3835 Campus Drive
Architecture Building (145 ARC)
College Park, MD 20742
United States
The opening of the exhibition will coincide with a lecture entitled “Architecture as Memory” by Quintus Miller, an architect from Basel Switzerland whose work is featured in the exhibition, followed by a reception in the gallery. On Saturday, February 16, the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation will host the symposium “Defining the Urban School in the 21st Century.”
Today's educators require flexible spaces that can accommodate multiple functions and future demands. They need spaces that enhance modern teaching methods and a student's personal development. Although architecture by itself cannot provide a good education, the environment it creates has an important effect on a student's well-being and ability to learn. This environment can encourage students to explore and foster their creative talents. Likewise, a well-designed school may promote social-emotional learning among students of all ages through a comprehensive design of the entire school campus, including spaces that extend learning beyond the classroom.
Communities often need to share school facilities. Changing social patterns require additional services at schools. Constrained municipal budgets lead to more multi-use buildings that serve educational and community needs. Designing schools is an increasingly collaborative effort that includes teachers, students, education consultants, and parents. In response to these changing policies and requirements, many architects are creating schools that look, feel, and function differently.
The exhibition illustrates this process and schools that have been built in response to these emerging issues. It showcases thirty-one examples of recently built or designed schools from Switzerland along with examples from Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
Installation organized by
Isaac Williams Assistant Professor, Architecture Program
Sean O’Donnell Chair, AIA DC Chapter Committee on Architecture for Education
Alessandro Delprete EDA DAO Head of Cultural Affairs, Embassy of Switzerland
Exhibition panels by
AIA New York Chapter Committee on Architecture for Education Umberto Dindo, AIA, Chairman
ETH Zurich/Center for Cultural Studies in Architecture (CSSA) Martin Schneider, scientific associate, dipl. Arch. ETHZurich
Exhibition Underwriters
Credit Suisse, Stadt Zürich, ETH Darch, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
The exhibition is based on the original shown in Zurich 2004 and organized by ETH Zurich/Center for Cultural Studies in Architecture (CSSA), Zurich Building Authority, Zurich School and Sports Authority, and Zurich University of Teacher Education.