University of Minnesota College of Design hosts symposium and exhibit on design of Swiss school buildings
University of Minnesota College of Design hosts symposium and exhibit on design of Swiss school buildings
The University of Minnesota College of Design was hosting a symposium featuring an international panel of experts that discussed the importance of innovative practices in education and design. The symposium, "School Buildings - The State of Affairs: A New Architecture for a New Education," was held from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28 at the University of Minnesota's College of Design in Minneapolis.
"The symposium is intended to catalyze a cross-disciplinary conversation with practitioners in education, design and public policy makers about the impact of the built environments on education reform and the future of education," said John Comazzi, assistant professor of architecture, who organized the symposium and arranged for the traveling exhibition of the same name currently on display in the HGA Gallery at University of Minnesota College.
Symposium speakers were Edith Ackermann, professor of developmental psychology, University of Aix-Marseille, France and visiting scientist, MIT School of Architecture; Umberto Dindo, chair, the American Institute of Architects New York Committee on Architecture for Education; Elizabeth Hebert, former principal of Crow Island School in Winnetka, Ill., and co-editor of "Children, Learning & School Design; and Mark Ziegler, portfolio manager for public schools in Zurich. The Swiss Consul General in Chicago, Giambattista Mondada, attended the conference as well. The exhibit and symposium in Minnesota was supported by swissnex Boston, and took place within “US program of ThinkSwiss – Brainstorm the Future”.
About the Exhibition
"School Buildings - The State of Affairs: A New Architecture for a New Education" will be on display through Sunday, Oct. 7 in the College of Design, HGA Gallery, Rapson Hall.
The exhibition features 31 recently built or designed schools from Zurich, Switzerland, along with examples from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Austria. It is intended to facilitate a dialog among educators, architects and the community about a new architecture for a new education.
