The interior
designing work and the interest in people synergistically came together in
designing brand new ways of educational interiors, to enhance new ways of
interacting between teachers, students and the system they have to operate out
of. Combining the ideas of Office Innovation and New Ways of Working with our Educational Vision.
One of our first
successes on this field of education was the mind-blowing new school interior vision at UniC. UniC is a public school in Utrecht Holland. For children aging
12 - 18. HAVO – VWO, preparing for University.
This school was on
the national television as it opened 8 years ago and still gets mentioned in
national newspapers every time they write about progressive education.
UniC
started in an old office building and is organized around changing
groups and their changing activities during the day.
I designed the interior
and was the “critical friend” of the principal in discussing almost every
aspect of the newly invented educational format.
The interior is divided in
spaces to communicate and areas to concentrate and this in different levels and
different sizes. All meant to facilitate differentiation in the learning
process, making it fit to the special needs of special children (though this is
a “regular” public school), as everyone is special. No two kids are the same according to Howard Gardner and his Multiple Intelligence Theory and everybody has a unique way of learning.
Two years ago UniC
moved to a totally new building specially designed to fit the UniC way of
learning. Again I designed / coordinated the interior and played different
roles in selecting the building architect, writing down the demands for
furniture and being the interior project leader. Collecting the wishes of the
teachers and connecting them with the results out of the design team and further
on, the building consortium.
To show You the
results I attach 2 links to short films on my website about UniC. Klick on the lines beneath to see the movies!
The first film is
about the interior and the way the building is used. The second film is a music
video the students made, which gives a nice view at the internal surroundings
and the creativity of the school as a whole.
I understand that
the way UniC is designed and operates, will not directly match the educational
systems in other countries all over the world. But it might give educational leaders a clue an what progressive
learning in Holland looks like.
UniC has now 600
students and will need to extend their facilities within a few years. Parents,
students, teachers and the principal are still very proud of and satisfied with
this building. They tell me every time I see one of them that they feel lucky
to be able to make use of these kinds of space and that they know it is far from
naturally to feel this fit between the environment and the tasks that they have
to fulfill.
To me it feels like a
present every time I walk in. The vibe, the energy, the sense of success,
the freedom of movement and of choice, the energizing colours, the charming
look of self-disciplined awareness of the older students, or the search to get
a start with something difficult of the younger once (who start and end the day
in Fellow Circles (maatjes circles) to help each other out), everything is washed with enriched consciousness
of being part of something beautiful and bigger than Yourself.
(Nice point: I know of no school building that looks so clean and fresh after 2 years of intense use! And that is not because of the sweet kids, because they are no more sweet than children at other schools, but because we used smart products to cover walls etc. and because students and teachers feel a kind of ownership! And probably because they feel less frustrated so there is less urge to molest something?)
Stephen Covey speaks
about the “Magic Theatre” in his book “The 3rth Alternative”. A room where
people come together to work on idea’s, prototyping them, together co-creating
the future in demand for synergy. To me UniC represents the Magic Theatre in
Education.
Even though the
students will not always notice the difference between the UniC environment and
“normal” schools, they love the way they learn. And the parents know that some
of their children would not have achieved properly in those “normal” schools
and at UniC they excel. Notwithstanding the self-discipline they have to
develop, the creativity and flexibility they need to enrich and the social
skills they have to practice all the time.
But hé, those are
exactly the skills students / people / teams / organization need to develop, to
create & navigate in the complex & dynamic world we all live in!
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