Schools for the Future

Drawing on the perspectives of architectural psychology, set against the historical development of school building in the United States, Japan, and Germany, the authors' vision is to create places where we would want to relive our own school days. The book takes the position that user design, control of stress factors and control of communication (privacy, retreats) should be allowed to modify the original architectural design to flexibly accommodate future changing requirements. The development and application of criteria for assessing functional, aesthetic, social-physical, ecological, organizational and economical aspects to various parts of the school complex call for a common language for the design process. The appendix presents 24 innovative schools from countries in five continents.

Contents

• The Historical Development of School Buildings in the USA, Japan and Germany
• Conditions and Processes - Contributions of Architectural Psychology
• Schools Designed with User Participation
• What makes a school a "School of the Future"?

Target Groups

• Lecturers and Students of Sociology, Environmental & Architectural Psychology, Architecture, City Planning
• Educators, Architects, and Policy makers involved in Planning and Running Schools

Editor

Rotraut Walden's (PD. Dr. phil.) major fields of research are architectural psychology and work and organizational psychology. She holds a tenure position at the Institute for Psychology of the University in Koblenz, Germany, and has been a member of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) since 1989.