The answer is: It could

Can a New Building Save a Failing School?

This story was aired yesterday on "All Things Considered". It asks whether a school can be saved by a new building. The question implies that a school is much more than brick and mortar. And it is. But the places where we spend time matter. The building is not only a "shell" where the schooling takes place. There is a constant and dynamic interaction that happens between users and the physical environment. What the building can "afford" its users makes a difference in what the users can produce. Building users benefit from comfortable spaces where light and temperature can be controlled, where technology is state of the art, and where pride can be built.
The physical environment of the building indicates how much investment is being done in the community, in the students, in the teachers, and in the building administrators.
In my own research I have seen that a new school building, like any other single element of a school, is not magic and it won't turn a school around overnight. It might quickly improve attendance, it will definitively improve morale. But it will take time to build the trust that was lost as the old school building crumbled down...
The school buildings of the XXI century should empower and support teachers and students in their education. They should be flexible, technology ready and pleasant.

Architecture for Learning

Examples of best practices in building learning environments. Wow.


http://youtu.be/8LX4I0DkrtQ

Community Psychology in the NY Times

One of the first studies I read when I came to the US to study Community Psych. An article in the NY Times describes it.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/the-power-of-nursing/

Going to the Principal's Office...

It will be interesting to see the pictures that will be displayed at this WNYC News Blog...

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2012/apr/09/principals-office-look-school-leaders-unique-work-spaces/?token=2bb8afc19735da16d390ce0650461f07&content_type_id=26&object_id=198148

"The builders of Borobudur understood perfectly how stone can shape thought"

I just heard this on the radio. I am not able to listen to this show all the time, but I catch it whenever I can. I feel it captures the essence of design, architecture, culture and psychology when they intersect in an object or a building.


The experience of climbing the terraces of Borobudur is a powerful one. As you emerge from the enclosed corridors of the lower terraces, into the clear open spaces above, surrounded only by a circle of volcanoes, you are very conscious of having entered a different world. Even the most hardened tourist has the sense that this is not a site visit, but a pilgrim's progress. The builders of Borobudur understood perfectly how stone can shape thought.


From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/transcripts/episode59/


Stone, all physical matter, can shape thought. It can constrain it, can exalt it. Perhaps it cannot change thought, but it can afford a journey of change or stagnation. 

Place yourself in an environment where you can grow your ideas...

I  just came across this video. The author, Steven Johnson, highlights the role of the environment (mainly the social environment and the Internet) in generating ideas and innovation. Schools and work places should be the kind of environment where  the exchange of "hunches", as he describes it, happens.

http://youtu.be/NugRZGDbPFU

Strategic Architecture

Perhaps the use of sociopetal arrangements or simply designing with clear strategic goals helps to create environments of collaboration.

An article in today's NY Times talk about how Bell Labs used social affordances in their quest for innovation.
From the article:

Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos

"ONE element of his approach (Mervin Kelly's) was architectural. He personally helped design a building in Murray Hill, N.J., opened in 1941, where everyone would interact with one another. Some of the hallways in the building were designed to be so long that to look down their length was to see the end disappear at a vanishing point. Traveling the hall’s length without encountering a number of acquaintances, problems, diversions and ideas was almost impossible. A physicist on his way to lunch in the cafeteria was like a magnet rolling past iron filings."


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/opinion/sunday/innovation-and-the-bell-labs-miracle.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=true%20innovation&st=cse