This historical review of school design explores the emergence of changes and innovations that contribute, in some ways or other, to adolescents’ identity formation.

1. December 2009 PhD Candidate: Neda Abbasi Emergence of Innovations Contributing to Adolescents’ Identity Formation Within the Recent History of School Design

2. Part of a PhD Research with the topic of “Pathways to a Better Personal and Social Life through Learning Spaces: The Role of School Design in Adolescents’ Identity Formation” Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning of the University of Melbourne Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Greg Missingham and Assoc. Prof. Kenn Fisher

4. The Monitorial System School Southwark Central School 1. Early Forms of Spaces for education School building with ‘fixed function spaces’ • More human scale environment • More flexibility and freedom • Subdividing the typical large hall • Furniture and seating arrangement

5. 2. John Dewey’s Educational Ideas, Radical and Experimental Educational Philosophies • Schools as cooperative democratic communities • Broadening the traditional learning programmes • Opening schools’ spaces to the world outside • Spaces for hands-on learning Hillside Home School, 1902, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

6. 3. The Modern Movement in Architecture • One-storey buildings with flat roofs, glass and metal window walls, brick or concrete walls • No significant change to the internal arrangement of schools and self-contained classrooms Schools designed by Dudok in Hilversum between 1921 and 1930, school building type with classrooms off sides a corridor

7. 3. The Modern Movement in Architecture (Open-air Schools) • The Movement for improved natural lighting • The focus on hygiene and physical health • The use of glass • Foldable walls Open-air School in Amsterdam, 1930, designed by Duiker Open-air School in Suresnes, Paris,1936

8. 3. The Modern Movement in Architecture (Henry Morris & village colleges) Impington Village Collage, 1938, designed by Walter Gropius and Max Fry • Provide for the whole man • Abolish the duality of education and ordinary life • The central promenade walkway • The community wing and classrooms wing • The Assembly hall and the courtyard The Community wing The Classrooms wing The Assembly hall The Central Promenade walkway The Courtyard

9. 3. The Modern Movement in Architecture (Crow Island School & L-shaped classrooms) Crow Island School, 1940, designed by Perkins & Will architects • Recognition of the child's need for physical health, emotional and social adjustment and self-expression • The L-shaped classroom design

10. 4. Open-space Schools of the 1960s and 1970s • New beliefs about education as their key drivers  Teaching to learning  Passive to active student participation  Lecture and recitation to inquiry and discovery • Proposed outcomes included  Encouraging interactions and greater sense of community  More freedom for teachers and pupils  Flexible programming  Contributing to individualised learning

11. 5. Emergence of a Social Approach to School Design (Hans Scharoun-1) • The ‘classroom unit’ as the basic element of the school plan A. Main teaching space B. Annex to allow a variety of uses C. Entrance lobby D. External teaching space Geschwister School Lünen, 1962 A classroom unit

12. 5. Emergence of a Social Approach to School Design (Hans Scharoun-1) • Creating smaller schools or communities within a whole school • Turning circulation spaces into meeting places and break halls • An assembly hall or a theatre as a ‘social centre’ of school School at Marl-Drewer in Westpalia, 1971

13. 5. Emergence of a Social Approach to School Design (Herman Hertzberger) • Maintaining visual relations through split-level design • The central hall as the social hub of school • The transitional space between classrooms and corridors Apollo Schools, Amsterdam, 1980