School design patterns and a card game as a tool to support the architectural program

Author(s)

Marcella Savioli Deliberador

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo
• Defense date: 2016-02-26

Examining board members

Doris Catharine Cornelie Knatz Kowaltowski; Gleice Virginia Medeiros de Azambuja Elali; Gisele Arteiro Nielsen Azevedo; Daniel de Carvalho Moreira; Francisco Borges Filho

• Advisor: Doris Catharine Cornelie Knatz Kowaltowski

Abstract

Education is an essential human right. Fundamentally good education depends on the quality of its staff, the participation of the community, the resources available, as well as the general physical installations. The school building is thus an active element in the provision of quality education. Many professionals should be involved to reflect on necessary changes to improve education. The task of the architect is to take care of the physical conditions, improving the quality of school buildings. This study presents the results of a long-standing investigation of the design process for public (non-private) schools in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. This tool helps the architectural programming phase with the participation of diverse users in mind. The tool is in the form of a card game, based on design patterns, found in the literature on school building design, and adapted to a Brazilian reality. To achieve this, design requirements for the State of São Paulo were the basis of this adaptation. In this State, school buildings are under the jurisdiction of a foundation called FDE (Fundação para o Desenvolvimento da Educação). The literature on school building design recommends participatory processes supported through the application of tools to structure discussions. Tools and especially games can support the active and democratic participation of different agents. The card game, described here has 15 suits of 4 cards each, representing architectural aspects of school design. Each suit relates to an important element of school design. The topics are: pedagogy; learning types; urban context; types of users; classrooms; school ground; specialized spaces like laboratories; service areas; spaces dedicated to students only; areas for socialization; environmental comfort; circulation spaces; basic and profound design concepts; environmental psychology; behavior issues. Various tests were conducted. Professionals involved in the design of schools used the tool and could intuitively reach design decisions. Groups of architecture students also used the game to develop their design projects in a studio setting. A workshop was organized to simulate a participatory process. The design process based on a rich and well detailed and justified architectural program should induce an improved design process as a whole, support evaluations and finally should result in better school buildings. The card game developed in this research (with its boards and manuals) is a new method to support the briefing moment in architectural design and can be used in other school design contexts through appropriate adaptations. The results of the tool and its tests showed that architectural briefing for school buildings lacks specific indicators and future research should focus on detailed design guidelines (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/00993-0 - Design patterns as a tool for the creative process of school buildings
• Grantee: Marcella Savioli Deliberador
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate