Creating Healthy Learning Spaces

Creating Healthy Learning Spaces

Alanus University is a project partner in an EU-funded project on school space development

 

By 2030, more than 67 billion euros are expected to be spent on the renovation and construction of school and educational buildings in the German-speaking countries of Europe. At the same time, the impact of space on the quality of learning is now undisputed. This is where the research project PULS+ comes in, which Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter near Bonn is carrying out over the next three years with partners from Central Europe. One of its goals is the development and implementation of a continuing education program on the design of school spaces for architects, educators, and administrative staff. This marks the first time that the topic of school renovation and new construction is being addressed comprehensively from an interdisciplinary perspective. The EU Erasmus+ program is funding PULS+ with 330,000 euros.

 

“We want to turn those affected by PULS+ into active participants,” says Nikolaus von Kaisenberg, Professor of Architecture at Alanus University and one of the project leaders. “In order to create healthy learning spaces, school principals, teachers, architects, and school administration staff need to come together at one table,” von Kaisenberg continues. At the heart of PULS+ is the development and implementation of a continuing education program for these stakeholders. To this end, the project partners from architecture and education, municipal building management, and school development are creating an educational offering that covers the areas of learning, space, and development. The course aims to “qualify participants to moderate, support, and advise school learning space development—in short: to make it possible to train school building consultants,” explains von Kaisenberg.

 

One of the project partners is the Düsseldorf School Administration Office. Its deputy head, Florian Dirszus, emphasizes: “Municipal school authorities are responsible for the spatial equipment of schools, but they do not necessarily know what an optimal learning space should look like from an educational perspective.” This is where PULS+ comes into play: “Employees in municipal administrations can therefore optimally further their qualifications while at the same time advancing educational spatial architecture. PULS+ qualifies these staff members for future-oriented school space development—as well as architects and teachers.” Only in this way, he says, can spaces be made efficiently usable and differentiated teaching be enabled. “The goal is to create a good learning environment—both in renovation measures in existing buildings and in new construction,” says Dirszus.

 

Other project partners include the universities of Innsbruck and Bolzano, schools from South Tyrol, and the Education & Architecture network from Switzerland. The planned continuing education program in school space development will begin as a pilot project in May 2018 and run for one year. The program begins and ends with a three-day academy for preparation or follow-up and reflection. In between, the three modules “Space” (on architecture), “Learning” (on education), and “Development” (on processes) take place. After the first run, the program is to be reviewed, adapted, and established on a long-term basis. In addition, PULS+ organizes conferences, symposia, and public meetings intended to disseminate and anchor knowledge and experience on school renovation. Two publications dealing with the topic from the perspectives of education and architecture are in preparation. An online platform serves as a digital learning space and knowledge repository, and a school building atlas in the form of an interactive database is being created.