A new architecture for a new education

Thank you for an informative day at your symposium. I enjoyed all the
speakers and was totally surprised by the lunch. You and Swissnex were
very good hosts!
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Thanks so much for organizing yesterday’s symposium. It was a very thought-provoking and worthwhile discussion. We are lucky here in Cambridge and Boston to have such a generous and thoughtful Swiss presence!
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Thank you for hosting yesterday’s symposium on school building architecture and education. My colleagues and I found the discussions very informative and helpful as we move forward with the development of two new academic buildings for UMass Boston.

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These were some of the beautiful reactions to the symposium which swissnex Boston organized in combination with the opening of the exhibit “School Buildings – The State of Affairs: A New Architecture for A New Education.

Despite a thunderstorm and pouring rain, many visitors joined the Opening Reception to the month-long exhibit at the Compton Gallery which was organized in partnership with the MIT Museum. The reception started the fruitful discussion among the educators, architects, and educational planners and politicians about the everchanging direction of public education and the architectural challenges that come with it.

Inspired and motivated from the exhibit and the previous evening’s conversations, the symposium continued the discussions the following morning at MIT’s Stata Center. The two parted symposium began with a focus on the questions and issue linked to education. A couple of changes to the list of speakers resulted in a diverse, all embracing, fruitful, and lively exchange of ideas around the many related topics like: how do we create environments that people become designers in, how do we keep up a dialog between architects and educators, how do we create learning environments rather than buildings, shouldn’t schools be iconic buildings. The various Swiss and North American examples shown in the presentations supported the conceptual discussions well and added to the transatlantic dialog. After a nourishing lunch that also provided the opportunity for networking as well as experiencing the Stata Center’s exemplifying environment, the second part of the symposium continued with a focus on architecture. Incorporating new teaching methods as well as the student’s personal development, architects are asked to create environments that students can explore and experience their creative capabilities. Communities often need to share school facilities. Changing social patterns require new services at schools. Constrained municipal budgets lead to more multi-use buildings that serve educational as well as community needs. The insights provided by the speakers from the School Building Authorities of Boston and Zurich not only exemplified the difficulties and constraints but also the various approaches the two countries take. As the exhibit points out: Designing schools today is an increasingly collaborative effort including teacher, students, educational consultants, and parents. In response to these challenging policies and requirements, architects are creating schools that look, feel and function differently. It is a new architecture for a new education.


We invite you to visit the exhibtion: School Buildings – The State of Affairs until Friday, August 10, 2008, daily from 10-5. For further information, see http://www.thinkswiss.org/schoolbuildings/