Disputation på KTH

"Skolen finder sted",

Inge-Mette Kirkeby edited by SBI in cooperation with Arkitektskolen Aarhus and KTH, 2006

Abstract:

The goal of the research project "Skolen finder sted" ("Creating school buildings") is to contribute knowledge about the interplay between pedagogy and architecture, between children and space and about the nature of this interplay. This type of knowledge will help to improve the quality of dialogue and the basis for decisions regarding the building of schools in the future, as well as becoming a standard part of the architect's toolbox. Thus, the overriding considerations in the project deal with design theory. A basic premise of the project is that the relationship between the school's physical configuration and its content are to be regarded as an interaction, in which the 'effect' of a given design on activities and behavior at school is assumed to be user-dependent. The methods employed are qualitative, in that the research is carried out as a combination of ethnologically inspired fieldwork, interviews and architectural analyses including the development of an analytic model. For theoretical anchoring, the research draws upon numerous pedagogical, philosophical and design theories. In the analytical model the interaction is divided into five 'spaces': Social space, Activity space, Behavior regulating space, Space as a conveyor of meaning and Tuned space as a conveyor of atmosphere. The five spaces and the nature of interactions within them are examined one by one in relation to various theories and in relation to examples of various building configurations; concrete examples, in which design makes a difference for the way people can utilize and experience their physical surroundings. Each of the five sections closes with the formulation of design principles that are available to the architect during the design process. The architect's task is to convert a long series of visions of what is good for the well being and development of children at school, into concrete building materials and physical spaces. It is, thus, a matter of transforming abstract relationships into material reality. In closing, the entire discussion is put into perspective by relating it to the writings of the French philosopher Bruno Latour, who treats the interplay of differing kinds of dissimilar relationships from a philosophical point of departure.