Evidence based design for school buildings: educational dynamics and special impacts

• Grant number: 19/07124-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2019
• End date: July 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Project
• Principal Investigator: Doris Catharine Cornelie Knatz Kowaltowski
• Grantee: Pedro Padilha Gonçalves
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FEC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/18134-0 - Evidence and precedent based school design and their research methods, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Education at all levels is passing through transformations that impact not only teaching methods and materials, but also the physical learning environment. In the last few years efforts have been made to align school architecture with the new trends in education and to support the learning process with appropriate and stimulating environments. In Brazil there is still a necessity to improve the education system, especially at the middle school level, due to low learning indicators of students. This research project analyses evidence based design information related to school buildings (middle schools), through a systematic literature review and the elaboration of a set of architectural design patterns. The project includes a research student exchange plan at the University of Melbourne's School of Design in Australia. The product of this research will be an architectural pattern matrix for the design of middle schools, as a tool to support the design process, tested with students enrolled in an architecture course. The research is part of a continuous investigation on design methods and especially on contemporary school architecture. We expect the collection and organization of new knowledge can positively support the design process with scientific information, translated into insightful and clear textual and graphical languages to stimulate the design of school buildings appropriate to their context and able to stimulate positive learning results.