Increasingly, research is showing that traditional school environments are not meeting the needs of every student. Ability, gender, cultural and trauma-related factors mean many students are struggling with mainstream schooling, despite being willing and capable learners, under the guidance of highly competent teachers. It’s clear that many of our physical school environments need to be adapted to better meet student needs, writes Laura Ulph, senior associate at national architectural practice Hayball (with additional comments from senior associate Kerlina Bahari and principal Harry Nicholas).
As architects, we have a responsibility to integrate the unique needs of each school by developing a collaborative partnership with deep listening as a core foundation. Our decisions as designers will have a lasting impact on the education and lives of our young people, so it’s fundamental that they are based on real human values, open-mindedness and wellness, and that they are both compassionate and future-focused.
Inclusivity is a very broad term and may be subject to differences in definition or interpretation in each school. By listening deeply to the voices of students, staff and those supporting their quest to learn, we can strive to genuinely understand what the term means to them and provide a meaningful and responsive built learning environment.
Through our work, partnerships and industry seminars like Learning Environments Australasia’s recent Amplify conference, we can develop design thinking that supports the realisation of learning environments that provide students with meaningful choices to support their needs.
Depending on the student, a lack of control – however minor in nature – can be a trigger, so providing a space that gives them some sense of control over their own learning, and designing physical surroundings that foster a sense of belonging and comfort to do so, can improve engagement. Allowing students choices on furniture, setting, noise, position within a larger space, light or temperature can provide the ownership required to enable them to feel comfortable.
Through our projects, we are looking at what barriers can be removed to provide these supportive and engaging physical environments that complement the school’s pedagogy.
One example is a research project we are currently working on in collaboration with The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS). Using Holy Cross Primary School, Mickleham as a pilot, we are exploring what inclusivity means to schools, and unpacking how this can be translated into a physical environment. The pilot commenced with a series of workshops and consultation sessions with key stakeholders, including the school’s leadership team, staff, students, their parents and MACS occupational therapists to better understand the school’s needs and opportunities.
In our design process, we incorporated the outcomes of these consultation sessions into the creation of new learning environments. One key design decision was the exploration of options for students to seek different types of settings for retreat within the ‘learning building’, whether within, adjacent, or separate from the general learning area. The aim is to provide agency for students to seek an appropriate space based on their changing behaviour, emotions and need to regulate or reduce stimulation.
Outcomes also showed that a diversity of external settings is just as important as the internal, giving students the opportunity to connect with peers in an active play setting (adventure play, large sandpits and team sports for example), group gatherings within a story circle or individual reflection in the discrete garden affectionately named the ‘zen garden’. The result is a learning environment that welcomes all students so that they feel safe. It also aims to provide them with agency over their own needs, while celebrating their diversity.
The next step is for an in-depth post-occupancy evaluation to better understand what’s working, where there’s room for improvement and most importantly, how the learnings from the overall process can be applied to future MACS schools.
We are already applying some of these learnings to our work with Aitken College’s Cumberland Junior School.
Here, the team set out to create physical spaces that actively respond to diverse individual learning interests and needs. We have created a range of settings, active and passive zones of differing scales enabling students, under their teacher’s guidance, to choose a space that best supports their learning activity and needs at any given time.
Welcoming and playful, the building’s design breaks stigmas associated with separate spaces, in turn fostering a sense of ownership among the students. Initial feedback from Aitken College indicates their students are responding positively to the new building.
With rising construction costs, designing new spaces and incorporating new thinking like this can often feel unattainable for schools and educators. While teachers and principals want the best for their students, we appreciate that they are up against a myriad of pressures. There are often expectations to construct new buildings, repurpose older facilities, integrate new services and infrastructure, and maintain new facilities, which can lead to ever-increasing costs for schools.
It’s important that design, construction and cost are seen as mutual imperatives for the practice to work with clients to achieve the best outcomes for students, teachers and their broader communities. Through clever design choices and proper consultation with schools, we can create an end result that is fiscally viable and sustainable, future-proofed and inclusive – work we are eager to continue, with a cross-studio commitment to universal design and inclusive learning environments.
Inclusivity is a broad goal and a broad statement that can mean something different for every school, educator and student, but at its core, it is a focus on people-centred spaces that enable all individuals to feel welcome, safe and secure.
Lead image: Holy Cross Primary School, designed by Hayball. All photography by Henry Lam.