Reading architecture 04

Quarantine is not conducive to personal meetings, but it may provide more time to read and discuss together.

Schools shape our relationship to the built environment; through how teaching takes place within them and the types of spaces that it occurs in. Good organization can be a prerequisite for a certain type of education – when it provides room for social interactions, mutual learning, and creativity. Now, most school activities have moved home or into the virtual world. Such a break from visiting school buildings is a good point to think about how schools actually function, what to improve about their organization, and how to learn from online and individual teaching methods for future work with them.

Based on excerpts from Herman Hertzberger's book Space and Learning: Lessons in Architecture 3, we will discuss the impact of school buildings on life within and outside of them. Joining us will be Ondřej Píhrt from the SOA studio, who recently completed the Elementary School in Psáry, and the team from the Malý Chmel studio, the authors of the extension of the Elementary School in Nezamyslice.

This meeting will take place online – a link to join will be published here before the event starts. The possibility of personal attendance will be adjusted to the current situation. The text by Herman Hertzberger is available online in English; for a working translation of the excerpt, please write to [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you!