and used by students.

DESIGN PATTERN #13 – Furniture: Soft Seating

Figure 2.15. Diagram of features of soft seating.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

Almost every seeable surface in a school is of hard texture

including the furniture provided for students to use all day. This may

eventually give students back problems which demotivates and takes

away their interests in coming and spending time in school. Ultimately,

the aim of this design pattern is to provide variations in informal

learning experiences and different levels of comfort through more

ergonomic and soft furniture to suit students’ preferences and

27
indirectly motivate them to be productive and incline to a more positive

attitude. Spaces such as common study areas, lounges, lobbies, offices,

and reading areas are some of the spaces in which soft seating can be

used in.

Figure 2.15 shows an ideal setup for a soft seating area in a

school environment: a) Movable seating to allow for a flexible

environment; b) electrical power, wired and wireless connections turn

soft seating areas into informal learning areas and workspaces; c) vistas

towards open spaces, city skylines, greeneries and vegetation, etc.

DESIGN PATTERN #14 – Flexibility, Adaptability and Variety

Figure 2.16. Example diagram of flexible spaces.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013)

“Flexibility” is more than just moveable walls between

classrooms to form a larger room. The concept of flexibility extends to

changes in functionality and of the physical space in the future and how

the current design of the spaces could handle those changes. What

should stay constant during these changes are the building ergonomics

such as natural air and light ventilation, acoustics, and indoor-outdoor

connections. The idea of integrating flexibility, adaptability and variety

28
 is to cater to as much learning modalities as the school can (see Design

Pattern #1 for the 20 learning modalities).

Table 2.3. Differences between adaptability, flexibility and variety. Data by Nair, Fielding and Lackney (2013).
Adaptability
Core structures designed
according to ergonomic principles
rather than current practices (e.g.
Small Learning Communities, use
of daylight, natural ventilation).
Non load-bearing interior walls
that can easily be removed.
Allows for change over a period of
years or decades.
Flexibility
Allows building users to change
the space themselves.
Moveable walls and acoustic
partitions, swing walls, overhead
garage doors, furniture on castors
all enable this.
Allows for change over the course
of each day or for many weeks
depending on the kinds of learning
activities under way.
Variety
Allows users to change the quality
of their space simply by moving-
for instance, from a Campfire
space to a Cave space to a
Watering Hole space to an active
learning space to an outdoor
amphitheater.
Central to the idea of the
Community Center Model SLC.
Allows for instant change and for
learning activities to be perfectly
matched to environments that
best suit them.

DESIGN PATTERN #15 – Campfire Space

Author David Thornburg proposes four “primordial learning

metaphors” in education: The Campfire Space (Design pattern #15), the

Watering Hole (Design Pattern #16), the Cave (Design Pattern #17), and

Life. He explains that each of these are essential in the general

development of the learner: Campfires are where information from

experts and elders are being shared; Watering Holes allows one to learn

for peers; Caves are private places where one can learn by themselves;

and Life is where these learnings are finally applied to situations in the

real world.

Despite the argument that the Campfire space is nothing but a

traditional teacher-as-talking-head model of the school - the same old

model used for traditional classrooms and lecture halls - there is still

space for this kind of learning in the modern pedagogies. There is a

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need for both formal and informal campfire spaces in schools which

may have the following characteristics:

 If configuration allows, a raised section of the room.

 Good sound reflectance behind the speaker’s area.

 Seating can be arranged in a formal lecture setting or in a more

intimate “story-telling” mode.

 The use of a projector screen or a large monitor during lectures.

 Darkening of the room during presentations.

 A “station” where the speaker can position his laptop

conveniently with a remote controller and access to sound for

multimedia presentations.

 Speaker to have access to wireless audio enhancement

technology to allow for free roaming around the room during

lectures.

Figure 2.17. Diagram for a Campfire space (lecture hall).

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

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 Informal Campfire spaces are spaces not necessarily designed

to accommodate the attributes mentioned above but can easily

support smaller class/group interactions through floor seating (bean

bags and throw cushions as chairs) and a space for a group to sit in a

circle.

DESIGN PATTERN #16 – Watering Hole Space

Figure 2.18. Diagram for a Watering Hole space for a high school
corridor. Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

The watering hole space is foreign to the traditional concept of

the school system, where social interaction was viewed as a

“distraction” rather than an essential part of learning.

Schools also provide only few amounts of space where students

can collaborate and socialize under passive supervision. Supposedly,

socializing, dealing with people, and collaborative work are on the top

of the list of qualifications needed for any profession.

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 Minor configurations to the existing axis spaces such as

expanding the corridor and adding tables and chairs for informal

learning and socialization already creates a significant change to

promote collaborative learning. One other example is to change the

atmosphere of common spaces; designing them to look more

comfortable and pleasant to the eyes rather than creating a rigid,

institutional and constrained environment. Watering hole spaces can

also be situated in the outdoors and this may be further advantageous

since there is a lot of exposure to nature, natural ventilation and

daylight.

DESIGN PATTERN #17 – Cave Space

Figure 2.19. A cave space for individual informal learning.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

Places for individual study, reflection, thinking, quiet reading

and creative flow are unusual in schools. Libraries may provide this kind

of environment but allocating cave spaces only in this venue further

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reinforces that that is where only silence can take place, and that

students are oppressed in this kind of environment.

Not all cave spaces have to be quiet though, but only enough to

not stimulate distractions or interfere with creative thinking. Areas

such as outdoor seating, benches along a walk path, or a secluded

booth in a café all counts as cave spaces.

It is essential to consider that having some personal time to

think and reflect and work can offer the student space to develop

themselves without other people interfering or helping. This trait is

strongly needed in situations in adulthood.

DESIGN PATTERN #18 – Designing for Multiple Intelligences

Figure 2.20. Diagram of a space that considers multiple

“intelligences”. Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

This design pattern integrates Howard Gardner’s Multiple

Intelligences (MI) theory which says that all human beings possess nine

“intelligences”, though not every person is necessarily strong in all of

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 them; the nine intelligences are Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical,

Musical, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Spatial, Naturalist, Interpersonal,

Intrapersonal, and Existential.

Below is a table showing common school spaces and the kind of

intelligence(s) they are associated with:

Table 2.4. School spaces and their associated intelligences. Data by Fielding Nair International (2013).

Mathematical

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal
Kinesthetic

Existential
Naturalist
Linguistic

Logical-

Musical

Bodily-

Spatial
Space

Traditional Classroom

Learning Studio

Advisory Grouping

Cave Space

Campfire Space

Watering Hole Space

Performance Space

Amphitheater

Café

Project Studio

Library
Outdoor Learning
Terrace
Greenhouse
Distance Learning
Center
Graphic Arts/CADD Lab

Fitness Center

Blackbox Theater

Entrance Piazza

When properly applied, the MI theory can assist students in

gaining interests in subjects that they don’t usually enjoy or prefer. It

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can also assist students in helping them develop in the area of

intelligence that they are weak in by augmenting their experience with

another intelligence area that they are more inclined to.

Although we humans naturally incline to our favored area of

intelligence, developing them more than we do with the ones we’re not

so favored in; this imbalance can be indirectly remedied through a

balanced education (reinforced with architectural solutions) to provide

the students the well-rounded education they need for the real world.

DESIGN PATTERN #19 – Daylight and Solar Energy

Figure 2.21. Diagram of a space harnessing natural daylight.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

The most important and impactful element of a high-

performance school must be its harnessing and utilizing natural

daylight. This aspect of the school’s ergonomics alone can be

introduced into the spaces through a multitude of ways with benefits

in energy conservation, climate control and users’ experiential

enhancement when exploited and designed intelligently. It has direct

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connections to the psychological wellbeing of the users of the space as

it can influence the mood and ambience, as well as the comfortability

and functionality depending on how daylight is introduced.

Daylight use should be maximized as much as possible; aside

from its obvious function as a source of light, the abundance of daylight

supplements and improves the experience of a space; therefore, when

properly designed, learning spaces (with excellent daylighting) can

supplement high-quality education. Also, if daylight is harnessed

properly, aside from the use of solar panels, it can help reduce the

energy costs of the building by minimizing the amount of artificial

lighting that is used during the day.

Figure 2.22. Diagrams of spaces harnessing natural daylight for

various functions. Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

DESIGN PATTERN #20 – Natural Ventilation

Like daylighting, natural ventilation is a significant aspect in

providing a quality and comfortable experience in a building where

students spend most of their hours in a day doing various activities with

different people in different times. Natural ventilation can expel the

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toxins that building materials and machines emit, as well as provide the

users with a strong sense of indoor-outdoor connection despite them

being in the interior spaces. Energy consumption can also be

significantly reduced through the utilization of natural ventilation as a

main climate-control method, rather than using conditioning machines.

Figure 2.23. Harnessing natural ventilation to reduce building energy

consumption. Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

DESIGN PATTERN #21 – Learning, Lighting and Color

Figure 2.24. Diagram showcasing an ideal setup that considers

spectrum, direction and color rendition index (CRI) for lighting.
Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

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 Perception is a significant factor in school design, as this deals

with the user’s focus and the emphasis of certain physical elements. A

lot of factors can influence perception, most especially movement,

distance, lighting fixtures, and the colors used in the interiors.

Human behavior regarding lighting and color is fairly simple: we

instinctively tend to move towards abundant lighting and colorful

visuals. This kind of eye-then-body movement can be utilized to aid the

users in understanding the space. Furthermore, this can manipulate

users into specific behaviors to an extent; behaviors that are

appropriate for the space. Designers can use this concept in a variety of

ways. Aside from the utilization of natural daylight for general

illumination, using different sets of lighting fixtures that vary in

brightness, direction and form can help define the space they serve.

Colors also influence perception in multiple ways, mainly contributing

to the psychological aspect of the users’ experience in a space.

DESIGN PATTERN #22 – Sustainable Elements and Building as 3-D

Textbook

Sustainability is not only an essential aspect of the modern

building but is also an effective teaching tool when students are able to

understand and see its effects. This can bring about a significant

consciousness for architecture, engineering, construction and

environmental science. In architectural design, sustainability, in

principles, is:

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  A careful approach in designing sites and buildings, so as not to

disrupt the site’s natural features.

 Maximization of the usage of nature’s energy sources (earth,

wind and sun).

 Utilization of indigenous materials and highly recyclable

content.

 Minimization of the total water consumption of the building,

using rainwater as an alternate source of usable (and possibly,

potable) water.

Sustainability also co-exists with various design patterns that

were previously mentioned (Indoor-Outdoor Connection, Daylighting

and Solar Energy, and Natural Ventilation).

DESIGN PATTERN #23 – Local Signature

An easy understanding of this design pattern is that each school

is special and unique therefore architecture should preferably

showcase this in various forms such as (but not limited to): a fountain,

a garden, a sculpture, a statue, an icon the form of a special building,

the materials used for constructions, and more.

The addition of this essential element strongly defines what

kind of community the school (and its neighborhood/city) is, giving a

sense of pride to the users of the school.

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DESIGN PATTERN #24 – Connected to the Community

A school’s connectivity to its community is defined through the

relativity of its location in the community, the school’s impact and

benefits to the different establishments, businesses and organizations

within the community and the allowance of community usage to the

school’s facilities.

Depending on where the school is located in the community, it

may utilize the abundance of amenities by not replicating the provided

community amenities in its expanses, or may take advantage of the

scarcity of community amenities and provide them in the list of school

facilities, allowing the public to use or rent them at certain hours.

Designing the school site and designing communities have one

common principle that every designer should heavily prioritize is to use

human beings for creating community-friendly spaces, not cars or other

particular functions. Considerations for every other detail that spaces

incorporate are still relevant, however the essence of spaces all boils

down to people and how it affects their lifestyles.

DESIGN PATTERN #25 – Home-like Bathrooms

Bathrooms, like the traditional school setup, are designed so

faultily and are so problematic, affecting the wellbeing and the lifestyle

of the students in subtle but negative ways.

Even though building codes allow some certain minimum

standards for bathrooms to be passed as “approved”, many designers

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take advantage of these to come up with a cheaper costing at the cost

of security and comfortability of students in the bathroom. Centralizing

the bathrooms that serve a quite large percentage of the school in one

location may be cost-friendly but can be health-threatening to some

degree: students may be discouraged to drink proper amounts of water

each day to avoid the long walk to and from the bathroom, which can

lead to dehydration as well as bladder and bowel problems. Also,

students’ wellbeing and security may be compromised when

bathrooms are located in more hidden niches and in places that lack

constant supervision.

A modern, clean, hygienic and safe bathroom is believed to be

a great supplement to the learning experience of the student:

 Bathrooms may be small and many, distributed throughout the

expanses of the school. The locations of these bathrooms may

be nearby fully supervised places or places where there is heavy

traffic.

 The access door to the bathrooms may be transparent, or that

the entranceway into the bathrooms may be doorless

(depending on the location).

 Bathrooms should provide an abundance of bag hooks or ledges

that can support various belongings while the student uses the

sinks, toilets or urinals.

 Bathroom stalls may be designed with floor-to ceiling partitions

to discourage communication and passing of illegal items

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 between students. Stalls may also be designed to be sufficient

but minimal to prevent students from gathering in one single

stall.

DESIGN PATTERN #26 – Teachers as Professionals

Figure 2.25. Diagram showing an ideal faculty room environment.

Sketch by Fielding, Nair and Lackney (2013).

Teaching may be considered “the most honorable profession”,

however the architecture that is often provided to teachers does not

give justice. Providing teachers with dedicated facilities that sufficiently

supports their needs and goals gives them a sense of pride and

responsibility as well as ultimately benefitting the quality of education

offered by the school.

Provisions for abundant natural light and ventilation, quality

soft-seating and gathering areas, high-end office equipment and a

positive, outgoing, and an energetic architectural ambience can really

reinforce the integrity of teachers.

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DESIGN PATTERN #27 – Shared Learning Resources and Library

The tendencies of a good school library often offer the student

a sense of independency – an ambience that tells them that they

themselves can take control of their learning with the given tools in

contrast to the traditional school setting wherein teachers are the all-

knowing dominators of a learning space and only he/she can dictate

what or how the student needs to learn.

With modernization in mind, one would think that the

importance of the library diminishes because of the easily-accessible

internet. On some levels, that would be false: the internet offers so

much information and resources for anyone to any age from anywhere,

true, however the internet does not give off the feeling of being inside

a physical space with tangible resources and an ambience where one

can experience multiple senses. However, despite their contrast, both

concepts (the physical library and the internet) should be integrated

with each other.

DESIGN PATTERN #28 – School Safety

Safety design for a school environment has five overlapping

principles, namely: 1) Eyes on the Street; 2) Welcoming, Secure

Entrance; 3) Transparency; 4) Learning Space Configuration; and 5) Safe

Community Involvement.

Eyes on the Street talks about visibility and openness of spaces

to allow easy monitoring for the students from external (assaulters) and

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internal (bullying and theft) threats. This includes the field of vision of

not only the security personnel but the users themselves so they too

can sense and respond to a threat on their own.

Welcoming, Secure Entrance is essentially similar to Design

Patter #2: Welcoming Entry where school offices are ideally located

near the main building entrance so that, with provisions of views across

spaces (partitions constructed with transparent glass), school staff can

passively monitor from their offices.

Transparency is the minimizing the use of obstructive partitions

between spaces to allow supervision and visibility across various

spaces, while also introducing ample natural light into the building,

further improving the visibility levels in the interiors – security can take

the form of perception and visibility.

Learning Space Configuration talks about the inefficiency of the

traditional classroom setup where classrooms are lined up

symmetrically and are often serviced by only one access point. Modern

classroom setups compel spaces to be dynamic and asymmetrical in

plan, creating multiple access points in different locations to serve a

small (defined as 80-150 students) community.

Safe Community Involvement allows the public to use certain

school facilities (such as gyms, libraries, auditoriums, etc.) at specified

hours in the day; afterhours access shall be restricted in these kinds of

spaces so as not to invite assaulters and conspirers to enter.

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DESIGN PATTERN #29 – Bringing It All Together

The advantage of the Pattern Language Method is that it allows

designers to easily translate the needs of the school stakeholders into

“patterns” that are also easily understandable by non-architectural

individuals. These patterns interconnect with each other, however with

the structure of this method, each pattern can be distinguished and

configured individually to fit the specific needs of the stakeholders.

Designers can use this method in the initial planning phase, wherein all

stakeholders shall be present in a forum which aims to create a vision

of the school with all their concerns in mind. As the translator of needs

and requirements into design solutions, architects may use these

patterns as an organized method of creating goals that would

eventually build up to the wholeness of the school building.

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